Choosing to sue: Here's a look at some 2013 lawsuits involving school choice « Watchdog.org

Choosing to sue: Here's a look at some 2013 lawsuits involving school choice « Watchdog.org:

Choosing to sue: Here’s a look at some 2013 lawsuits involving school choice

By Mary C. Tillotson  /   December 31, 2013  /   No Comments

 

 

  

 

 

Part 42 of 41 in the series Educating America

By Mary C. Tillotson | Watchdog.org

PICK AND CHOOSE: School choice programs have been sued all over the country. Here’s what happened in 2013.

When a school choice law is passed, a school choice lawsuit follows – it’s all but inevitable. I’ve counted at least a dozen school choice lawsuits over 11 programs in 2013. Here’s the roundup:

Arizona: Niehaus v. Huppenthal

Program at issue: Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

Type: Education Savings Accounts

Available to: Students with special needs, assigned to failing schools, in military families, in foster care or in adoptive families

Status: A state appeals court ruled in favor of education savings accounts, finding themdistinct from a voucher program the state Supreme Court struck down in 2009. Interested parties are waiting to hear whether the state’s high court will hear the case.

 Oklahoma: Jenks v. Spry, Kimery v. Broken Arrow Public Schools, Oliver v. Barresi

Program at issue: Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities

Type: Voucher

Available to: Students with special needs

Status: In November 2012 the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the program — sort of. The school districts did not have standing to bring the case, it said. In October 2013, other plaintiffs — citizen taxpayers, almost all affiliated with the public school system