The American Federation for Children reports the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico just issued a ruling that their hurricane-ravaged island’s new law expanding charter schools and vouchers to private schools is legal and constitutional.

This throws cold water on a Puerto Rican teachers’ union effort to have the new school choice law declared unconstitutional.

The American Federation for Children’s statement about the new ruling says it nicely, reading in part:

“…we're very pleased to see that teachers’ union-backed lawsuits aimed at restricting educational choices for families and students have once again failed in the courts."

A key part of the finding was:

“…the Court agreed with the families that the Free School Selection Program is constitutional because it ‘supports’ needy families, not schools, and any benefit to private schools under the program is merely incidental.”

Kentucky needs to consider similar thinking. The support through expanding school choice options should be viewed as doing what is best for needy families as opposed to a program for schools. In other words, this is about increasing assistance to needy families and is not a school funding issue. I’m not a lawyer, but Article II, Section 5 of the Puerto Rican constitution says, “No public property or public funds shall be used for the support of schools or educational institutions other than those of the state.” That seems similar to Kentucky’s constitution.

But, the Puerto Rican Supreme Court indicates that if the program is about assistance to needy families, a separate issue from education, then school choice laws are constitutional. So, a precedent may have been set that could have impact in Kentucky, too.