Alexandria, Va. (November 3, 2010) - The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that Arizona’s tuition tax credit program is unconstitutional, because it supports private and religious schools with public funds.
In Winn v. Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, which will be heard this morning, the Supreme Court will review Arizona's program that has diverted millions of dollars of public money to private religious schools. The program subsidizes tuition at private, largely religious schools, and lacks any public accountability measures.
“Voucher programs are bad public policy diverting critical funds away from public education,” said NSBA's Executive Director Anne L. Bryant.
In September 2010, NSBA filed an amicus brief with the Arizona School Boards Association, American Association of School Administrators, National Education Association, and Arizona Education Association in support of overturning the Arizona law.
“In practice, the Arizona law is unconstitutional, because it funnels public dollars solely to religious schools,” NSBA's General Counsel Francisco M. Negrón, Jr. said. “This scheme is a far cry from Supreme Court precedent aimed at serving students through real public school choice.”
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Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their 95,000 local school board members throughout the U.S. Working with and through our state associations, NSBA advocates for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. www.nsba.org
Amicus Brief:
http://www.nsba.org/MainMenu/SchoolLaw/AmicusBriefs/Arizona-Christian-School-Tuition-Organization.aspx