A $2.5 million budget item has triggered a growing battle over whether Michigan can funnel state money to private and parochial schools.
It began when Michigan's Republican-controlled Legislature added that $2.5 million to the state's $16.1 billion education budget. The money was to reimburse private and parochial schools for the cost of complying with state-mandated safety measures.
That led to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and public school officials against the budget provision, and a countering move by a group of GOP lawmakers and Catholic school parents who want to join the lawsuit as defendants.
Michigan State University law professor and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion, Frank Ravitch, joined Stateside to talk about this lawsuit.
Listen above.
(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or with this RSS link)
