October 29, 2001

High Court will hear vouchers case
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this fall on whether school voucher programs are an unconstitutional use of taxpayer money, potentially putting to rest a controversy which has split religious and civil liberties groups.
___Justices will decide whether a Cleveland program that gives 3,700 students up to $2,500 for private schools violates the constitutional separation of church and state. Ninety-six percent of the students receiving the vouchers attend religious schools.
___President Bush pushed for vouchers as part of his education package, but congressional leaders shelved the proposal earlier this year. Voucher programs are strongly supported by some religious groups--especially Roman Catholics--while opposed by others for co-mingling public money with private religion.
___The Bush administration, however, defends the program. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, Bush's lawyer at the Supreme Court, argues that vouchers are constitutional because the money can go to either secular or parochial schools and the government has shown no preference where parents spend the money.
___The high court has not ruled on the voucher programs, while lower courts have been divided on the issue. The Ohio Supreme Court allowed the program to continue, while federal courts ruled against it. The Supreme Court decision, expected by next June, will settle the conflicting rulings.
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