CV NEWS FEED // Several states are preparing for school choice “showdowns” in 2024 as they work to pass new legislation expanding education access or face lawsuits over their current policies, according to the Daily Caller.
Oklahoma, Wisconsin and South Carolina were met with lawsuits after passing pro-school choice legislation this year. Nebraska, Florida and Ohio also passed school choice legislation this year, the Daily Caller reported on November 23.
Tennessee state representative Mark White (R-Memphis) told local news outlet the Tennessean he hopes to introduce legislation in January to expand the current voucher program to all of the state’s counties. Currently only three counties in Tennessee have the voucher program.
“It just baffles me that we are pro-choice on so many things, but we still struggle with freedom of choice when it comes to schools,” White told The Tennessean.
White co-sponsored a Tennessee school choice program in 2019, which was met with a lawsuit that rose to the state Supreme Court in 2022.
The state Supreme Court ruled the school voucher program constitutional. Over 3,400 students have applied to the program in 2023, but state senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) said that it is still “too early in the five-year pilot program to consider expanding to more counties,” according to the Tennessean.
“A good education is not a luxury or a one-size-fits-all solution that works for every student. I believe strongly that no child should be denied great learning opportunities because of where they live or their family’s income,” White wrote in the Commercial Appeal last week.
School choice has also been an ongoing debate in Texas, as Governor Greg Abbott has called four special sessions since July to try to pass school choice legislation. Two weeks ago, the Texas House voted 84-63 to remove an education savings account program proposal from a $7.6 billion education funding bill.
Despite the vote, Abbott said in a statement to local news outlet the Austen American-Statesman, “I will continue advancing school choice in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot box, and will maintain the fight for parent empowerment until all parents can choose the best education path for their child.”
Ohio is facing opposition for its school choice legislation, which currently allows for families 450% above the poverty line to apply for school vouchers. The Ohio Coalition of Equity & Adequacy of School Funding (OCEASF) filed a lawsuit against the State of Ohio, set to go to trial next year, over Ohio’s school choice. Since its initial filing a third of Ohio’s public school districts have joined the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit’s document OCEASF argued that the current program “poses an existential threat” and has been taking away vital funding from public schools.
South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin are also facing lawsuits on their school choice policies. Though Wisconsin’s school choice program is 32 years-old, the state Supreme Court is set to rule soon on whether it is unconstitutional since it gives parents vouchers for their children to attend private schools, the Associated Press reported.
The group of parents, teachers and advocates who filed a lawsuit against the state of South Carolina on October 26 argued “that the state’s new school voucher program, which was passed in April, violates the ‘no aid’ clause in the constitution barring the state from funding religious and private schools,” the Daily Caller reported.
The Daily Caller also reported that the public school advocates who filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma argued
that the state could not approve a charter for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School because the school will discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity that is not in line with Catholic doctrine. They also claim that the charter violates the state’s constitution because it will be funding religious indoctrination.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) told the Daily Caller News Foundation in April that he hopes in the future to “unlock more private schools” for parents in their school choice.
