It’s clear funding religious schools is a smart move
A case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, could ensure that Arizona’s school choice programs continue to serve all students equally.
Espinoza asks whether the federal Constitution permits a state to exclude religious options for families participating in private school choice programs. Kendra Espinoza, a single mom with two girls – one of whom was bullied in public school because of her faith – is being denied the opportunity to receive private school scholarships because she enrolled her girls in a religious school.
For more than two decades, Arizona has empowered families to exercise a genuine choice in how and where their children are educated. The state was an early adopter of charter schools, which are public schools operated by private organizations.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Arizona is home to seven of the top 10 charter high schools in the United States. Arizona boasts one of the nation’s most expansive open enrollment laws, allowing families to choose the public school of their choice – even across school district boundaries – and is also welcoming to homeschool families.
But Arizona’s school choice options do not stop at public schools and do-ityourself homeschooling.
Arizona was the first state to adopt a tax-credit-funded scholarship program to encourage charitable contributions that fund private school scholarships. It was also the first state to enact an education savings account program to serve students with disabilities, students assigned to D or F rated schools, students residing on Native American reservations, and students whose parents are active duty military.
Under Arizona’s ESA program, parents receive public funds that they can use to pay for a variety of educational expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring, educational therapies and even college savings.
Arizonans take full advantage of these options, with fewer than 50% of students attending their assigned district school. And at the same time educational options have expanded, Arizona has been one of only a few states to show improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation’s Report Card.
In other words, Arizona’s academic achievement has improved in a choice environment.
Arizona’s robust school choice policies – particularly its private school choice programs – have been hard won. The Institute for Justice has defended both the tax credit and ESA programs in court on behalf of eligible families. Arizona’s teachers’ unions argued in state court that both programs violate a provision of the Arizona Constitution that states that “No tax shall be laid or appropriation of public money made in aid of any ... private or sectarian school.”
The Arizona Supreme Court (and later the U.S. Supreme Court) turned away legal challenges to the tax credit program because it involved private donations to private charities, not appropriations of public funds.
And the ESA program was held to be “in aid of ” parents and students and not “private or sectarian schools” because “none of the ESA funds are preordained for a particular destination.” It was up to parents as to how to spend their ESA dollars.
Under the legal precedents established thus far, Arizona may include religious options for families. But if the political winds shifted, could Arizona exclude religious options? The Montana Supreme Court recently held that discriminating against religious options is permissible, citing a state constitutional provision similar to Arizona’s provision quoted above.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing Montana’s high court and declaring that states may not discriminate against religious options in private school choice programs would ensure that Arizona’s programs will continue to serve all families equally.