Supreme Court Approves Vouchers for Religious Schools

June 28, 2002

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On June 28, 2002 The Houston Chronicle reported that "the Supreme Court approved the use of tax-funded vouchers for religious school tuition." This decision could reshape "the symbolic line between church and state and... the parameters of public school financing... In a 5-4 decision, the bitterly divided justices declared constitutional the 6-year-old tuition voucher program for low-income students in the troubled Cleveland Municipal School District... The court's conservative majority said the use of vouchers does not violate the Constitution if parents, and not the government, make the choice between religious and nonreligious schools... Voucher opponents and supporters alike predicted the court's validation of the Ohio program will fuel the push for voucher programs in other states."