The Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Grant Program provided money to be used for private schools and tutoring assistance (Hadderman 2). .
In addition to these public run programs, privately financed voucher plans are operating in thirty-one cities (Hadderman 2). The most notable of these programs was financed by billionaire financier Ted Furstmann and John Walton, the son of Wal-Mart owner Sam Walton. The two men awarded $170 million in private and parochial school scholarships to 40,000 students from low income families in 1999 (Hadderman 2) .
Opponents of school vouchers are primarily teachers" and school administrator's unions (The Congressional Institute 1). Another major opponent is the American Civil Liberties Union, or the ACLU, an organization that opposes vouchers whenever they interfere with the rights of students, parents and others (McGroarty 4). They feel the voucher system is a violation of the separation of church and state (McGroarty 4). The debate over the separation of church and state has been going on for decades. The idea of separation of church and state comes from The First Amendment. It states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . " This means that no public office may favor one sect or faith. More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison fought to end all religious establishments and taxpayer support of religion (Boston 2). In the past, public funding, in any form, for private schools have been !.
repeatedly rejected by the government. .
The nation's teachers unions believe it would take money away from the public schools and eventually weaken them (Savage 1). They fear that this will lead to the abandonment of public schools and the loss of their jobs. The National School Boards Association claims the vouchers would damage the nation's system of "free public education for all.