密歇根新闻广播 直接把税费用在私立学校上有违宪法

Here's what the Michigan Constitution says about state aid to private schools:

No public monies or property shall be appropriated or paid or any public credit utilized¹, by the legislature or any other political subdivision or agency of the state directly or indirectly² to aid or maintain any private, denominational or other nonpublic, pre-elementary, elementary, or secondary school. No payment, credit, tax benefit, exemption³ or deductions⁴, tuition voucher⁵, subsidy⁶, grant or loan of public monies or property shall be provided, directly or indirectly, to support the attendance of any student or the employment of any person at any such nonpublic school or at any location or institution where instruction is offered in whole or in part to such nonpublic school students.

That's about as clear as could be.

Or, as they say, "What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

The only exception the Constitution allows is that, "the legislature may provide for transportation to or from any school."

This language wasn't in the original 1963 constitution, but things changed after the Legislature passed a law in 1970, seven years after the state constitution was adopted, to provide direct financial aid to certain private schools.

The Michigan Supreme⁷ Court also upheld that law, but angry voters collected signatures and got a constitutional amendment⁸ on that year's ballot⁹ to outlaw¹⁰ what was then called “parochiad.”

Voters overwhelmingly passed it, and inserted the language I've just quoted into the state constitution, which seemed to settle the issue.

But evidently not as far as Governor Rick Snyder and the current Legislature are concerned. The state budget which took effect October 1 includes $2.5 million to reimburse¹¹ private schools for the cost of meeting state health and safety requirements.

The governor claimed this was in fact constitutional, because the money wouldn't be going to “instructional purposes” – to actually educate kids.

However, plenty of people strongly disagreed. The governor then sensibly asked the state's highest court for an opinion as to whether this was constitutional, preferably before the budget took effect.

Others agreed having the court weigh in was a good idea.

The court, however, did something surprising – they refused to issue any opinion, saying, “we are not persuaded that granting the request would be an appropriate exercise of the court's discretion¹².”

That left both sides claiming opposite things.

A spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference said that since the high court “did not find the funding unconstitutional as the opponents had argued … nonpublic schools are entitled to funding.”

But Don Wortuba of the Michigan Association of School Boards said - not so fast. He noted¹³ that the court had said nothing about the constitutionality issue.

What's certain now is that lawsuits¹⁴ will follow, and the Michigan Supreme Court will be forced to eventually rule on this.

I'm not an attorney, but I asked Jack¹⁵ Faxon, one of the last surviving delegates to the convention that wrote the Constitution, what he thought.

Faxon, who went on to the state Senate and later owned a private school of his own, said it was clear that aid to private schools of any kind was meant to be unconstitutional, especially after the 1970 amendment.

“That was voted on by a majority of the people … and can't be amended¹⁶ by the Legislature,” he told me.

In other words, if we now want to change that, passing another constitutional amendment is the only fair and reasonable way to go.

1 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

3 exemption   

n.豁免，免税额，免除

参考例句：

• You may be able to apply for exemption from local taxes.你可能符合资格申请免除地方税。
• These goods are subject to exemption from tax.这些货物可以免税。

4 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

5 voucher   

n.收据；传票；凭单，凭证

参考例句：

• The government should run a voucher system.政府应该施行凭证制度。
• Whenever cash is paid out,a voucher or receipt should be obtained.无论何时只要支付现金，就必须要有一张凭据或者收据。

6 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

9 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

10 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

11 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。

12 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

15 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

16 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。