Child-Care Plan Stirs Church-State Debate : Federal Legislation Raises Thorny Questions on Separation Doctrine

WASHINGTON —  In May, when President Bush wanted to tout the benefits of his Administration’s alternative child-care plan, he visited a day-care center sponsored by one of Washington’s oldest black churches, Shiloh Baptist. The choice of a religiously run center was significant.

According to widely accepted estimates, churches provide about one-third of the nation’s child care, making them the largest institutional caretaker of children. Religious child care, especially in the inner cities, has had its praises sung by all sides of the day-care debate under way here.

Yet provisions on church-related care have become one of the most disputed elements of legislation in Congress, laying new turf for the fight over separation of church and state.

While civil liberties groups generally oppose any kind of public aid to religion, many other groups and individuals believe that religious day-care facilities should get some help under the bills in Congress. There is a serious dispute, however, over whether church-run centers with “sectarian” programs, including worship and religious instruction, should benefit from federal day-care aid.

Beyond Capitol Hill, there has been sharp division among the groups most active in providing day care--the churches. Catholic leaders, joined by some Protestant and Jewish groups, has taken the lead in arguing for indirect forms of aid to religiously sponsored day-care centers.

In a recent letter sent to every member of the Senate, organizations ranging from the U.S. Catholic Conference to national associations of Episcopal and Jewish day schools said, “We cannot support child-care legislation which would effectively exclude many of our own efforts to serve the nation’s child-care needs, especially among the poor and vulnerable.”

These religious groups want legislation that would let parents use certificates--provided in the current legislative proposals--for day care offered in religious settings.

But liberal Protestant denominations say only church-sponsored centers that operate on a secular basis should be able to benefit from these certificates. Any other arrangement, they argue, would constitute unconstitutional government aid to religion.

A letter sent to members of the House of Representatives by a dozen Christian groups, including the National Council of Churches, said, “We respect the right of churches, synagogues and other religious organizations to offer specifically sectarian programs of child care. But such care should be supported by those who share their specific beliefs and experiences and not by government funds.”

On June 23, the Senate passed by voice vote a day-care package modified to permit the use of certificates for religiously oriented day care. The mainly Democratic-sponsored bill authorizes $1.75 billion in payments to states. The payments would be passed along by the states to parents and licensed child-care centers, as well as roughly $2 billion in tax credits to help with the costs of child care.

But the House version of the bill--approved by the Labor and Human Resources Committee on June 27--expressly forbids this. If the full House retains this provision, the differences between the Senate and House versions will have to be ironed out in conference, probably in the fall.

The issue is so divisive that one major denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, appears to have taken two positions on the bill. While the denomination’s social action office in Washington opposes the use of certificates for specifically religious day care, its Department of Education--which oversees Lutheran schools--is for it. Religious schools that provide day care stand to benefit from the aid.

The argument boils down to whether parents would be able to take their certificates to religious day-care centers if “sectarian” care is excluded.

A fairly typical one is Shiloh Baptist, in Washington’s inner city. It looks, at first glance, like any other day-care center. Finger paintings decorate the walls. There are cots for afternoon naps and a little make-believe telephone booth in a corner.

But the children--about 75 Protestants, Catholics and Muslims--talk about what they learned in Sunday school or whatever else they did over the weekend, said the center’s director, Florence Omachonu. And when they sit down for meals and snacks, she added, “the kids put their hands together and thank God for what they have received.”

Would Shiloh Baptist be eligible for the aid, regardless of how these arguments turn out?

Patrick Conover, a policy advocate for the United Church of Christ, said those interested in church-sponsored day care need not worry. “I’m sure that Shiloh would qualify, and that’s the typical church center,” Conover said. But he qualified his assessment by adding, “When it comes to grace over cookies, you have a problem.” He said the prayers may pose a constitutional problem.

Father Kenneth Doyle, a spokesman for the U.S. Catholic Conference, said the so-called “milk-and-cookie prayers” would be enough to render centers like the one at Shiloh ineligible if public aid to religiously specific child care is prohibited. Noting that most day care is offered in private homes, Doyle added that the visible presence of a crucifix or menorah would disqualify a home arrangement.

Seeing an opportunity in this dispute, the Bush Administration has tried to push an alternative plan that would give parents up to $1,000 a year in tax credits for any day care they choose. But the Senate rejected the Administration’s bill, while incorporating the tax credit approach in its own package.

The Administration’s measure would not even help most parents at Shiloh. Noting that the Bush plan would only aid parents with total incomes of under $13,000, Omachonu said, “Most of our parents make more than that. So they wouldn’t get any help.”