After the Arizona Supreme Court declined to rule on the validity of a pair of private school voucher programs, a collection of education and civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Feb. 20 in Maricopa County Superior Court.
“We contend that they are blatantly unconstitutional,” Arizona Education Association President John Wright said.
Last year, the Legislature created two voucher programs aimed at helping foster children and disabled students. S1164 (Laws 2006, Chapter 358) provides $2.5 million of general fund money for vouchers for students in the foster care system. Likewise, H2676 (Laws 2006, Chapter 340) gives $2.5 million for students with physical, emotional or learning disabilities to attend private schools.
The lawsuit cites Article IX, Section 10 of the state Constitution, which prohibits the use of public funds “in aid of … any private or sectarian school.”
But Tim Keller, director of the Institute for Justice’s Arizona chapter, says the lawsuit is futile, as courts in Arizona and nationally have already determined private school voucher programs are a valid use of tax money.
“Empowering parents to make one of the most critical decisions in their children’s lives…is perfectly legal under the Arizona Constitution,” he said.
The reason, Keller said, stems from the 1999 Kotterman v. Killian case in which the Arizona Supreme Court ruled income tax credits given to taxpayers who donate money for private school scholarships are allowed. In the ruling, the court also said that directing state money — the tax credits were determined to not be state funds because they were never received as tax collections — to private schools would have been legal, as well, as long as the state did not give religious schools preferential treatment.
“In these programs, not one dollar makes its way to religious institutions, except through parents,” Keller said. “The state has done nothing to make parents choose religious schools over non-religious schools.”
Rae Waters, the immediate past president of the Arizona School Boards Association, said the voucher programs create a lack of oversight over how the money is spent and how the students are taught.
“Public dollars demand public accountability,” she said.
Wright said the lawsuit will settle once and for all the issue of voucher programs in Arizona. The ultimate goal of the Legislature, he said, is to create a statewide voucher program that would be open to all students. The groups behind the lawsuit oppose that, he said.
“These will keep coming and will stop coming once we demonstrate their unconstitutionality,” he said.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-21, has sponsored such a statewide voucher program for each of the past five years. He said he expects the court to support the current voucher programs and open the door to instituting a full voucher program.
“I would hope they would broaden [the ruling] and remove some of the hurdles,” he said.
The crux of the issue, Biggs said, is that the education establishment — led by the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union — does not want to lose its monopoly on educating students and receiving taxpayer money.
“Any time you start to wrinkle the status quo a bit, I think people who are in the status quo or are comfortable with it start to get upset. I think that’s what you have going on here,” Biggs said. “I think we’ve rattled the status quo and they’re upset with it.”