The Arizona Supreme Court has refused to hear a legal challenge to the state’s two new voucher programs, targeted to children with special needs and those in foster care.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the advocacy group People for the American Way filed a lawsuit directly with the state’s high court in November seeking to halt the two programs, which were approved in by the Arizona legislature last year (“Arizona Lawsuit Targets Special-Needs Vouchers,” Nov. 29, 2006.) Lawyers could file again with a lower court.
The state supreme court had already upheld in 1999 a program that provides dollar-for-dollar personal-income-tax credits to Arizona residents who donate to school choice scholarship organizations, which in turn award vouchers to students who want to attend private schools.
Under the new voucher programs, $5 million a year in state tuition aid is available to children with disabilities, and those in foster care, who would like to attend a private or another public school.
