Statement of
NEA President Reg Weaver
on the Colorado  Supreme Court
Decision on Vouchers

Washington, D.C. -– The National Education Association is pleased that the Colorado Supreme Court decided in favor of children, public schools and public accountability in its ruling to strike down the state’s voucher program.

We agree with the Court’s finding that the program violates local control provisions of the Colorado Constitution in that it requires taxpayers to subsidize programs over which they have little or no oversight regarding financial and educational matters.

The people of Colorado have spoken out resoundingly against public subsidies of private schools in the defeats of the 1992 ballot measure on vouchers and the 1998 tuition tax credit measure.  If policymakers listen to teachers and parents they will discover that Americans, by overwhelming numbers, support investing in efforts to improve existing public schools rather than funding alternative systems, such as private-school tuition vouchers.

June 28, 2004

For more information, contact:
Anjetta McQueen     (202) 822-7251
Michael Pons           (202) 822-7595

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.