The federal AmeriCorps program may subsidize volunteer teachers in Roman Catholic schools without running afoul of the law, a U.S. appeals court said yesterday, overturning a lower court's ruling that found the practice unconstitutional.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dealt a setback to the American Jewish Congress. The nonprofit group had argued that AmeriCorps crossed the line between church and state by financially rewarding some participants in its Education Awards Program who taught religion as well as secular subjects in Catholic schools.
 
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The national service program, overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service, provides participants with $4,725 in financial aid for college tuition and student loan repayment if they complete at least 1,700 hours in an approved AmeriCorps service position. The appeals court noted that participants are chosen without regard to religion, that those who teach religion in addition to secular subjects do so as a matter of choice, and that hours spent in religious instruction do not count toward qualifying for financial aid.
"The AmeriCorps program creates no incentives for participants to teach religion," wrote Judge A. Raymond Randolph. "They may count only the time they spend engaged in non-religious activities toward their service hours requirement. And if they do teach religious subjects, they are prohibited from wearing the AmeriCorps logo when they are doing so."
Randolph likened it to school voucher programs in which a government entity provides an education subsidy to individuals, who decide whether to use the vouchers at a religious or secular institution.
The other two judges on the panel were Harry T. Edwards and Karen L. Henderson.
The ruling reversed a July 2, 2004, decision by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who called the line between secular and religious activities "completely blurred" and said the government failed to monitor programs sufficiently to ensure compliance with the law.
Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, said yesterday that the organization had not decided whether to appeal. He said that, unlike school vouchers, the AmeriCorps program is not neutral toward religion because government officials determine which schools are eligible to receive AmeriCorps participants.
"One minute they are teaching religion and those kids are supposed to believe they are Catholic school employees," Stern said. "The bell rings and the next minute they are teaching math and now they are representatives of the Corporation for National and Community Service."
David Eisner, the head of AmeriCorps' parent agency, said in a statement that the court ruling benefits needy children.
H. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said teachers in religious schools accounted for fewer than 1 percent of AmeriCorps' 75,000 participants.
"What the court today did . . . was make clear that faith-based mentors were not going to have to sacrifice their religious identity to participate in this program," Towey said.
