10. Although a prompt resolution of the present controversy is to be sought, our report can be nothing more than a part of the process toward resolution. These issues warrant an effective continuing dialogue. To assist in achieving this we recommend that the Governor appoint an advisory panel to study church-state educational matters for at least the next two years (or until these issues appear to have been resolved in a reasonable manner). This panel should conduct an ongoing discussion with church leaders, professional educators, State Board of Education representatives, parents of school children, legislators, School Board members and others. It should make specific recommendations to the Governor, the legislature and Nebraska citizens on educational issues relating to the State's interest in educational excellence and religious freedom.

8.

WHAT GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS DO WE MAKE?

1. Let us face this Christian School issue directly, clearly and without hedging in any way. Only if we tackle it head-on can we resolve it. Efforts to ignore, pass over or "get around" the concerns presented will only prolong and make worse an already difficult situation.

2. No one ever really wins a fight. We can't resolve this issue as long as any of us involved are separated by a wall of quiet (or, worse yet, noisy) hostility and overt suspicion. In our discussions we need to lower the decibel level.

The Biblical commandment to "Love Thy Neighbor" must mean something. We need a degree of harmony, which requires tolerance even if understanding is sometimes lacking.

We must confront issues, not personalities. The key to any constructive resolution of this controversy will be our ability to make judgments solely on the basis of the issues. 3. We should be very clear about these things:

a. Nebraska is blessed with high caliber teacher training institutions, teachers and school administrators. Our State also is fortunate to have a State Department of Education of the highest order under the direction of an outstanding State Board of Education. The Department's professional staff is competent, diligent and sensitive to social issues. Most important of all, it cares about Nebraska school children.

b. There are many excellent church-related

private schools in our State. These schools readily meet all

State standards and frequently exceed them. commended for their high educational quality.

They are to be
We cite as examples

the five church-related private school systems operated by the Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the Nebraska District Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha and the Catholic Dioceses of Lincoln and Grand Island. In our study we also observed examples of quality in Christian schools.

C. We should understand that some elements of education are not measurable by readily ascertainable techniques. Testing, awards and the like do not tell the whole story. For example, all we need to know about prizes is that Mozart never

won one.

d. Some suggest that this controversy may be resolved by the simple expedient of not enforcing the law; that is, since there are so few Christian schools involved and a small number of children attending them, just look the other way. We find this solution untenable. Laws should be both enforced and obeyed. If laws are unfair (or unconstitutional) they can and should be changed through legitimate legislative or judicial action. Simply ignoring noncompliance corrupts the very concept of government by law.

e. The proper way to resolve this controversy is through normal legislative channels, rather than through reliance on court proceedings. The judicial process tidies up and organizes; it neither solves nor explains.

4. Nebraska has sound educational standards of which it should be proud. Our State need not and should not compromise these standards in order to meet the requirements of religious freedom or for any other reason. First Amendment freedom of religion guarantees and proper policy recognition of religious convictions do not require compromising the State's basic system of educational standards. And whatever these standards may be, they should not feel threatened by educational procedures of Christian schools (which, after all, can and do set legitimate standards of their own). Rather, all that is required is some limited substitute procedure (such as we suggest) to accommodate the genuine religious convictions of some of our fellow Nebraska

citizens.

Our confidence in state standards should not prejudice our view of Christian and other church-related private schools who respond "to the beat of a different drummer." These other schools can provide quality education for their students. In our democratic society we ought to be willing to let the educational

market place influence the viability of schools. Over the long run people will not support inferior schools, public or private.

9. CONCLUSION

This issue has been before our state for too long.

It

is manageable and does not warrant an endless debate. It can and should be resolved now. Or sooner. Rome was not built in a day, but that was because there were no Nebraskans on the job.

fashion.

We have attempted to approach this in an open-minded Aristotle would not have qualified to teach philosophy in Nebraska schools. On the other hand, when Aristotle was contemplating the universe there was no state-controlled system of universal education (with the result that the illiteracy rate was appallingly high). And so it goes. We have tried to consider carefully all issues and points of view without prejudging anything.

Irrespective of how this report may be evaluated, we strongly suggest that this Christian school controversy should not be viewed as a problem. Rather, it is an opportunity for Nebraskans to think carefully about the important concepts of education and religious liberty. By doing so we should be able to stake out some common ground upon which to resolve this. What is this common ground? We suggest that most of us would recognize that (a) the State has an obligation to determine and enforce reasonable educational achievement standards for students of private as well as public schools, and (b) there is legitimacy to the religious freedom claim that some present State regulations are unnecessarily restrictive when applied to Christian schools. We can get off dead center by agreeing that the proper accommodation of these two sometimes conflicting concepts may require limited changes in State policy. What these exact changes should be is something which can be debated calmly (and about which there can be reasonable differences of opinion). We have proposed some specific changes in the hope that from our ideas and the thoughts of others some viable resolution will emerge.

Perhaps this challenge tests the genuineness of our tolerance of, and respect for, differing beliefs. We sometimes think everyone should be in our own image. We want others to be clones of ourselves. And yet it is the diversity of American life, including the very pluralism evidenced by widely different

religions, which gives our society its vitality and indeed its substance. Pluralism keeps us from being bored with one another. What would American music be without the variety provided by a Count Basie, an Itzhak Perlman and a Catherine Crozier?

The people of Nebraska are citizens in the classical Greek sense: concerned with all aspects of the welfare of the State; responsible but penetrating critics aiding in every effort to make "the good life" possible for all people. Viewed in this context, prompt settlement of this issue is certainly possible, perhaps even likely.

No person should be asked to compromise his or her sincerely felt religious beliefs. Nor should the State be asked to back away from its responsibility for an education system which will produce highly knowledgeable students. This report is an effort to demonstrate that there are reasonable means by which an accommodation of these sometimes conflicting interests can be achieved without damage to either.

A fair and reasonable resolution of this controversy is more than just a matter of education and religion. It all comes down to a word which is the cornerstone of our society. Justice.

APPENDIX A

NEBRASKA EDUCATION FACTS

What is the elementary and secondary school population in Nebraska? Nebraska Department of Education figures show that there are a total of 305,858 Nebraska students distributed among schools as follows:

(a) In approved public schools:

269,103

(b) In approved private schools: 36,478

(၁)

In unapproved private schools: 227

There are approximately 400 public school districts

having both secondary and elementary schools and slightly under 700 districts with elementary schools only. Most of the state's 264 private schools are church-related. Of these 264 schools 250 are state approved and 14 are unapproved. The Christian schools now at issue in Nebraska are among the 14 unapproved schools.

The panel conducted its study through:

1. A large number of personal visits and conversations with people interested in and involved in this issue, such as: (a) Nebraska State Department of Education staff. members and present and former members of the Nebraska State Board of Education;

Schools;

(b) Ministers who actually operate Christian

(c) many individuals who are interested in the issue and whose views differ widely, including a number of ministers of Christian churches who do not themselves operate schools but are interested in the operation of them;

(d) professional educators, including teachers, Nebraska State Education Association representatives, college and university teacher training personnel, university professors and educational administrators;

(e) clergymen and others interested in and involved in the operation of Parochial and other church-related school systems in the State of Nebraska;

schools; and

(f) parents of children in both public and private