The InterVarsity student club at Tufts University will likely regain status as a recognized student group after a student government group made a policy change to permit religious student groups to require leaders to follow the dictates of the particular religion.

In a victory for equal treatment, students attending Central Florida Christian College will now be eligible for funds from the Florida Resident Access Grant program. Florida had excluded Central Florida Christian from the program on the grounds that its educational program was not sufficiently secular.

In a November decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld a voucher program for special-needs students which allowed them to attend private, including religious, schools. Two school districts had challenged the program, alleging that it unconstitutionally allowed state funds to go to religious institutions. Yet courts, including the US Supreme Court (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 2002) routinely uphold voucher programs that allow parents to choose religious schools–it is only because of the parents’ choice, not the government’s action, that government money goes to the religious institutions.

Bad:

On November 30, a state judge ruled that Louisiana’s expansive scholarship program violates the state constitution. That program enabled poor families to select private schools of their choice for their children. The Governor says he will appeal the judge’s decision.