Philadelphia, Pa., Feb 6, 2020 / 07:00 am
The U.S. bishops' conference praised a Trump administration plan to expand school choice Wednesday, as Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to a Catholic school in inner-city Philadelphia.
In a statement released Feb. 5, USCCB education committee chair Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ, of the Diocese of Oakland, and Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, praised President Donald Trump, Pence, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for their commitment to school choice, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for its expansive scholarship tax credit programs.
"The right of parents to exercise freedom of choice in education is firmly rooted in the teachings of our Catholic faith," said the bishops in the statement. In the USCCB document "Renewing our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium," published in 2005, the bishops explained that it was the entire Catholic community's job to advocate for school choice programs, including personal and corporate tax credits.
"We applaud the goals of Education Freedom Scholarships and hope to one day see the opportunity for all families to have the freedom to select a school according to their conscience," said the bishops.