Last week, the Colorado Senate narrowly passed a pilot voucher bill that, when signed, will mark the first voucher plan enacted since last year's landmark Zelman decision. The Colorado House, which passed a similar version of the bill on February 19, is reviewing the Senate amendments. Barring major changes, Governor Bill Owens has pledged to sign the measure.
The Colorado plan would allow struggling, low-income students in low-achieving school districts to use state money to pay tuition at private or parochial schools. Only students eligible for free/reduced lunches would be eligible for vouchers, and students in grades 4-12 would also have to score "unsatisfactory" on the state standardized tests to qualify. To help offset the monetary hit for school districts whose students switch from public to private schools, districts that lose students would continue to receive as much as 25% of each voucher student's state funding allotment. Despite this provision, and the likelihood that relatively few Colorado youngsters would actually benefit from the narrowly drafted law, the Colorado Education Association has criticized it for threatening to drain upwards of $193 million in state funding from public schools at a time when districts are already facing a severe budget crunch.
One potentially sticky wicket could make a court challenge against this voucher program viable despite of Zelman. Colorado's state constitution includes a 19th Century "Blaine Amendment" that prohibits funds passing through, to, or even in the vicinity of a religious sect. If the new program is challenged under this provision, as seems likely, the Supreme Court might be forced to declare either the program or the Amendment unconstitutional.
Texas is vying to be the third state (after Florida and potentially Colorado) to offer a statewide voucher program for students in struggling schools. A voucher bill cleared the Lone Star State's House education committee last week. Under its provisions, vouchers would initially be available only to low-income students in 11 urban districts, although proponents hope eventually to make them more widely accessible. For now, the measure also limits the number of participants to 5% of eligible students per district.
In other voucher news, Milwaukee school board veteran John Gardner last week lost his seat to Tom Balistreri, a former high school principal backed by the teachers union. Liberal Democrat Gardner had joined Mayor John Norquist in 1990 to push for legislative approval of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program. His loss will shift the school board's balance of power, leaving pro-voucher members one vote short of a majority. Many believe this will jeopardize the long-term sustainability of the city's 12 year-old voucher program.
In the District of Columbia, school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz announced a sudden change of heart last week. After criticizing President Bush's proposed DC voucher program when first announced, she has now voiced support for such a program (with some strings attached) via an op-ed in the Washington Post. [For Cafritz's initial reaction to the voucher program, go to http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=10#351.] The move surprised and angered many DC government officials. - Kathleen Porter
"Vouchers gain an early foothold," by Greg Toppo, USA Today, April 2, 2003
"Colorado to be first in school vouchers," by George Archibald, The Washington Times, April 3, 2003
"Ed-biz: Colorado vouchers to get 'Blaine'," by Gregory Fossedal, UPI, April 1, 2003
"Voucher bill clears a hurdle," by Clay Robinson, The Houston Chronicle, April 4, 2003
"A Capital Idea," editorial, The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2003 (free registration required)
"Making the most of vouchers," by Peggy Cooper-Cafritz, The Washington Post, March 29, 2003
