Dodging Bullets
Arizona Supreme Court declines to hear school voucher lawsuits
By Clint Bolick
The Goldwater Institute
January 10, 2007
Advocates of expanded school choices for Arizona schoolchildren have reason to celebrate: yesterday the Arizona Supreme Court declined to exercise original jurisdiction in a challenge to the two voucher programs enacted last year and signed into law by Governor Napolitano.
The lawsuits were filed in November by the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way, challenging voucher programs that enable children with disabilities and children in foster care to attend private schools. The lawsuits contend that the programs violate Arizona's "Blaine Amendment," which forbids the use of public funds to support private schools; and the state constitution's guarantee of access to a uniform public education. The plaintiffs hoped for a quick judicial kill, bypassing the lower courts.
The Arizona Supreme Court, without a written decision, sent the plaintiffs packing. That means the plaintiffs will have to re-file their claims in the trial court. If the case goes to trial, it could take years before it is presented again to the Arizona Supreme Court. In the meantime, disabled and foster children will avail themselves of school choice, and the program implementation will dispel the myth that school choice harms public schools. To the contrary, Harvard Professor Caroline Hoxby has found that competition through school choice boosts public school performance in Arizona and elsewhere.
Though the Court's decision not to hear the case is welcome news, school choice in Arizona still faces legal obstacles. Both the individual and recently enacted corporate scholarship tax credit programs are in court, and the voucher programs likely soon will be again.
The fact that the education establishment perceives the need to mount a frenzied challenge to all four of Arizona's K-12 private education options underscores that we are making serious inroads for educational freedom. That should inspire our future efforts on behalf of Arizona's children---not just to defend the existing school choice programs, but to press forward for new ones.
Clint Bolick is president and general counsel for the Alliance for School Choice and a Goldwater Institute senior fellow.
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