Institute for Justice Will Defend Southeast Delco School Choice Program

Washington, D.C.­The Institute for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm that is the nation’s leading legal defender of school choice, announced that it will defend the Southeast Delaware County Pennsylvania’s school choice program that is being challenged in court today by a state teachers union.

“The teachers union’s lawsuit has no merit,” declared Clint Bolick, the Institute for Justice’s litigation director. “It merely shows the Pennsylvania Education Association values jobs above children’s education.”

The school board’s program provides reimbursements ranging from $250 to $1,000 for parents who send their children to private schools or to public schools outside the Southeast Delco district. The program allows parents to select religiously affiliated schools for their children. The board passed the program a few weeks ago to save costs and to promote competition and parental choice.

“Southeast Delco is taking this commonsense approach to avoid the educational breakdown and financial costs that come from over-crowding,” Bolick said. “By affording parents the option to select the school-public, private or parochial-that best meets their children’s needs, the school district takes pressure off the system and may well avoid the huge costs of constructing new school buildings.”

“Once again, the special interest groups are ganging up to try to take choice away from parents,” said Bolick. “They have a fight on their hands.”

The Institute for Justice will represent the school district free of charge. The school board’s attorney, Robert DiOrio of Media, Pennsylvania, will serve as local counsel.