Michigan Education Groups Sue To Block ‘Backdoor Voucher’ Program

Michigan’s 643 private schools won’t be able to count on up to $2.5 million in reimbursement to meet state-mandated requirements if a lawsuit a coalition of about a dozen Michigan education groups is successful. The Michigan Association of School Administrators, the Michigan Association of School Boards and others said Tuesday they plan to sue to stop the reimbursement, authorized under a state budget that took effect Oct. 1.

The lawsuit will ask for a preliminary injunction blocking the law until it can be reviewed by courts. The groups argue that supporting private schools with public money is a violation of the Michigan Constitution, and a backdoor approach to creating a voucher for the state’s private schools that takes money away from the state’s struggling public schools.

The $2.5 million, a small part of the state’s $16 million education budget,would be used by private schools to cover costs for such things as compliance with state immunization laws, fire and health codes, and background checks for school workers.

“We think it’s irresponsible to give money away to private schools when our public schools are struggling to make ends meet,” Wytrice Harris, a Detroit parent involved in the 482Forward community group, said at a news conference, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Michigan Constitution allows the use of public money to support transportation services to private schools, but prohibits any direct or indirect “payment, credit, tax benefit, exemption or deductions, tuition voucher, subsidy, grant or loan of public monies” to those institutions. After he signed the law last year, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked the Michigan Supreme Court to review it to ensure it would pass constitutional muster, but the high court declined.

At Tuesday’s news conference, the Michigan Catholic Conference said the reimbursements are legal because they don’t support instructional programs at parochial and non-parochial private schools, but instead address “the health, safety and welfare” of students, The Detroit News reported.

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“We believe that regardless of where a child attends school, they should be educated in an environment that’s healthy and safe — and that applies to every student in Michigan,” said David Maluchnik, a spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference. “We don’t believe (the appropriation) has anything to do with curriculum or instruction or promotion of any religious curriculum, which obviously the constitution does address.”

In 2000, the state’s voters rejected a voucher proposal that would have allowed state per-pupil education funding to follow the student to whatever school they chose to attend. The ballot measure was backed by now U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

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