History has never been a mainstay for education pundits. Although required as a subject, the No Child Left Behind high stakes testing act and state testing avoid history like the plague. It often gets too political and icky. The history of school vouchers can vouch for that dilemma. It's a bumpy road, but worth a trip back to its time capsule.

For almost a quarter of a century between 1966 and 1990 there were 18 contentious school voucher referendums held in various states throughout the country. Consumed by the present, previous decades of history soon become a blip on the screen. Unless a catastrophe happens outside respective geographical boundaries, another state is often just a place to visit or take a vacation. Education referendums or constitutional conventions on education issues in states elsewhere go unnoticed, rarely reported. By no coincidence, many of the pro-voucher political players back then are active NCLB supporters today.

Its history also kept etymologists busy with vocabulary revisions. Because political forces seeking education tax dollars at the onset were primarily Christian religions, the term "parochiade," not "school choice," was most used during the 24-year time frame. Concerns of race, poverty or alleged "failing" public schools did not register on the distress or alarm charts in parochiade chambers. Although in 1965 New York citizens voted to approve calling a state constitutional convention to remove the "anti-parochiade" section from the state's constitution, it wasn't actually held until 1967. Before then, in 1966 another state proposed an amendment to its constitution to provide tax dollars for parochial school bus service. Voters rejected the amendment by a 57 to 43 percent margin. Let's see how your voucher history shapes up. Which state was it? (A) Georgia (B) Nebraska (C) Oregon or (D) Vermont? The answer comes later. No cheating. NCLB surveillance is on sanction alert.

While some of the voucher cast have come and gone, numerous others, including religions, have stayed the course. Former high school social studies teachers and avid researchers Edd Doer and Albert J. Menendez provide brief, poignant insights of the 18 education referendums in the book "Why We still Need Public Schools." Comprised of 23 essays pertaining to the era, the enlightening paperback is edited by Art Must, Jr., published in 1992 by Prometheus Books. Of the 18 referendums, all went down in defeat except one in South Dakota in 1986. Sponsored by conservative Republican Governor William Janklow, parochiade supporters sought an approximate $2 million textbook loan to be paid by taxpayers. Lutherans, the predominant religion in the state, provided the major support for the proposed amendment to the state constitution. It helped that Governor Janklow was also Lutheran. Yet, it barely passed by a 54 to 46 percent margin.

Although Christian religions played the major role promoting parochiade during that quarter century, sometimes they locked horns with each other. This happened in Missouri in 1976 after Roman Catholic and Missouri Synod Lutheran school supporters gathered enough signatures for a proposed state constitutional amendment. It was to provide $10 million in state aid for transportation, textbooks and auxiliary services to private and religious schools. However, Baptists and Catholics, the state's two largest religious factions, didn't see eye to eye on the issue. According to the authors, religious affiliation was the determining factor in the vote count, more than in any other state referendum. The two most heavily Catholic counties voted 79 and 72 percent for parochiade while the four largest Baptist counties voted against it with margins from 74 to 82 percent. The constitutional amendment was defeated by a 60 to 40 percent margin. Baptists hailed the victory as a "reaffirmation of religious liberty." Catholics viewed the defeat as a result of "ignorance and (anti-Catholic) bigotry." No doubt, God heard an earful from both sides the following Sunday.

A complex $12 million parochiade package in Maryland couldn't make it through the state legislature after several years of political scuffling. Gathering enough signatures, a referendum was held the day of the presidential election in November 1972. It too resulted in distinct voting patterns separated by religious affiliation. Doer and Menendez noted outside Baltimore only two of the 23 counties, predominantly Catholic Charles county and St. Mary's county favored the voucher and auxiliary proposal. Maryland had a number of solid Methodist counties, all opposing parochiade. The seven strongest Methodist counties on the eastern shore rejected the referendum by margins from 63 to 79 percent. Jewish precincts in Baltimore opposed parochiade about 65 to 35 percent. Methodist opposition to parochiade was said to be a major factor in the close 55 to 45 percent defeat of the referendum.

New York's 1967 constitutional convention to revise the state constitution to include parochiade was led by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and its political organization Citizens for Educational Freedom (CEF). Beside the Doer and Menendez briefs, Florence Flast provided a more in depth essay of the heated contest. She was on the front lines of opposition, being the chairperson of the Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (PEARL), the political organization made up of religious, parent, labor and other groups. Article XI, Section 3 of the state's constitution prohibited the use of public funds for any school - public or private - in which religious doctrine or tenets were "taught, inculcated, or practiced." It was it the state law books since 1844. "The majority of those who held political office in New York State jumped on the repeal bandwagon," said Flast. "Although many aspects of the state constitution were in need of revision and reform, this one issue dominated public discourse."

After bitter politicking, a tactical decision was made by the Constitutional Convention's leadership to draw up a "new constitution," rather than amend the existing document. This slick maneuver was meant to limit debate on the parochiade issue since a vote would be taken on the entire text rather than individual sections. The convention delegates adopted the proposed new constitution, having "no specific prohibition against aid to religious schools." With this radical change, and parochiade supporters reportedly spending $2 million on their campaign compared with PEARL's paltry kitty of $50,000, the gamble still backfired. The referendum for the new constitution was soundly defeated by a 73 to 27 percent margin. According to Flast, "The church-state issue was the major factor in its defeat, with religious divisiveness one of the by-products of this battle."

Whereas states often see themselves as provincial entities, donations supporting referendums for aid to private and religious schools frequently poured in from out of state. The most heinous example was the 1990 Oregon referendum. Organized under the banner Oregonians for Choice, the referendum sought a proposed tax credit of $2,500 per child for students who attended parochial and private schools or home schooling. The political front group received a startling 93 percent of its financial support from out-state sources. Citizens for a Sound Economy in Washington, D.C. donated $60,000. Its privatization agenda was to promote "free economic policies and supply side economics." Not surprisingly, economic guru Milton Friedman was one of the referendum's individual supporters. Other familiar pro-voucher faces still in the education fray included conservative writer William F. Buckley and former Secretary of Education William Bennett, now involved in the computer education marketplace. Far-right wing political activist supporters included Paul Weyrich of Free Congress Foundation, Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, and Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women of America. Despite the ultra-conservative All-Star lineup and outside financing, Oregon's voters overwhelmingly rejected the referendum 67 to 33 percent.

During the 24-year era, five states had two parochiade referenda defeats: Nebraska (1966, 1970), Michigan (1970, 1978), Oregon (1972, 1990), Maryland (1972, 1974), and Massachusetts (1982, 1986). Other states seeking taxpayer funding for religious schools but defeated were New York (1967), Idaho (1972), Washington (1975), Alaska (1976), Missouri (1976) District of Columbia (1981), and California (1982). Mentioned earlier, South Dakota

(1986) was the only state with a parochiade victory. Now you also know the answer to the impromptu quiz.

Yes, indeed. That 24-year era was political and icky. Bumpy roads still exist. Their dismal 1-17 losing record was best kept secret and forgotten by present-day voucher conservatives. It also caused them to discard their parochiade coat of arms, replacing it with the palatable "school choice" instead. Regardless, it's the same voucher legion using new political tactics to extort tax dollars for private and religious coffers, now called the "education marketplace." NCLB high stakes testing accountability and sanction reprisals limited only to public schools is merely one of their devious schemes. Sanctioning sounds better than sabotage. It's more palatable, too.

Daniel Pryzbyla