Opportunity Scholarship Program Lawsuit Update
As you may know, the Opportunity Scholarship is facing a lawsuit brought on by the teacher's union. We want to provide an update on a motion recently filed to protect private schools from legal tactics of the teacher's union.
Defenders of the scholarship program filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals asking the court to rule about whether the teacher's union challenge is appropriate and what type of hearing it should receive.
While waiting for a decision on this appeal, defenders of the scholarship program filed another motion recently asking that the teacher's union stop seeking discovery (information/documentation) from private schools in building evidence in their case.
If the Appeals Court rules that the program's constitutionality is being challenged "on its face" and not "as applied," discovery from private schools will be irrelevant to their argument. It will also transfer the case to a three-judge panel.
There was a victory in the case this week as the Court of Appeals granted a stay of all further proceedings, including discovery. In other words, the court has blocked the teacher's union from seeking information and documentation from private schools until there is a ruling on the initial appeal.
The legal battle will wage on, but we want to keep at the forefront who wins or who loses as a result of this lawsuit: Students and their families. We recently sat down with two parents to talk to them about how their children's futures are hanging in the balance. Take a moment to hear directly from them.
We are confident that their feelings are shared by scholarship families at schools across our state. Will you continue to help us document these stories? To put faces to this scholarship? To give them a voice in sharing how your school has changed their children's lives?
If you have scholarship families at your school who will talk with us, please email our Director of External Affairs, Allison Guenther, and we will set up a time to visit them at your school.
As always, we appreciate all that you do!