Education

Voucher programs survived legal challenges in 1999 to flourish in 69 cities; tuition tax-credit initiatives also picked up steam. Some public-school defenders are seeking alternatives to court: 10 school districts in New Jersey are implementing their own state-sponsored choice program, complete with innovations that they say will improve schooling. Even the prospect of real competition has some effect. "1999 was a turning point for the school-choice movement," says Fritz Steiger, president of the Arkansas-based school-choice organization CEO America.

Among the victories for school-choice supporters:

Tuition Tax Credits: The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Arizona's Voluntary Tuition Tax Credit, a state income-tax credit for contributions to privately funded voucher programs. In Illinois, a judge tossed out one of two lawsuits challenging the state's new $500 tuition tax credit. Signed in June, the tax-credit law gives parents a 25 percent state income-tax credit for their children's tuition, books, and lab fees. Florida's A+ Plan: The nation's first statewide voucher program is still alive. Students in every Florida public school take a standardized test at specific grade intervals. Students in schools that score a composite F twice in four years are eligible for state-funded tuition vouchers to attend private schools. Last week, in a 4-2 vote, the state Board of Education reaffirmed the program and outlined plans for fine-tuning. Horizon Scholarship Program:Parents of 837 San Antonio kids enrolled in the Horizon Scholarship Program, the first district-wide, privately funded voucher program, report that they're happy with the private-school choices they've made for their children. Harvard researchers evaluated the program's impact during the 1998-99 school year. When researchers asked Edgewood district parents whether their child was at a school they preferred, 92 percent percent of Horizon program parents said they were, as opposed to only 75 percent of Edgewood public-school parents. The Harvard study also exploded one popular anti-school choice myth: that private schools accepting tax-paid vouchers will choose only "cream of the crop" students, leaving public schools filled with low-performing pupils. Researchers found no evidence of discriminatory admission practices among schools receiving Horizon scholarships. Interim High Court Victory: The U.S. Supreme Court squashed a temporary injunction imposed on the long-embattled Cleveland Scholarship Program (CSP) by a federal judge. In August, just one day before school was to begin, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver had yanked CSP tuition aid from all of the program's nearly 4,000 students. He quickly rescinded that decision, but still barred new enrollees from receiving vouchers. The Supreme Court in November, by a 5-4 vote, reversed the judge's order. But less than a week before Christmas, the judge issued a permanent order finding the program unconstitutional. He elected not to pick a new fight with the high court, exempting all the kids currently in the program while his ruling goes through the appeals process.