By Lisa Crockett

Three civil liberties organizations filed suit in June against Douglas County School District (DCSD) to challenge a new school voucher plan. The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued on behalf of a group of parents, clergy and other taxpayers who oppose the program.

The voucher system, called the “Pilot Choice Scholarship Plan,” was approved by the School Board in March. The plan provides funding to students who wish to leave public schools (including local public schools like Timber Trail Elementary, Buffalo Ridge Elementary, Rocky Heights Middle School and Rock Canyon High School) and take a portion of their state funding with them. The district would keep some of the money and then allocate the rest to individual students to help pay, in whole or in part (depending on the total cost of tuition), tuition at various private schools, including several schools with religious affiliations.

The lawsuit argues that the voucher plan violates the Colorado Constitution’s religious liberty provisions, which bar the appropriation of public funds to religious schools. The lawsuit also claims that the program violates Colorado constitutional provisions and statutes that require educational funds to pay for public education and remain under government control.

“While families have the right to decide where their children should attend school, the state cannot finance religious education at private institutions,” said Heather L. Weaver, staff attorney for the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “Public education funds should be dedicated to improving our public schools, not promoting and subsidizing religion in violation of the state constitution.”

As of press time, the school district was moving forward with the plan, completing a lottery to determine which students would receive funding to attend one of the 21 schools approved (thus far) by DCSD.

In order to be approved to participate in the Plan, participating private schools must agree to abide by criteria set by the school district – including accreditation, qualified teaching staff and performance standards. The rules also state that “religious private school partners will provide the option of a waiver to DCSD students for any required religious services,” and “private school partners will not discriminate in admission of students on any basis protected by federal or state law, except that religious private school partners may make employment and enrollment decisions based upon religious beliefs, so long as such employment and enrollment decisions are not otherwise prohibited by law.” In response to the suit, DCSD issued the following statement:

“The Douglas County School District is aware of the ACLU’s lawsuit regarding the Choice Scholarship Program. This program is just one of many choice programs available to Douglas County students. We continue to believe every student should be empowered to find their best educational fit, whether it is at one of our neighborhood schools, charter schools, or at one of our private-partner schools. We intentionally built this plan to include rigorous accountability measures that ensure a quality education for all students. Our district has a tradition of innovation and excellence – we will always provide opportunities that are in the best interests of our students.”

For more information about the Pilot Choice Scholarship Plan (including the full text of rules and parameters of the Plan) visit: www.dcsdk12.org. For information about the ACLU suit (including the full text of the complaint against the School District) visit www. aclu-co.org.