WI Supreme Court Case Upholding Tax $ for Religious Schools

[Jeff Kaczmarski]

Press reports this morning state that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the use of tax dollars to fund private religious schools in the Milwaukee School Choice Program case.

It is not as of this writing (9:00 am CST on 6-10) published on the Court's web site, but it should be soon at http://www.wisbar.org/Wis/.  The case number is 97-0270 and the title is Jackson v. Benson; Milw. Teachers* Educ. Assn. v. Benson; NAACP v. Benson.

The issues as framed by the parties are: Does the expanded Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Wis. Stat. § 119.23, violate the religious benefits clause and the compelled support clause of Wis. Const. art. I, § 18? Does the amended
School Choice Plan violate the establishment clause of the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? Does the amended choice
program violate the private or local bill provision of Wis. Const. art.
IV, § 18 of the Wis. Constitution? Does the amended choice plan
violate the uniformity clause of the public purpose doctrine?

It will be interesting to see if choice program opponents hazard a US Supreme Court appeal, with the risk of an adverse decision that would control nationwide.

Jeff Kaczmarski