The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear two important cases involving religious schools and the "ministerial exception." "In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and  St. James School v. Biel, the justices will consider the scope of the 'ministerial exception,'" according to SCOTUSblog. The cases involve lower court interpretations of the Supreme Court's landmark 9-0 decision in Hosanna-Tabor (2012), which protected the First Amendment right of a Lutheran church school to choose its teachers.

According to the outstanding people at Becket , who made the following video, " Under the ministerial exception, church schools like Our Lady of Guadalupe have the First Amendment right to choose who teaches the faith to the next generation, free from any government interference."

On December 20, President Trump signed into law the budget deal negotiated by Congress and the White House. The $1.4 trillion spending package for Fiscal Year 2020 includes:

The budget deal included a four year reauthorization of the DC Opportunity Scholarship program, the nation's only federally funded voucher program. According to a release from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 10,000 students have been recipients of a scholarship over the last fifteen years. "The average income for families with children enrolled in the program is $24,000 per year, and 91 percent of the children are minorities. The high school graduation rate of participating students is 98 percent, and 86 percent of those enroll in a two- or four-year college or university, reinforcing the positive impact that this program has in empowering families to choose a school that best fits the needs of their child."

An especially welcome feature of the budget deal is language repealing the 21% tax on some of the fringe benefits nonprofit organizations, including private schools, provide their employees. Those benefits include transportation-related expenses like parking, transit passes, and commuting subsidies. The immensely unpopular and confusing tax was passed with little notice as part of the tax bill approved by Congress two years ago, only to cause an uproar when knowledge of the provision began to spread. To the relief of many in the nonprofit community, this short-lived tax is now history.

From a new report by Kathleen Porter-Magee for the Manhattan Institute: "For the past two decades, the debate over school reform has largely centered on the expansion of choice and the increase of state-led accountability, grounded in standardized math and reading tests. Values, culture, and beliefs—the inside of a school—have largely taken a backseat to these external, structural changes." The report, which is focused on Catholic schools, can be read in its entirety here.

From The State newspaper in South Carolina: "Parents of low-income students in South Carolina would be able to take the state portion of school funding allocated to their student and use it at a private school under a proposal being discussed by state senators." Other disadvantaged children would be eligible as well. Read the bill here.