(Guest Post by Jason Bedrick)
It seems Friday’s update on pending school choice lawsuits came a few days too soon. Today, a three-judge panel of appellate court judges in Florida has unanimously dismissed the teachers’ union’s lawsuit against the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they were unable to prove that they were harmed by the program and because the program is privately (not publicly) funded.
No doubt the thousands of parents and students who rallied earlier this year, calling on the union to #dropthesuit, are smiling today.
Three out of three appellate judges agree with these scholarship kids: #dropthesuit.
I expanded upon the decision at Cato-at-Liberty, but I’ll leave you with the the judges’ conclusion:
Appellants failed to allege that they suffered any special injury as a result of the operation of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and failed to establish that the Legislature exceeded any constitutional limitation on its taxing and spending authority when it authorized the program. At most, Appellants quarrel with the Legislature’s policy judgments regarding school choice and funding of Florida’s public schools. This is precisely the type of dispute into which the courts must decline to intervene under the separation of powers doctrine.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
[h/t Travis Pillow at RedefinED.]
UPDATE (Aug. 17, 2016): See here for my discussion of one plaintiff group’s response to the ruling.
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