Saturday, November 06, 1999
Voucher order is blocked
High court allows new students
BY RICHARD CARELLI
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — New students can participate, at least temporarily, in Ohio's tuition voucher program for private schools in Cleveland, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday.
The court, granting an emergency request by Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, shelved a federal judge's order that temporarily barred new students from participating.
The action, although a victory for voucher advocates, does little to clarify the muddy state of the law about providing tuition help for families whose children attend religiously affiliated schools.
The court's decision to grant the emergency request was reached on a 5-4 vote along ideological lines.
The court's five most conservative members voted to grant the state's request. They are Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
Dissenting were the four more liberal justices — John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Ms. Montgomery called the decision “a great victory for us.”
“This is not the end of the road, but it allows the voucher program to go on,” she said.
Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for the Sep aration of Church and State, a Washington-based anti-voucher group, said he was disappointed.
“At least it's not on the merits of the case,” he said. “There are many more rounds on this fight.”
U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. in Cleveland is presiding over a lawsuit in which civil liberties groups and taxpayers say the program violates the constitutionally required separation of church and state because most of the money pays for tuition at religiously affiliated schools. The trial begins Dec. 13.
In an August ruling, Judge Oliver said only previous recipients of tuition vouchers could get financial help from the state until he rules on the program's legitimacy. Under the August ruling, children new to the program could not get the tuition grant.
Friday's Supreme Court order postponed the effect of Judge Oliver's order until the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rules in the case.
Weeks ago, Ohio officials sought to have the 6th Circuit court overturn Judge Oliver's injunction. The appeals court took no action, so the state turned to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens last week.
Justice Stevens, who handles emergency matters from Ohio for the nation's highest court, referred the request to the full court.
More than 4,000 students from kindergarten through sixth grade are receiving as much as $2,500 in tuition vouchers for attending private schools in Cleveland. Most of the 56 schools are religiously affiliated.
But more than 790 new private school students are not receiving the tuition aid. The program has an $11.2 million budget for this school year.
Congress is considering a national voucher program, and legislatures in about half the states have considered such programs in recent years.
Legal fights about tuition vouchers have happened in Arizona, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
To date, the Supreme Court has steered clear of providing any definitive answer.
The justices last year let Wisconsin continue providing financial help for families whose children attend religious or other private schools.
Earlier this month, however, the justices allowed Maine to continue subsidizing children who attend some private schools, while denying such tuition vouchers for those who go to religious schools.
The court recently turned away a challenge to Arizona's plan, rejecting two appeals that called the program a violation of church-state separation.
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