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In the previous blog post “Four Principles”, we looked at the four basic principles Church teaching provides as a moral framework for assessing policy positions and political participation generally. In this post, we will examine how these principles can be applied to a key education policy issue: school choice programs.

To ensure the health and safety of participants in light of the coronavirus, the 2021 Catholic Days at the Capitol will be a virtual event. Previous attendees as well as those who have not been able to join Catholics in Tallahassee for this annual event are urged to take this opportunity to participate virtually this coming year. During these unprecedented times, through innovation and technology, Catholics can continue to bring their values and voices to political life to promote and protect human life and dignity.

As Catholics we are called to participate in political life.1 But what should this participation look like? What types of policies should we support, defend, or oppose? Even narrowing the scope to education policy, there is a vast array of issues including, but not limited to, school choice, public school funding, testing requirements, curriculum requirements, exceptional student education, student transportation, athletics, higher education, preschool education, charter schools, testing accountability, district governance, school safety, and state scholarship program funding. These issues each contain a plethora of sub-issues, statutory structures, and countless potential policy solutions, which in turn include changes to, or the wholesale creation of, state statutes and administrative regulations.