Indiana Supreme Court upholds state's school voucher program

The decision means that the more than 9,300 low-income students already using tax dollars to pay for private school tuition can continue to do so, and it clears the way for a push by Gov. Mike Pence and Republican legislators to expand the program.

The court issued its 22-page ruling written by Chief Justice Brent Dickson and backed by all five justices on Tuesday morning.

“Today’s voucher ruling is a huge win for Indiana’s students. Not only is school choice the right public policy, it’s the most socially just,” wrote former Republican state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, who championed vouchers but was ousted from his job last year by Democrat Glenda Ritz.

The Indiana State Teachers Association had sued, hoping to block the law that the Republican-dominated General Assembly approved and former Gov. Mitch Daniels signed in 2011. After a Marion County judge rejected their effort, the group appealed to the state’s high court.

Opponents of the voucher law argued that the Indiana Constitution requires the state’s legislature to fund a uniform school system, and said that the voucher law led to taxpayers subsidizing religious institutions.

The Supreme Court, though, said the Indiana Constitution gives the General Assembly broad discretion to decide how to fulfill that school-funding duty.

“The school voucher program does not replace the public school system, which remains in place and available to all Indiana schoolchildren in accordance with the dictates of the education clause,” the court’s opinion said.

And the high court rejected the religious argument, ruling that tax dollars are primarily going to benefit the recipients of vouchers, rather than the schools they attend.

“The voucher program expenditures do not directly benefit religious schools but rather directly benefit lower-income families with schoolchildren by providing an opportunity for such children to attend non-public schools if desired,” the opinion said.

The program allows students in grades 1 through 8 to qualify for up to $4,500 per year to pay for private school tuition, and allows high school students to receive slightly larger vouchers, depending on where they attend school.

Currently, those students are required to attend public school for at least one year first. Pence and GOP lawmakers have proposed eliminating that requirement for students who are just now entering kindergarten. That bill has cleared the House and is now in the Senate.

“I have long believed that parents should be able to choose where their children go to school, regardless of their income,” Pence said in a statement Tuesday.

“Now that the Indiana Supreme Court has unanimously upheld this important program, we must continue to find ways to expand educational opportunities for all Indiana families.”