The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear a liberal lawsuit that sought to end Wisconsinās decades-old private school voucher program.
The justices offered no comment in their refusal to hear the lawsuit that liberals filed mid-October directly with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but it came after both Democratic Gov. Tony Eversā administration and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, encouraged the court not to accept it.
āWisconsinās parental choice programs have been instrumental in providing educational freedom and better academic outcomes to thousands of Wisconsin families,ā said Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. āThe now-denied petition filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court was plagued with misleading, misinformed, and nonsensical legal arguments. The unanimous Court was right to reject the case.ā
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The rejected lawsuit alleged the stateās revenue limit and funding mechanism for voucher school programs and charter schools violated the Wisconsin Constitutionās requirement that public funds be used for public purposes.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several individuals, including Julie Underwood, former dean of the UW-Madison School of Education; Charles Uphoff, a former member of the Oregon School Board; and Angela Rappl, a special-education liaison for families with children with special needs in the Milwaukee public schools system.
The lawsuit was being funded by the liberal Minocqua Brewing Super PAC.
Kirk Bangstad, a former Democratic U.S. House and Wisconsin Assembly candidate who owns the Minocqua Brewing Co., said he was ādisappointedā by the courtās decision but not surprised since Eversā administration already told the court not to accept the case.
He speculated that the courtās decision was a politically motivated one to appear nonpartisan before it weighs in on redistricting and potentially abortion.
āTheyāre sticking their necks out politically to be able to rule on those two huge issues for both Wisconsin and the United States,ā he said. āSo I think that taking an original action from us on voucher schools, while I think it was still the right thing for us to do, I think might have been a little too much political baggage to take on for this majority.ā
He said heāll file the lawsuit in a lower court in either late December or early next year.
The Milwaukee voucher program started in 1990-91 under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and is the oldest modern voucher program in the country. In the first year, the program enrolled 337 students. Enrollment has grown almost every year, with more than 29,000 students attending 130 private schools on vouchers in Milwaukee as of October, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.
Democrats have argued for decades that the school voucher program is a drain on resources that would otherwise go to public schools.
Conservatives warned the lawsuit could have destroyed a popular program serving thousands of Wisconsinites, including many minority students.
Vos and Department of Administration Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, who was appointed by Evers, told the court in separate filings in November that the case should start at the circuit court level. The third defendant, Department of Public Instruction Secretary Jill Underly, took no position. Underly, who was elected on a nonpartisan ballot, was backed by Democrats.
Evers, who previously served as state superintendent of education, has been a longtime critic of the voucher program. But this summer he agreed to increase spending on the program as part of a larger education funding package tied to a deal sending more money to Milwaukee and local governments.
The case was filed two months after liberals gained control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. That shift led liberals to look to the courts to challenge several conservative policies, including the GOP-drawn legislative maps and voter ID.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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