Religious instruction for children was debated as the economy tightened. As calls for more federal funding increased, the government, educators, and parents questioned whether public federal funds should go toward the funding of a private-education system. In 1950 over three million children (or approximately 10 percent of the children enrolled in all schools) were in the Catholic education system. In the view of some people, parochial schools served a block of students substantial enough to warrant funding.
The push for federal funding of parochial schools originated over bus transportation. In March 1950 Representative John F. Kennedy, a Catholic Democrat from Massachusetts, failed to gain support from the House Labor Committee to allocate federal money for bus service to parochial-school children. Eleanor Roosevelt had spoken against the bill on 6 March, stating that she had sent her children to private schools and never expected "anyone to.....
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