Law & Courts

Georgia Lawsuit Seeks Vouchers as Remedy to School Aid Disparities

By Caroline Hendrie — February 08, 2005 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Adding a novel twist to the array of school finance lawsuits against states, a group of Georgia parents is asking a judge to declare both that the state’s education funding system is unconstitutional and that the remedy is not more money to public schools, but greater parental choice.

In the first of what school voucher advocates hope will be a string of similar suits, the Atlanta plaintiffs say they and other low-income parents are being denied their rights to equal access to high-quality schools by an array of government policies.

But they argue that public school districts should not reap the rewards of court orders aimed at improving that situation.

Instead, their lawsuit contends that solutions should include overturning Georgia’s residence-based method of assigning students, invalidating its school funding system, and giving parents the means to choose among public or private schools.

“We say that the remedy belongs to the parents,” said Glenn A. Delk, an Atlanta-based lawyer who represents the plaintiffs in the case, Williams v. Georgia.

Named for lead plaintiff Dana Williams, a single father of a 1st grader in the Atlanta public schools, the suit is against the state and the 51,000-student Atlanta school district.

Filed Jan. 27 in Fulton County superior court in Atlanta, the suit aims to piggyback on a case filed in September by the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia, a group of 51 mostly rural districts that say the state’s funding system has denied them enough money to fulfill their duties under the state constitution. (“Consortium of Georgia Schools Files Funding Lawsuit,” Sept. 22, 2004.)

Mr. Delk hopes his case is consolidated with the districts’ case against the state. But a lawyer for the consortium said last week that the group opposes the remedies the Williams case is seeking.

“Our coalition is committed to improving the system of public education in Georgia through the public system,” said lawyer Thomas A. Cox, who is based in Decatur, Ga.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, said only that the state was reviewing the suit. Lawyers for the Atlanta district view the case as directed mainly at the state, a district spokesman said.

Broader Options Sought

The Williams case advances the standard school finance argument that heavy reliance on property taxes to pay for schools is unfair because it fosters inequities based on where students happen to live. And it argues that fixing that problem should entail a shift toward such revenue sources as statewide sales and income taxes.

But it also proposes remedies that go well beyond allocating more money to education or redistributing aid differently among districts. Those remedies include “opportunity scholarships” equal to public schools’ annual per-pupil spending that parents could use “at any school, public or private.”

The suit also argues that parents should have access to public schools outside their attendance areas and school districts, and that the state should remove impediments to the creation of more charter schools.

As a precedent for private school tuition vouchers in K-12 education, the suit cites Georgia’s funding of both public and private prekindergarten programs, as well as state-financed scholarships that students can use at the public and private colleges and universities of their choice.

Mr. Williams said last week that he and his fellow plaintiffs pursued their case after their neighborhood elementary school was closed last year.

He said they were unhappy with the schools offered as alternatives, although he managed to secure a transfer for his daughter to another school in the city. Still, he said, he would have preferred more options. “If I had a choice in the matter,” he said, “I would like to send her somewhere else that had better schools.”

Twin Goals Seen

In preparing the Georgia suit, Mr. Delk consulted last fall with a task force on a national litigation strategy assembled by the Phoenix-based Alliance for School Choice, an advocacy group for school vouchers.

Clint Bolick, a veteran voucher litigator who is now the alliance’s president and general counsel, said last week that he expected the Georgia case to be the first among several that seek public funding of private schooling as a remedy for allegedly inadequate education systems.

Clint Bolick

“There is active discussion of the voucher remedy in about a half-dozen states right now,” he said.

The twin goals of such suits, Mr. Bolick added, are “to make the funding-equity suits more child-centered, with more realistic remedies,” and “to provide an opportunity for school choice supporters in states where legislative prospects are not bright.”

One such state is New Jersey, he said, where voucher supporters see their chances of winning in court as better than in the legislature. Advocates of greater funding for poor urban school districts have won landmark legal victories there, meaning that the fundamental right to a high-quality education is firmly established in the state’s legal precedents.

“So in our view, that would be an ideal place to go seeking a voucher remedy,” Mr. Bolick said.

A version of this article appeared in the February 09, 2005 edition of Education Week as Georgia Lawsuit Seeks Vouchers as Remedy to School Aid Disparities

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Wisconsin Teachers Sue to Restore Collective Bargaining Rights
The lawsuit takes fresh aim at a 2011 law that severely restricted bargaining, and has survived several legal challenges since.
6 min read
Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) vice president Betsy Kippers leads a chant during a rally to protest Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, at the Brown County Courthouse in downtown Green Bay on February 16, 2011.
Betsy Kippers, vice president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, leads a chant during a rally to protest Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, at the Brown County Courthouse in downtown Green Bay on February 16, 2011.
H. Marc Larson/The Green Bay Press-Gazette via AP
Law & Courts What Sandra Day O'Connor Did to Shape School Law and Civics Education
O'Connor wrote influential opinions on affirmative action, Title IX, and other education issues. Then she tirelessly worked on civics.
10 min read
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor listens as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pays tribute to O'Connor's advocacy work on behalf of civic education, impact on female judges and justice for women and girls worldwide at the Seneca Women Global Leadership Forum at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, on April 15, 2015 in Washington.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor listens to a tribute to her advocacy work on behalf of civics education and women's role in the legal profession at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, on April 15, 2015, in Washington.
Kevin Wolf/Invision for Seneca Women via AP Images
Law & Courts U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Major Gun Case With School Safety in Backdrop
The principle that guns may be barred from schools may bolster a federal law restricting firearm possession by domestic abusers.
6 min read
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside of the Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in United States v. Rahimi on Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington.
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in <i>United States</i> v. <i>Rahimi</i> on Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington.
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
Law & Courts What the Supreme Court Had to Say About School Board Members Blocking Constituents
The justices take up a case involving school board members who blocked some constituents from posting comments on public social media pages.
7 min read
The sun rises behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020.
The sun rises behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020.
Alex Brandon/AP