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Judge upholds school voucher programs
Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//June 15, 2007//[read_meter]
A judge on June 13 upheld two new state voucher programs to provide money to send foster and disabled children to private schools.
Challengers contended that the programs enacted by the Legislature last year violate state constitutional prohibitions against public funding for private and religious schools and undermined the state’s public school system by diverting needed money.
However, Judge Bethany Hicks of Maricopa County Superior Court agreed with defenders of the voucher programs, ruling that the grants to parents aren’t appropriations of state money for religious worship or instruction and are not for the support of any religious organization.
Also, Hicks said the voucher programs don’t prevent the state from providing the constitutionally mandated “general and uniform public school system.”
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