ISTA on the JOB

August 20, 2011
Challenge to Indiana's New School
Voucher Program to Move Forward

INDIANAPOLIS - Despite a ruling from a Marion County Superior Court Judge earlier this week denying a request for a Preliminary Injunction of Indiana's new school voucher bill, plaintiffs in the case, supported by the Indiana State Teachers Association and the National Education Association, have reaffirmed their determination to continue to litigate the constitutionality of the Choice Scholarship Program.
ISTA strongly believes in the merits of the plaintiffs' claims and hopes to get a final decision on those merits as quickly as possible.
"This week's ruling was only the very beginning of the litigation in this case," said Teresa Meredith, a Shelbyville teacher and a plaintiff in the case. "It's important to Indiana and its public schools that we continue to pursue this challenge, and we will pursue it before the trial court and higher levels of the court system."
Although the new voucher program is being phased in, and only 2,800 vouchers have been awarded to date, it's clear that the judge didn't address the fact that 97 percent of the schools participating in the program are religious. As a consequence, for all but a handful of parents, the only real option under this voucher program is the option of using a voucher to attend a religious school.
It's clear that Indiana's new school voucher program is in violation of three separate provisions of the Indiana Constitution: the prohibition against the compelled support by taxpayers of any religious ministry, the prohibition against the use of state treasury funds for the benefit of any religious institution and the provision requiring the state to provide a general and uniform system of common schools