Historically, private education has been an option mostly for families who could afford the cost or received financial help. Years of research have shown that many families would choose private schools and other educational resources for their children if they did not face insurmountable financial or geographical limitations. Private educational…

A key component of current school reform efforts focuses on increasing parental choice through voucher systems and programs that provide tax benefits for contributions to scholarship programs for private school tuition. Indeed, proposals to adopt such programs have been or currently are being considered in four-fifths of the states, and about half…

This article provides an overview of non-religion-based state constitutional challenges to educational voucher and tax credit/scholarship programs. The first section discusses litigation examining whether education voucher programs violate constitutional provisions requiring the legislature to provide an efficient system of public schools. The…

Ralph Carr had neither expected, nor wanted, to be governor. Carr was at the midpoint of his second term as governor when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Public sentiment and the popular press overwhelmingly supported the incarceration of Japanese Americans. On February 18, 1942, for example, one Colorado newspaper editor…

In the absence of incontrovertible performance data in support of, or opposition to, school vouchers, court decisions on their legality become increasingly important. Analysis of legal challenges provides a rich opportunity for scholars and policymakers to follow arguments for or against their positions. We present a chronicle of the litigation…

Within the constitution of each of the 50 states, there is language that mandates the creation of a public education system. The authority for public education falls to states because of a 1973 Supreme Court case which determined that the federal government has no responsibility to provide systems of public education. These constitutional…