Updated SATURDAY June 10, 2000

A column by Phillip Brownlee

Don't read vouchers their last rites

School vouchers suffered a blow last week when Attorney General Carla Stovall declared them unconstitutional. But don't read any last rites just yet. A recent opinion poll indicated substantial public support for vouchers. And where there's a will...

Stovall issued a nonbinding legal opinion that three voucher proposals introduced in the Legislature this past session would be in violation of the state's Bill of Rights and the Kansas Constitution -- though not the U.S. Constitution.

"The funds may not be used to secure or maintain an institution in which religious doctrine is taught, nor may the funds be controlled by a religious sect," she wrote.

Some Kansans may assume that this opinion will quash the voucher movement, which perennially pushes the Legislature to approve a voucher program. But the latest Kansans' Attitudes Toward Education (KATE) study conducted by Emporia State University suggests otherwise.

More than 60 percent of respondents statewide (and 63.2 percent within Sedgwick County) said they favored giving parents state money that they could use to send their children to any public, private or parochial school within the state.

"The interest by the people in the state of Kansas is going to give it (vouchers) some impetus legislatively," said House Majority Leader Kent Glasscock, R-Manhattan, who -- though not a voucher backer -- proposed a pilot program last session to study whether vouchers improve academic performance.

Glasscock also said that while lawmakers respect an attorney general's professional opinion, they may not follow it.

"The Legislature is not inclined to assume that that is the only opinion or the definitive opinion," he said.

Rep. Tony Powell, R-Wichita, who sponsored one of the voucher bills, said that lawmakers may consider other alternatives that might pass constitutional muster, such as possibly a tax credit to parents instead of a direct government payment to church-related schools.

"I think the tax credit withstands scrutiny far better than the vouchers," he said.

It's also possible that lawmakers may try to change the state's constitution, though obtaining two-thirds majority approval in the Legislature (and then a simple majority of voters) is a high barrier.

"I just don't think that is a realistic option at this point," Glasscock said.

Another alternative is to take a nongovernmental route, as local education activist Cindy Duckett is proposing, and avoid the constitutional constraints and governmental red tape.

Duckett is launching CEO Kansas, which will raise and distribute private scholarships to low-income families to help send their children to private schools. The program will be part of the national Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation of America and is holding a kickoff luncheon Thursday.

Duckett stresses that her goal is to give more parents more education options, whether that's a Christian school, Islamic school or nonreligious school, such as a military academy.

"I don't want this to be a 'conservative thing,' and I don't want it to be a 'Christian school thing.' I want it to be a 'choice thing,' " she said.

Thus, despite Stovall's opinion, the voucher movement doesn't appear to be losing steam. If anything, supporters seem even more determined to create more educational choice, especially now that public opinion seems to be in their favor.

It's an idea whose time has come," Powell said. "I think we can find a constitutional way to do it."

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Phillip Brownlee, an Eagle editorial writer, writes a personal column for the Op-Ed page on Saturdays. You can reach him at pbrownlee@wichitaeagle.com or at (316) 268-6262.