Derek W. Black is a professor of constitutional law who specializes in civil rights issues at the University of South Carolina. His recent book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy is a must-read.
Black writes here in an essay written for this blog about recent voucher cases in state courts:
This summer in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the US Supreme Court struck down the provision in the Montana state constitution that prohibited aid to religious schools as a violation of free exercise of religion. Some public education advocates understandably feared the sky was falling. Voucher advocates hailed Espinoza as a “major win” and began strategizing how they might expand the decision and leverage it in other contexts. Most notably, the plan they envisioned would use Espinoza to force states to allow religious institutions to operate charter schools. If they achieved that, public education might not only be privatized, it might become religious.
Far less attention has been paid to the string of state constitutional victories striking down voucher programs and respecting states’ decision to limits on the use of CONTINUE READING: Derek Black: State Courts Turn Back Voucher Cases | Diane Ravitch's blog