In the midst of the investigation over Arizona’s individual tax credit program, the Arizona Supreme Court on October 27 ended a long-standing legal challenge to the state’s corporate tax credit program, saying it is legal under both the state and federal constitutions.
The court refused to review a March 2009 decision in Green v. Garriott from the Arizona Court of Appeals, instead letting stand its ruling allowing low- and middle-income children to use tax credit scholarships to attend private schools. The case was originally filed in September 2006 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and the Arizona School Boards Association.
“The nearly three thousand parents and children relying on this scholarship program,” said Tim Keller, executive director of the Institute for Justice’s Arizona Chapter, “may now breathe a sigh of relief, being fully reassured that their tax credit-funded scholarships are constitutional. School choice programs like [this one] help fulfill the promise of an equal opportunity for every child to receive a good education. There is nobody better suited to determine the educational needs of a child than [his] parent or guardian.”
— Karla Dial
