OHIO SUPREME COURT GRANTS STAY;
SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM TO PROCEED
WEB RELEASE: July 24, 1997
CONTACT: John Kramer (703) 682-9320
[School Choice]
Washington, D.C. The Ohio Supreme Court today issued a stay of a lower court ruling, thereby allowing the Cleveland school choice program to continue for the coming school year.
"This ruling means everything to 2,000 economically disadvantaged children who were in jeopardy of losing their only hope for a decent education," said Clint Bolick, the Institute for Justice's litigation director. The Institute represents Hope for Cleveland's Children and low-income families participating in the school choice program.
The program is under attack by two teachers' unions which won a ruling earlier this year invalidating the program on First Amendment religious establishment grounds. Last summer, a trial court upheld the program.
The Institute sought the stay of the appeals court ruling. "For once, the kids have triumphed over the powerful special interests," Bolick declared.
The Institute for Justice advances a rule of law under which individuals control their destinies as free and responsible members of society. Through strategic litigation, training, and outreach, the Institute secures greater protection for individual liberty, challenges the scope and ideology of the Regulatory Welfare State, and illustrates and extends the benefits of freedom to those whose full enjoyment of liberty is denied by government. The Institute was founded in September 1991 by William Mellor and Clint Bolick.