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Voucher decision welcome

No single education reform idea empurples more school bureaucrats and teachers union flunkies than vouchers that put parents in control of where tax money will be spent to support their children's education.

Educrats claim that voucher proponents want to ''abandon the public schools.'' That's not true. Voucher proponents merely wish to abandon the system of public school monopolies and use the power of competition to spur excellence.

As one might expect in this litigious age, the policy determination of whether taxpayer-supported voucher programs can exist has been thrown to the courts. The voucher concept now has passed its biggest court exam. The Supreme Court turned aside a challenge to the nation's largest and most successful public voucher program.

The city of Milwaukee, Wis., provides vouchers for students from poor families, good for up to $5,000 per child at a private school of the family's choosing. Most of the private schools in Milwaukee are operated by churches. Hence the court challenge.

The usual suspects - the ACLU, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State et al. - claimed the vouchers violate the First Amendment because voucher money ultimately lands in the coffers of religious schools. But the city of Milwaukee, Wis., Gov. Tommy Thompson and other supporters of a voucher program that has had dramatically positive results, argue quite correctly that the money goes to the child's family. How the family decides to spend that money is a matter of choice. Parents may choose religious or non-religious schools.

Lower courts sided with the children and against the apologists for a failed school monopoly that is now reduced to inventing legalisms to hold its franchise.

By an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court declined to review the lower court decisions. Thus, the high court has sent a strong signal that vouchers are constitutionally kosher. This should not be a surprise. Allowing parents of elementary school children to spend tax funded vouchers on tuition at St. Mary's is no different from allowing a college student to spend GI Bill money at Loyola.

Still, voucher critics are right about one thing: The Supreme Court cannot much longer avoid hearing a case and rendering a complete opinion on vouchers. Other states and localities probably will follow Wisconsin's lead and that undoubtedly will result in conflicting lower court decisions that will have to be reconciled by the Supreme Court.

For now, however, there are a lot of happy parents and children in Milwaukee.