Posted by
Joe Knippenberg on Saturday, April 21, 2007 3:43:24 PM
The bill awaits the Governor's signature and then, I suppose, the inevitable legal challenge.
I can't predict how the Georgia courts will react. Should someone bring a constitutional challenge, they could follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s lead, finding that the voucher money goes to the parents, not to the schools. Or they could offer an interpretation of Georgia’s Constitution that legitimizes vouchers, finding that religiously-affiliated schools aren’t the “sectarian institutions” to which it prohibits providing direct or even indirect aid. Or, finally, they could hew to a very strict reading of the constitutional language, which would risk invalidating not only special-needs vouchers, but also such wildly popular programs as the HOPE Scholarships and lottery-funded pre-k programs.
I wouldn't want to be the judge or judges who hands down this last ruling, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.