Government Programs and Funding Acis

¶ … Government Programs and Funding ACIS Position Statement concerning Government Funding of Christian Schooling." ACIS. Retrieved 31 Jan 2007 at http://www.acsi.org/webfiles/webitems/attachments/003858_%201a.%20ACSI%27s%20Position%20on%20Tax%20Credits%20and%20Vouchers.doc School funding in general, and particularly the government funding of private and parochial schools, is one of the most controversial issues in education today. Unsurprisingly, the Christian organization called the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) strongly supports the use of government tax credits or vouchers to allow students to attend parochial, rather than public schools.

The organization states that this is keeping with the American value of choice and improving educational initiative through competition. However, diverting funds from a problematic public school system will only provide an answer for a few private school or parochial school students, not a larger answer to the problem of underfunded or inadequate American schools, particularly in urban areas.

The more money is diverted from the schools and funneled to private or parochial schools from finite public educational funds, the less the public schools will have to improve their infrastructure and the quality of their academics. The worse the public schools become, the more of an incentive will exist for parents to take their children away from the public schools, and have their children go to private school.

Would this be so terrible? Yes -- first of all, the amount of a voucher would only cover the amount spent on the child in public school, so it would not cover all private academies, it would mostly cover the tuition of small, Christian academies promoted by the ACSI.

Furthermore, the legal issue of the separation between church and state becomes problematic, because even if vouchers are granted in a nondiscriminatory fashion to all students, the ACSI supports not requiring voucher-funded schools to meet any standards of nondiscrimination in regards to faculty and students. In short, if Christian schools required a religious commitment a requirement for teaching or attending the school, the school would still be indirectly funded by the government, as government vouchers would help support the school. Article Review: Employment Issues Kienel, Paul. (2003).

"The Matthew 18 Principle for Solving School Problems." ACIS. Retrieved 31 Jan 2007. http://www.acsi.org/webfiles/webitems/attachments/000988_Utilizing%20the%20Matthew%2018%20Principle.doc According to the ACSI, the spirit of the so-called 'me generation' should not be permitted to infect the Christian community of a school. Instead, Jesus' philosophy of the Sermon on the Mount, of resolving differences rather than polarizing a community by emphasizing discord, must hold sway.

Problems will inevitably arise, as conflict is a part of life in even the most homogeneous community, but resolving things face-to-face is the ideal. Honesty, forgiveness, and restoration are the duty of all Christians. Even non-Christians can appreciate the stress and need for creating a community of scholars, where differences are broached through conciliatory, rather than conflict-based techniques. Also, the ACSI stresses the need for students, parents, teachers, and administrators to engage in a common dialogue.

In short, the parents are part of the learning community as well, and the responsibility of the parent does not end when the child walks through the schoolroom door. The parent must support the mission of the school, and the teacher, and reinforce the lessons learned in school, academically and ethically. Parents should strive to respect teachers, and not transgress teacher authority without talking with the teacher first. This comes as a welcome relief to any teacher with a conflict with a parent that has spilled outside the classroom.

Although a parent is unlikely to be in perfect agreement with every assignment the student receives, and every grade on a child's transcript, establishing a rapport between parent and teacher is crucial to further a child's learning and for a teacher to feel supported in his or her disciplinary decisions. Article Review: Health Issues Schools Enrolling Students with AIDS." (2003). ACIS.

Retrieved 31 Jan 2007 at http://www.acsi.org/webfiles/webitems/attachments/000990_%201a.%20Schools%20Enrolling%20Children%20with%20AIDS.doc Despite the spirit of Christian tolerance ostensibly embraced by the ASCI, the article entitled "Schools Enrolling Students with AIDS" takes a shrill and alarmist tone regarding the subject of young children infected with HIV. It informs the reader that in more than half of the cases in Massachusetts, infected children were not aware of their HIV status, nor were the schools aware of the student's condition.

The fact that less than half of these HIV positive students missed more than two weeks of school is not portrayed as the children's ability overcome tremendous health obstacles, but as evidence that HIV infection is not obvious, and therefore, even more insidiously dangerous to the uninfected. On one hand, the recommendation of the article.