Judge denies effort to thwart start of statewide voucher program

Baton Rouge Judge Tim Kelley today determined he couldn’t issue an injunction blocking the August start of the statewide school voucher program because a law bars an injunction if a state agency chief says issuing one would cause a deficit within the department. Superintendent of Education John White and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top budget adviser, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, had said in affidavits to the court that the Department of Education would face just such a deficit if the laws creating and funding the voucher program were blocked. Kelley’s ruling means the program pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal will begin in August as planned, while a lawsuit filed by teachers unions and local school boards over the constitutionality of the voucher program continues to wend its way through the court. The program will use public tax dollars to send children to private and parochial schools. Lawyers for two teachers unions and dozens of local school boards sought to stop the voucher program and other new education funding plans from starting in the 2012-13 school year, arguing the financing plans and the law creating the programs were unconstitutional. “I just don’t see how I can give you an injunction once I have those certifications,” Kelley said, citing four previous appeals court cases. The two sides disagreed over whether an injunction would create a budget hole. But Kelley said, under the law, he’s not allowed to decide whether he believes the Jindal administration is correct about the deficit because the affidavits have been filed. The unions and school boards haven’t decided yet whether they will appeal the decision.