Remember when folks in Louisiana thought it was a good idea to use public tax dollars to send students to private schools? Well, a state judge has ruled the plan unconstitutional.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s voucher program that uses tax dollars to send students to private schools was ruled unconstitutional Friday by a state judge who said it’s improperly funded through the public school financing formula.
Judge Tim Kelley sided with arguments presented by teacher unions and school boards seeking to shut down the voucher program and other changes that would funnel more money away from traditional public schools.
Had this proposal passed, it would have been one of the largest voucher programs in the nation.
Governor Jindal calls the ruling a “travesty.”
“On behalf of the citizens that cast their votes for reform, the parents who want more choices, and the kids who deserve a chance, we will appeal today’s decision, and I’m confident we will prevail,” the governor said in a statement.
Bill Maurer, a lawyer representing two parents with children in the voucher program and two pro-voucher groups, said he believes the decision is “not consistent with the interpretation of the Louisiana Constitution.”
This isn’t the only setback for the measure.
It was the second legal setback this week for the voucher program that Jindal pushed through the Legislature this year as part of a sweeping education system overhaul. On Monday, a federal judge halted the voucher program in one Louisiana parish, saying it conflicts with a decades-old desegregation case.
I expect we’ll hear more about this in the future.
