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Friday, July 01, 2011

Ind. Courts - "Teachers' union seeks to block voucher law" [Updated]

Niki Kelly has the story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Some quotes:

The Indiana State Teachers Association filed a lawsuit Friday in Marion Superior Court, requesting a preliminary injunction against the implementation of Indiana’s recently enacted school voucher law.

The association contends the voucher law violates provisions of the Indiana Constitution that safeguard Indiana taxpayers by ensuring they are not compelled, through the taxes they pay, to support religious institutions, ministries and places of worship.

The lawsuit also alleges the constitution prohibits the state from diverting public education funds from the “uniform system of Common Schools” that are “equally open to all,” and instead uses this public money to send some children to private schools that are free to exercise student admissions preferences based on religion and other factors.

The new law, which goes into effect today, provides state funding to low-and middle-income parents who want to send their children to private schools.

[More] Here is the Indianapolis Star story posted at 11:26 am by Scott Elliot.

ILB: Neither paper's story includes a copy of the complaint ....

Star reporter Elliot had a lengthy story Feb. 28th of this year that asked "Will state's top court settle school vouchers?"

[Updated 7/2/11] Here is an updated version of the FWJG story.

Scott Elliot of the IndyStar has a new story this morning; here are some quotes:

Two sections in the state constitution are at issue -- provisions that establish public schools as tuition-free and open to all; and guarantee separation of church and state. Both sections are common in state constitutions, but wording is slightly different from state to state.

Whether Indiana's language establishing public school would block vouchers hinges on a few key phrases. The provision says the General Assembly has a duty to encourage learning "by all suitable means" and to create a "uniform system of common schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge and equally open to all."

"This system (vouchers) certainly doesn't do that," [Teresa Meredith, a Shelbyville teacher, ISTA vice president and a plaintiff in the case] said. "It is sending public tax dollars to schools that are not open to all children."

Supporters of vouchers seize on "by all suitable means" as allowing for new avenues of schooling, including tax-supported vouchers.

Bert Gall, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based libertarian group that supports vouchers and has pledged to help defend Indiana's law, said the provision allows for more options than just public schools.

"The program simply aids parents and children," he said. "No bureaucrat or government official tells them where to send their kids."

Tax dollars flowing directly to religious schools also could be a problem, voucher opponents say, contending Indiana's constitution prohibits state aid to religious institutions with unusually direct language: "No money shall be drawn from the state treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution."

"If taxpayers hear the message that their dollars are going to support religious schools that they may or may not agree with, and that their tax dollars have been cut from their public schools, they'll see that this is impacting schools already and that students are going to suffer," Meredith said.

Glenn Tebbe, executive director of the Indiana Catholic Conference, doesn't think the program violates the state constitution. Catholic schools are strongly interested in being part of the program statewide, with many having already applied.

"There are many, many instances of faith-based organizations, in particular the Catholic Church, providing for the social well-being of people for centuries -- homeless shelters, health care, foster care," he said. "The public support of those activities is only one aspect of it."

Scholars say the suit does raise interesting and valid legal questions.

Martha McCarthy, chair of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University, said a ruling in favor of vouchers here would be a first at the state level in a decade. Vouchers have lost state court battles in Colorado, Florida and several New England states since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their federal constitutionality in a landmark Cleveland case in 2002.

It's been a pattern for challenges over major education issues, such as funding equity and vouchers, to move toward state courts, McCarthy said.

That could mean trouble for the union lawsuit because Indiana's Supreme Court is viewed as more conservative than other states where vouchers were overturned, she said.

"This is a valid challenge for a valid system, but I don't think the case is going to turn on constitutional wording," McCarthy said. "It will be based on the sentiment of the court."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 1, 2011 10:35 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts