ACLU appeals public tax dollars for private schools
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, public education leaders and parent groups filed an appeal Tuesday asking the Michigan Supreme Court to rule the use of public tax dollars to fund private schools unconstitutional.
Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan's deputy legal director, said the state constitution clearly prohibits the use of public funds to fund private schools. State lawmakers must not be allowed to use public school dollars to fund private interests, he said.
"Our constitution could not be clearer on this issue: Public money should only be spent on public schools,” Korobkin said.
The ACLU of Michigan and others sued in March 2017 to prevent the state from diverting $5 million to private schools to reimburse them for complying with health and safety laws.
Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens issued a preliminary injunction against the payments in July 2017, and issued a ruling declaring them unconstitutional in April 2018, ACLU officials said.
But last month, a divided Court of Appeals panel ruled Michigan lawmakers can provide public funding to private schools to cover the “actual costs” of mandates that do not directly support student education.
In a 2-1 decision, judges William Murphy and Anica Letica ruled state funding to reimburse private schools for complying with health and safety laws is not inherently unconstitutional despite a ban on public aid for private education.
The funding must be “incidental” to teaching and providing educational services, cannot support a “primary” function critical to the school's existence and must not involve or result in “excessive religious entanglement,” they said in devising a new three-part test.
Any state law concerning student health, safety or welfare is “almost by definition” incidental to teaching, the judges said.
Public school advocates sued the state in 2017 after the Republican-led Legislature Continue reading: ACLU appeals use of public tax dollars for private schools
