Denver, CO, April 27, 2015…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) testified today in opposition to a bill that would establish public support for private education, including private religious instruction, by creating a tax credit program. The legislation, Senate Bill 45, was defeated in the House Education Committee on a 6-5 vote.

 

Scott L. Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, issued the following statement:

 

“This bill is a back-door voucher program. School vouchers or tax credits might seem like a relatively benign way to increase options parents have for educating their children, but these programs actually subvert the constitutional principle of separation of church and state and they threaten to undermine our system of public education.”

 

Colorado State Senator Kevin Lundberg and State Representative Kim Ransom sponsored the bill. In addition to providing public support for private education, the bill would have created a tax credit system in support of homeschooling. Efforts to launch vouchers in Colorado have failed four times in the past 20 years. In particular, Initiative 17, which was on the ballot in 1998, would have created a tax credit program for private education and was defeated by 60 percent of Colorado voters.

 

ADL Mountain States Region Board member Stuart Pack represented ADL and testified against the bill. The committee voted to postpone the bill indefinitely. As a result, the measure will not be addressed again during the 2015 legislative session. ADL is grateful to Pack for testifying and to its Government Affairs Sub-Committee for its commitment to speaking out against policies that attack religious freedom.