You thought I was going crazy yesterday waiting for a ruling on the Douglas County Choice Scholarship injunction request? Another day, and it isn’t getting any better. We have been promised Judge Martinez will issue a ruling this week, so at the most I should only have another day or so to hold out.
But you know what? Colorado isn’t the only place where people are currently waiting for a judicial decision on a “Choice Scholarship Program.” This news comes today from the Northwest Indiana Times:
A Marion County judge is set to rule next week on whether Indiana’s new school voucher program passes constitutional muster.
Talk about back-to-back big news in the school choice world. One week a Denver District Court judge rules on whether the nation’s first local school board-enacted voucher program can go forward. The next week a Marion County judge makes the same determination concerning the nation’s most expansive voucher program, enacted this year by Governor Mitch Daniels and the Indiana legislature.
It’s for this reason among others that the Hoosier State last night won the Fordham Institute’s “Ed Reform Idol” competition. (By the way, did anyone consider the sweet irony of Tony Bennett hoisting the “Idol” trophy? No, not that Tony Bennett. Who put that picture there? I’m talking about Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction.)
Anyway, while reformers stay tuned to legal developments in Colorado and Indiana with eager anticipation, there are hundreds and even thousands of families with a lot more riding on the line. This is very personal for them. My Education Policy Center friends have met with and heard from several of them in Douglas County, even sharing a video to tell 13-year-old Nate Oakley’s story.
For these very important reasons and more, here I am keeping my fingers crossed….