Arizona Parents File Suit Seeking More Choice (Not More Funding) To Escape Failing Public Schools
WEB RELEASE: March 7, 2002
CONTACT: Lisa Knepper
John Kramer (703) 682-9320
[School Choice]
Phoenix, AZ.-Should public education carry a money-back guarantee? Some Arizona parents think so and today attorneys for these families caught in failing public school districts filed papers in Maricopa County Superior Court to protect the constitutional rights of poor children in the state to a basic education. The right to an education is a fundamental right under the Arizona Constitution.
Clarence and Martha Patchin as well as Maria Cano are parents of Arizona schoolchildren who live in two of seven public school districts that recently filed a lawsuit in which they admitted their inability to educate at-risk students. The parents moved to intervene as plaintiffs in that suit.
With the parents’ intervention, the case will present two sharply divergent views of education reform. The school districts, represented by Timothy M. Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, allege they have a right to more of the taxpayers’ money. The families, represented by the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm that is the nation’s leading legal advocate for school choice, believes more choice rather than a blank check is the answer to the children’s educational problems. Their alternative remedy would provide every at-risk student in a failing school district exactly what the Arizona Constitution guarantees them—an equal opportunity for a basic education now—through a pro rata share of funding to pursue private education.
"The Constitution protects the rights of children, not school districts," said Tom Liddy, an attorney with the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter and lead counsel in the case. "The kids we represent have no time for reforms that may or may not happen years down the line. They need a lifeline now. And school choice is the only remedy that will give these kids immediate access to a quality education."
"Education is the most important product that doesn’t come with a money-back guarantee," said Clint Bolick, IJ’s vice president. "Instead of seeking more money for the failing school districts, the parents we represent seek a voucher remedy to allow them to secure high-quality educational opportunities in private schools."
"The school districts admit that students trapped in these schools are not receiving the education to which they are constitutionally entitled and brazenly demand more taxpayer dollars with no assurance of improved student achievement," declared Timothy Keller, a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter.