VICTORY FOR VOUCHERS! Architect of Cleveland Program Praises Supreme Court Decision

In the matter of Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris, the court let stand a 6-year-old program in Cleveland, Ohio that provides parents with up to $2,500 to pay for private, religious, or out-of-district tuition and to opt out of one of the poorest performing public school districts in the nation.

Washington, D.C. - Mr. David Brennan, an attorney and architect of the Cleveland voucher program will join with President George W. Bush today to applaud the 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows for pubic funds to be used by parents to choose a school for their children.

In the matter of Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris, the court let stand a 6-year-old program in Cleveland, Ohio that provides parents with up to $2,500 to pay for private, religious, or out-of-district tuition and to opt out of one of the poorest performing public school districts in the nation. The majority opinion said the program does not sponsor religious indoctrination. The court reasoned that children in the Cleveland program have a theoretical choice of attending religious schools, secular private academies, suburban public schools, or charter schools run by parents or others outside the education establishment.
In his new book, The Cleveland Voucher Case, Mr. Brennan describes the program as constitutional because it would have a secular purpose because the statute permitted participation by private schools, parochial schools and all public schools in adjacent school districts [as well as the] tutoring grant. Its primary effect was not to advance religion; it was to empower inner city families with a choice and give their children a chance to escape poverty through a good education."
The majority agreed, "We believe that the program challenged here is a program of true private choice." Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for himself and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
The Cleveland Voucher Case, is an informative summary of the facts in the case including the issues and personalities involved. The book reviews the history, the substance, and the politics of the Cleveland program, one of only three significant programs in the country to feature a choice between both government-run and private schools as a matter of public policy. (The other two are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Pensacola, Florida).
The book is available through the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution website at www.adti.net.

For more information or to schedule an interview with David Brennan, please call Kate Pomeroy at Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at (703)739-5920.