Choice Scholarship Pilot Program

“Judge halts Dougco voucher pilot.” Education News Colorado, 08/13/2011

A Denver judge has granted a motion to halt the Douglas County voucher pilot pending further court action, a ruling that could send hundreds of students back to district schools.

In a 68-page ruling issued late Friday afternoon, District Court Judge Michael Martinez finds merit in six of eight legal challenges raised by attorneys representing a handful of Dougco parents and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union.

“This court is not prepared to mandate that Colorado taxpayers fund private religious education,” the judge wrote, noting the voucher plan “violates both financial and religious provisions” of the Colorado Constitution...

Some of the students already have started classes at their private schools and about $300,000 in voucher payments have gone out, Barber said. It was not immediately clear whether the judge’s ruling means the private schools will have to return those dollars.

If so, some private school leaders have lamented the impact on their schools. Terry Martin, academic director of Woodlands Academy, said she may have to lay off teachers. Kurt Unruh, head of Valor Christian School, said in an affidavit filed in court last week that as many as 40 students would not be able to attend without vouchers.

So Valor, which charges $13,950 in annual tuition, “stands to lose $558,000 in annual revenue, which would be a substantial financial hardship,” he said...

Douglas County school board members voted 7-0 on March 15 to launch the pilot, the first serious effort in Colorado to create a voucher plan since the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a 2003 effort by state lawmakers.

The state’s highest court did not address religion in its ruling, deciding the 2003 plan was unconstitutional because it stripped locally elected school boards of their constitutional control over instruction.

But Martinez tackles religion head-on in his decision, finding a clear violation of the constitutional prohibition against using public money “in aid of any church” or “for any sectarian purpose.” This provision is known as the Blaine amendment.

At least 16 of the 21 private schools participating in the voucher plan are religious and the pilot places no limits on the schools’ use of public money to support or promote religion.

“In fact, because of the interplay between the participating private school partners’ curriculum and religious teachings, any funding of the private schools, even for the purpose of providing education, would further the sectarian purpose of religious indoctrination,” the judge wrote...

Dougco’s voucher pilot has drawn national attention, in part because it involves an affluent district with high-performing schools. Most voucher programs nationally target students with special needs or those from low-income families...

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"Douglas County School District to create faux charter school.” 9News (CO), 7/13/11

CASTLE ROCK - There will be no classrooms full of students. There will be no staff of teachers. The sign outside indicates that the location is the school district headquarters. Yet, this will be the location of Douglas County's newest charter school.

"We had to find a way to do this," Randy Barber, media and events director for the Douglas County School District, said.

The district is trying to establish the first widespread school voucher system in Colorado history. Dubbed the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, 500 students have been selected to receive 75 percent of their per-pupil funding to pay for private school tuition. The remaining 25 percent will be kept by the district.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Taxpayers for Public Education have sued Douglas County. Out of the 19 private schools eligible to receive students, 14 of them are religious schools. The lawsuits allege diverting public money to religious schools is against Colorado law...

Barber says the charter school will be used as a mechanism to administer the voucher program...

The students in the Choice Scholarship Program will technically be enrolled in this charter school even though they will really be attending classes at the private school of their choice...

"They are setting up a sham charter school, which is a public school, and they are using this sham charter as a flow through of funds from the state to the private schools," Kleinkopf said.

Barber says the Choice Scholarship Program will not provide money directly to the private schools which, he says, makes their program different - and legal.

"If the money is given to a parent, and then they make the choice, that money can go to any private school including those that are religious," Barber said...

"We want to be a model for other school districts throughout the country, not just here in Colorado," Barber said...