A Colorado school district is taking its fight to preserve its voucher program to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the Associated Press.
The Douglas County school district’s pilot program would have allowed some students to use public dollars toward tuition at private schools, including religious schools. But the state’s supreme court recently ruled that the district’s school voucher program was unconstitutional.
That was a big setback both for local and national advocates, especially after a state appeals court in 2013 reversed a Denver district judge’s initial ruling and upheld the program.
Now the Douglas County school board is asking the country’s highest court to weigh in on the matter. They say the district’s voucher program is very similar to one in Cleveland that the Supreme Court decided in 2002 was constitutional.
Created in 2011, the Douglas County’s Choice Scholarship Program would have given about 500 local public school students 75 percent of their per-pupil funding (which works out to be around $5,000 for the 2014-15 school year) to use toward tuition at a private school of their choice.
The Douglas County district, located about 30 miles south of Denver, serves around 67,000 students.
Related:
- Colorado’s Pilot School Voucher Program Overturned by State’s High Court
- ACLU Announces Lawsuit Challenging Nevada’s New School Choice Law
- Why Private Schools Are Opting Out of Voucher Programs