Two Indianapolis mothers are trying to join the state in fighting a lawsuit that challenges Indiana’s new school-voucher program.
Heather Coffy and Monica Poindexter are counting on the voucher program to help cover their children’s private-school tuition this fall. In a motion filed Wednesday, they asked a Marion Superior Court judge to let them join the lawsuit.
The vouchers, which the General Assembly approved this spring, intend to redirect money from public schools to help offset private-school tuition for students in low- and middle-income families.
Coffy plans to send two of her children to St. Monica Catholic School and has been told that she will receive vouchers for them. Another child plans to attend Chatard High School and has applied for a voucher.
Poindexter plans to send one of her children to Ritter High School this fall and has applied for a voucher.
Opponents say the vouchers take away much-needed funding from public schools to benefit primarily religious institutions, such as Catholic and Christian schools. They also claim the program violates the state’s duty to provide a free and “uniform” public school system.
The plaintiffs have asked a Marion Superior Court judge to grant a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the program from beginning this year.
Nate Schnellenberger, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, which helped bring the lawsuit against the state, said Wednesday that he hadn’t heard of the mothers’ request to join the lawsuit.
He declined to say whether they should be able to join.
Coffy and Poindexter want the judge to rule on their request quickly so they could be part of an Aug. 11 hearing on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction.
Attorney Bert Gall from the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based group that supports vouchers, is representing the mothers and will hold a news conference today.
He said Wednesday that the voucher program is “absolutely constitutional.”
The program is designed to help students, not religious schools, Gall said. Also, he said, nothing in the law regarding uniform school systems requires the state to have only public schools in its school system.
“We’re fighting to the end,” Gall said, “and we’re confident we’ll prevail.”
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