Denis P. Doyle

Some low-income students are able to attend private schools through the use of vouchers, a payment system that transfers the tax dollars allotted for a student’s education from the public school to the private school. In the following viewpoint, Denis P. Doyle defends this practice. Pointing out that more than half of the private schools in the United States are Catholic schools, he maintains that the policy of not supporting religious schools with taxpayer dollars was originally an expression of anti- Catholic sentiment. Doyle contends that to continue to exclude Catholic or other religious schools from government funding or voucher programs threatens the survival of some private, sectarian schools, which provide many valuable functions. Doyle is an education writer, analyst, and consultant. As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Doyle...