PRESS RELEASE: Heartland Institute Experts React to Montana Supreme Court Ruling against Tax-Credit Scholarships

Published December 13, 2018

On December 12, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that the Montana tax-credit scholarship program is unconstitutional in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. The ruling was based on Montana’s Blaine Amendment, which states: “The legislature, counties, cities, towns, school districts, and public corporations shall not make any direct or indirect appropriation or payment from any public fund or monies, or any grant of lands or other property for any sectarian purpose or to aid any church, school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination.”

The following statements from policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000


“Ruling against tax-credit scholarship program denies many underserved Montana students a choice of a better education. This ruling clearly implies the court believes an individual who is allowed to keep more of their own money is really being given funds from state coffers, i.e. the court believes an individual’s income belongs to the state instead of the individual.

This case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, providing them a chance to rule on state Blaine amendments. These are state constitutional amendments that specifically disallow any state monies from being appropriated to religious institutions.”

Lennie Jarratt
Project Manager, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


“Before this unfortunate ruling by the Montana Supreme Court, not a single one of the 22 other tax-credit scholarship programs enacted in 17 different states had been struck down. These programs have already essentially been ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011, when it dismissed the challenge to Arizona’s program, Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. It will take the Supreme Court to reverse this decision, and hopefully it will do so, noting how Montana is discriminating against its religious residents by blocking them from receiving public benefits.”

Tim Benson
Policy Analyst
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


The Heartland Institute is a 34-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our website or call 312/377-4000.