Lawsuits in Utah and Arkansas allege private school vouchers violate state constitutions.
Ahead of the 2024–25 academic year, plaintiffs in two states are suing to reverse school choice laws that fund private school vouchers with taxpayer dollars.
In Arkansas, four parents, including two who said they’re public school teachers, filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Gov. Sarah Sanders, the Department of Education, and the Department of Finance and Administration.
The June 7 complaint alleges that the school voucher program, which was approved under the 2023 Arkansas LEARNS Act and will be expanded to allow school choice for all students by next year, violates the state constitution.
The program is to be phased in over three years. The first cohort of student applicants was limited to disabled or homeless students, children whose parents were active-duty military personnel, or those rising kindergarteners.
For the coming 2024–25 school year, enrolment was expanded to the children of emergency first responders and those who wanted to transfer out of the lowest-performing schools with a “D” or “F” rating. As of June, 106 private schools were approved to accept vouchers, and 6,171 out of 7,280 student applicants were accepted, according to court papers.
By August 2025, there will be “no limitations” on student participation in the program. More than $97 million has been set aside for school vouchers thus far. Under the current funding formula, each voucher is worth about $6,000, according to court papers.
“If (fully) implemented, the LEARNS Act will drain valuable and necessary resources from the public school system and create a separate and unequal dual school system that discriminates between children based on economic, racial and physical characteristics and capabilities,” the complaint said.
The voucher system violates the free education promise established in the state constitution, which is based on municipal property taxes funding local schools and state aid based on student population, according to court papers. The plaintiffs called the voucher funding mechanism a “shell game.”
The defendants have asked the court to allow three parents to intervene in the case on their side. One of the parents has an autistic child who needs better speech therapy services.
“They have a clear interest in using the funds to pay for education that best meets the child’s needs, and the plaintiff’s request to take those funds away from the applicants would directly impair their interests,” the defendants’ motion said. “No existing party is able to adequately represent their unique and personal stake in the program’s continued existence.”
On June 28, the plaintiffs petitioned the court to deny that request. A ruling has not yet been issued.In the Beehive State, the Utah Education teacher’s union and two parents filed a lawsuit in the Third Judicial District Court alleging that the voucher system violates the state constitution’s 1895 mandate that all schools must be free and open to all students. Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, and the Alliance for Choice in Education are named in the May 29 complaint.
The “Utah Fits All” scholarship program, approved earlier this year, provides up to $8,000 per student to cover tuition at private schools or costs for homeschooling programs. Transfers between public schools are not covered, and priority is given to the lowest-income children. According to court papers, vouchers have already been approved and will take effect when school resumes this fall.
Because the state education department has no authority or oversight of private schools, the complaint says, qualified providers are not required to “provide sound basic education, satisfy any academic standards, or prepare students for higher education or the workforce.”
“They may instruct students in pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, or nothing at all,” the complaint said.
The Epoch Times contacted the Utah State Board of Education and the Arkansas Department of Education, but both agencies declined to comment on the case.
The Institute for Justice and the Partnership for Educational Choice are supporting the defendants in both cases, the institute’s spokesman Phillip Suderman told The Epoch Times on July 8.
“The state’s obligation to provide for the school system is a floor, not a ceiling, on educational opportunities,“ Mr. Suderman said. ”But the plaintiffs in both the Arkansas and Utah cases argue the opposite and insist the state can provide for no educational opportunities outside of the public school system.
“We are confident that the Arkansas and Utah court, like so many other courts before them, will reject the plaintiffs’ theories and make clear that the state is free to provide aid to families who seek opportunities outside the public system.”
FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University, identified 118 private-school choice bills in 34 states for 2024, and legislation in 14 states was signed into law.