Institute for Justice Applauds Signing Of Nation’s Second School Choice Program for Special Needs Students

IJ Pledges to Defend Utah’s Carson Smith Scholarships

Washington, D.C.-The Institute for Justice today hailed the signing of the nation’s newest school choice program and the second for specifically special needs students. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. is scheduled to sign legislation today establishing Carson Smith Scholarships for Students with Special Needs, which enable parents of special needs students to select private schools that work best for their children.

“As families nationwide demand equal educational opportunity, the momentum for school choice continues to grow,” said Chip Mellor, president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice, the nation’s leading legal advocate for school choice.

The Carson Smith Scholarships program is the second school choice program created in the past two years. The first was the school choice program for the District of Columbia created by the U.S. Congress last year. Several other state legislatures are considering school choice bills this year.

The scholarships, which provide up to $5,700 for private school tuition to Utah students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), are similar to Florida’s McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities, a popular and effective program that has grown to more than 13,000 students since it expanded statewide in 2000.

School choice opponents claim that choice can’t help special needs students-but Florida and now Utah are proving them wrong,” said Institute for Justice Senior Litigator Richard Komer. “Special needs students deserve every opportunity for a quality education, and programs like Carson Smith Scholarships set parents free to choose the best environment to educate their children.”

“These scholarships will be a huge help not just for our family, but for the many families like ours who need help securing the right educational setting for their children,” said Kent McKay of Kaysville, Utah, and a father of two young boys with autism.

The Institute pledged to defend Carson Smith Scholarships in court, should teachers’ unions or other special interests opposed to school choice launch a legal attack.

“Should school choice opponents have the audacity to try to deny educational opportunity to Utah’s special needs students, we will be there every step of the way to defend the interests of parents and children,” said Mellor.

IJ helped win a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court for school choice, representing parents in Cleveland’s school choice program, and successfully defended vouchers in Milwaukee and tax credits in Illinois and Arizona. IJ is currently defending Florida’s groundbreaking Opportunity Scholarships program. For more information on school choice programs and litigation nationwide, visit: www.ij.org/schoolchoice.