by David Safier
How often do you see a unanimous ruling from a Supreme Court, state or federal?
That's what we got today on the voucher issue from the Arizona Supreme Court.
At issue are the vouchers for foster children and disabled students
I wrote about earlier today.
Here's the shocker, for me, anyway. The ruling didn't hinge on using state money for religious education. It was far broader. The ruling said the vouchers "violated the Arizona Constitution's prohibition against providing state aid to private schools."
Though supporters argued that students and their parents were the true beneficiaries of the programs, the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling said the programs still tripped up against the Constitution's prohibition against appropriating money for private education.
"These programs transfer state funds directly from the state treasury to private schools. That the checks or warrants fist [sic] pass through the hands of parents is immaterial," Justice Michael D. Ryan wrote.
The prohibition is clear, Ryan wrote. "The framers plainly intended that Arizona have a strong public school system to provide mandatory education."
So in Arizona, students can't get government vouchers to attend any private schools period, religious or otherwise. Unless that's changed at some point, or unless voucher supporters can figure out a way around it, that's the last nail in the coffin for Arizona vouchers.
The 1999 court ruling that educational tax credits are OK still stands. Though the money goes to private schools, it doesn't make it into the state's hands first, so the court considers it the taxpayer's money.
UPDATE: Thanks to Francine for forwarding an ACLU email about the Supreme Court decision. This apparently all comes down to the so-called "Aid Clause" of the AZ Constitution:
“no tax shall be laid or appropriation of public money made in aid of any church, or private or sectarian school, or any public service corporation."
There you have it. Private schools are rolled together with churches in this clause.
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