The Arizona Supreme Court said last week it will decide a school choice issue: whether two voucher programs for children with disabilities and foster children attending private schools violate the Arizona Constitution.
The justices agreed to review a Court of Appeals ruling that the voucher programs violated a state constitutional ban on using public money to help private and religious schools. The Court of Appeals’ May 16 decision overturned a 2007 ruling by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge that the programs are constitutional.
The voucher programs, which were enacted in 2006 and launched in 2007, provide grants to hundreds of students to attend private schools of their choice. The programs provide grants worth thousands of dollars for students, with the money paid in checks to parents who must endorse them over to the schools involved.
