Montana resident Kendra Espinoza, a key plaintiff in a religious rights case involving school choice, poses for a photo in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with her daughters Sarah and Naomi Jan. 19, 2020. The court ruled June 30 that religious schools cannot be excluded from Montana’s school tax-credit program. /CNS photo/Will Dunham, Reuters
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing state funds to be used for parochial school scholarships in Montana cements in place a system that has existed here for years, all with the blessing of courts.
The nation’s high court in 2011 upheld a virtually identical program in Arizona. And while the reasoning of the justices in that case was different, the result is the same.
In fact, Arizona has a much more direct form of aid to religious schools than the one at issue in the Montana case decided Tuesday. But even that has been found to be legal by state courts here.
At issue in both Arizona and Montana is a system that gives people a dollar-for-dollar credit against their income taxes for money donated to organizations that provide scholarships for students to attend private and parochial schools.
