A school voucher program does not violate a state ban on aid to religious institutions, the Oklahoma state Supreme Court ruled today.
In a 9-0 decision, justices upheld a scholarship program that allows some 400 children with special needs to attend private schools.
The ruling hinged on issues that are being raised in similar cases around the country.
Justices held the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for Students Disabilities gives aid to students, not schools, and that it provides a "substantial benefit" to the state, by helping fulfill its duty to educate children with special needs.
Oklahoma is one of nearly 40 states where so-called Blaine Amendments ban state support of religious institutions. These restrictions have long been the bane of vouchers and other private school choice programs. A similar provision was used to strike down a unique voucher program in Colorado last year, and another is being cited to challenge Florida's tax credit scholarship program*.
Critics of Oklahoma's program argued it took away religious freedom by unconstitutionally supporting religious schools. They prevailed in a lower court last year.
High court justices, however, noted school districts in the Sooner State have long had the option of contracting with private schools to help educate students with special needs.
When it created the scholarship program, the justices held [emphasis theirs], "[T]he legislature simply allowed parents and legal guardians the same right that school districts already enjoyed, the choice to use state funds to contract with an approved private institution for special education services." (more…)
Broward County School DistrictRobert Runcie, the superintendent of the Broward County School District, wanted to help low-performing charter schools by partnering them with high-quality charter operators. He and his staff brought the idea to the school board and helped secure a $3.3 million grant from the state. But Runcie's bosses on the school board opted to turn the grant down. The reason defies logic.
“It’s not our job,” said board member Laurie Rich Levinson. Board member Patricia Good didn’t want to help either because, according to the Sun-Sentinel she believed, “it was up to individual schools to bring up their own grades.”
Laurie Rich Levinson
The apathetic approach to helping students in underperforming charter schools isn’t surprising given the Board’s history with charters. Repeated constantly by the Sun-Sentinel, board members claim charters are “easy to open but difficult to shutter if they fail,” and that this is entirely the state's fault.
Reality is more complicated. Broward shuts down a lot of charter schools. It also approves a lot of charters. According to the 2014 Authorizers Report, Broward recently approved 22 new charter schools, more than any other district in the state.
District staff say they are understaffed for charter school oversight, and the board grumbles about the proliferation of of poor-performing charter schools. But now the board is refusing money to help on both accounts.
