Education

Church-Related Schools

By Alex Heard — February 17, 1982 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Reflecting the rise in the number of church-affiliated schools across the country, a number of states are enmeshed in controversy over just how much control they should have over private schools.

On one side are state education bureaucracies that want to ensure that private schools, including the growing number of small fundamentalist Christian academies, maintain adequate educational standards. On the other are some private schools that contend the state has no right to regulate them, especially if they receive no state or federal aid, and who say, as did one spokesman for a state Christian-schools association, “The question is not one of quality, but of control.”

The amount of control is being fought over in the courts and, with increasing frequency, in the legislatures. At least four state legislatures are considering bills on the issue in their current sessions; a number of others have already encountered such bills in recent sessions or are expected to have bills introduced later this year that to some degree would free church-related schools from state regulation.

‘State Regulatory Intrusion’

At issue in confrontations that have occurred in North Carolina, Nebraska, Iowa, and other states is what a spokesman for the Christian Legal Society calls “the state regulatory intrusion into the operation of Christian and other private schools.”

Although officials of some private schools have said they find intolerable state requirements that they meet health regulations and fire codes, most are more concerned with state intervention in such areas as teacher certification, curriculum requirements, and accreditation.

Current statistics on the extent of stateregulation of private schools are not readily available, but Donald A. Erickson, director of Continued on Page XX

A version of this article appeared in the February 17, 1982 edition of Education Week as Church-Related Schools

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read