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Courts Take Education Community by Storm
Voucher Ruling May Change State Lawmakers' Role
On June 27, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio, Et Al. V. Simmons-Harris et al. that school vouchers, which use public funding to pay for private education, were constitutional. The five-to-four decision has been hailed as the most significant ruling on education issues since the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision in 1954, which outlawed race-based segregation in schools. Proponents of the voucher system view the voucher as means for all children to receive a high-quality education. Critics of the voucher system feel that vouchers blur the line between the separation of church and state and have a negative impact on the public school system.
While the eventual fallout of the decision in unclear, it raises significant issues for state-level lawmakers. Currently there are only three voucher programs in existence, but with the Supreme Court ruling, there may be a number of voucher bills introduced in the next legislative session. While the constitutional question has now been addressed, legislators will need to sort out other issues including the impact of vouchers on student achievement, the cost of voucher programs and their effectiveness.
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