People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said, Senator Obama’s speech on government partnerships with faith-based and grassroots social service groups included a clear commitment to constitutional principles, something that has been sorely lacking during the Bush administration. Sen. Obama stated clearly that his administration would not allow federal funds to support discrimination in providing services – or in hiring. In so doing, the Obama campaign is embracing civil rights protections that the Bush administration actively tried to undermine.
(Fullerton, CA) — The California State University (CSU) and Wendy Gonaver, represented by attorneys with People For the American Way Foundation, have worked out an agreement over a dispute concerning the requirement that all state employees sign a "loyalty oath" as required by the California Constitution.
People For the American Way Foundation delivered more than 11,000 petitions to California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed. The petitions call for the university system to adopt a policy that accommodates employees who have religious or other objections to the state's "loyalty oath" by allowing them to sign the oath and attach an explanatory statement, the very same policy of the University of California.
The Arizona Court of Appeals today rejected publicly funded voucher schemes that send taxpayer money to religious and other private schools. People For the American Way, along with a group of allies, sued the state in 2006, pointing to clear language in the Arizona Constitution that forbids appropriating public money in aid of "private or sectarian schools."
By proposing what amounts to a publicly-funded national voucher program in his State of the Union speech last night, President Bush is adding insult to the injury he has done to public schools over the last seven years. Programs such as the $300 million initiative Bush proposed further weaken already-struggling urban public schools by diverting tax dollars to religious and other private schools.
This week has seen mounting recognition from different corners of the country that voucher systems fail to serve the interests of the nation’s children.