Ohio Court Overturns School Voucher Program Parents Received Funds To Send Kids To Private Religious Schools

The first program in the nation to offer poor parents vouchers to send their children to religious schools was declared unconstitutional Thursday by a state appellate court.

The Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that the program - under way in Cleveland - advances religion in violation of separation of church and state.

The $5.5 million program began last fall, giving low-income parents $2,500 to help them send their children to private schools, including those affiliated with a religion.

Parents of about 2,000 public school students in kindergarten through third grade have received vouchers for their children to attend one of 53 private schools. Eighty percent of the schools are religious.

The appeals court, ruling on a challenge by a teachers union and a taxpayer group, said the program is impermissible because it “provides direct and substantial non-neutral government aid to sectarian schools.”

“The only real choice available to most parents is between sending their child to a sectarian school and having their child remain in the troubled Cleveland City School District,” Judge John C. Young wrote. “Such a choice can hardly be characterized as ‘genuine and independent.”’ Ohio was the first state to start a voucher program that includes religious schools.

Earlier this year, a state judge in Wisconsin blocked a Milwaukee plan to expand its voucher program to include religious schools, saying it would violate the separation of church and state.

“We are overjoyed,” said Ron Marec, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. He said the ruling should put an end to the voucher program after the current school year.

Gov. George Voinovich, the most prominent defender of the Cleveland program, said he is disappointed but will appeal.