Arlington, Va.— The Institute for Justice, the nation’s leading legal advocate for school choice, applauded Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for signing legislation today that will provide families with special-needs children the right to choose their children’s school.
“Today, Georgia has enacted a common-sense solution to meeting the educational needs of families with special needs children: letting parents, rather than bureaucrats, decide what school is best,” said Chip Mellor, president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice. “Choosing something as important as your child’s school should be a fundamental right, and we will vigorously defend this parental choice program against any legal challenge.”
IJ has successfully defended choice programs in courtrooms nationwide, including the landmark 2002 U.S. Supreme Court victory for school choice in Cleveland.
The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program provides scholarships to students with disabilities who are currently attending public schools and are entitled to special education services. The scholarships give parents the option to choose a private school for their children’s education. Under the program, parents can also choose to send their child to another public school.
Opponents in other states have attempted to stop school choice programs by filing lawsuits that seek to keep parents from choosing the school that is best for their children.
But IJ Senior Attorney Bert Gall said that Georgia’s new program is constitutional: “The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program is clearly constitutional under both the Georgia and U.S. constitutions, and we are confident that any legal challenge will fail. The education provisions of the Georgia Constitution specifically authorize the educational scholarships, and Georgia has a number of other similar scholarship programs, including the HOPE Scholarship Program.”
If opponents file suit in Georgia, IJ pledged to intervene in the litigation and defend the program on behalf of parents in order to ensure that their rights are protected.
As identified in a report released by the Institute for Justice, “Private Choice in Public Programs: How Private Institutions Secure Social Services for Georgians,” Georgia currently dedicates almost $1 billion per year to 11 scholarship or grant programs related to the care and education of its young people that involve private providers, from pre-kindergarten through post-secondary education. These programs serve almost 500,000 individuals. Just as they are constitutional, so is the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program.