Indiana Supreme Court upholds school vouchers

Public tax dollars may be used to fund private school tuition under Indiana’s voucher program, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled today.

“We hold that the Indiana school voucher program, the choice scholarship program, is within the legislature’s power under Article 8, Section 1, and that the enacted program does not violate either Section 4 or Section 6 of Article 1 of the Indiana Constitution,” the justices wrote in the 5-0 decision.

The ruling, on a teachers union-supported lawsuit from 2011, ends the legal challenge to the program at the state level. The case could be made again in federal court. But in 2002 the U.S. Supreme Courtupheld a similar program in Ohio, making any federal case a long shot.
The Indiana court challenge began shortly after the program was created in 2011 when a group of teachers, school officials and parents who oppose vouchers sued the state, arguing the program was unconstitutional.

“It’s the end of the constitutional debate,” said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of theFriedman Foundation for Educational Choice. “Anyone who says it not legal in state of Indiana no longer has a leg to stand on.”