<p>I’m not sure in NC that the objective is entirely to make sure the kids are educated. I suspect that, since our legislators have not succeeded in getting prayer back into the schools (remember, this is the state that tried to establish an official state religion this year), that vouchers are a back-handed way of getting public funds to pay for kids to get fundamentalist Christian educations emphasizing prayer over quality of education. Now, if our legislators DO approve funds for Hebrew schools, and Islamic schools, and Atheist schools, then I’ll apologize. But I’d be very surprised if that were the case. Yes, our country was founded by people seeking religious freedom. But our founding fathers recognized the need to NOT establish a government-sponsored religion. Just like the Pilgrims did not want to be told how to worship, non-Christians (and given that this is NC, as a Catholic, to many I fall into the non-Christian group) need the same right. Publicly funded schools should not be teaching religious principles. I have no problem with studying how private schools do things better and using them as models. But having my tax dollars used to teach children that girls wearing pants is the work of Satan - that I have a problem with.</p>