Press Releases
December 15, 1997

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, through its Institute for Public Affairs, will join with a coalition of public interest organizations later this week in filing a "friend of the court" brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in support of Milwaukee?s school choice program.

Under the program, more than 1,500 students are receiving vouchers worth up to $4,400 (half the state?s per pupil expenditure in the city) and using the vouchers to attend the schools of their choice ? whether, public, private or parochial. The program has been challenged as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Although a lower court ruled the program unconstitutional on that basis, the coalition of groups filing the brief, spearheaded by the Center for Education Reform, is confident that the program will be found constitutional by the higher court.

Nathan Diament, director of the Institute for Public Affairs issued the following statement:

"There is little question that the pilot program is constitutional under recent precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court. That Court has concluded that the Establishment Clause must not be read to discriminate against religious individuals and institutions as long as they meet the same neutral criteria as everyone else. We are confident the Wisconsin Supreme Court will agree with this sensible reasoning and rule the Milwaukee program constitutional."