Philly’s Anti-Defamation League Chapter Supports Vouchers

The Anti-Defamation League has a long history of opposing vouchers for public school students. As part of that tradition, they object on the principal of separation of church and state, and regularly submit amicus briefs in court cases debating the validity of vouchers across the country.

But last spring, the executive committee of Philadelphia’s ADL chapter suggested a radical departure from the League’s staunch anti-voucher position.

“We believe school choice to be an urgent civil rights issue,” the committee argued in a brief being circulated among ADL’s 30 regional offices. Despite decades of increased spending on K-12 education, “the evidence that our public education system is failing to educate our children is staggering.” ADL should reverse its longtime position “as a moral imperative,” the Philadelphia leadership urges, and “issue a resolution in favor of school choice.”

This unprecedented resolution failed in the national committee, but is a powerful signal that even an organization committed to the “Separation of Church and State” in Philadelphia recognizes the need for more educational choices.