EdChoice moves to defend Florida school choice program from legal challenge

An education freedom group moved June 18 to intervene in a lawsuit filed by teachers’ unions and other opponents seeking to dismantle Florida’s school choice programs, which serve hundreds of thousands of students.

In a June 19 statement, EdChoice Legal Advocates said it filed the motion on behalf of four Florida families who rely on the state’s scholarships and education choice programs to attend private school or receive education outside a traditional classroom. 

The lawsuit was filed May 5 by the Florida Education Association, a teacher, and seven public-school parents who are challenging Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship and related school choice programs on state constitutional grounds. The plaintiffs argue that Florida’s system sends public dollars to private schools, charter schools, and other programs that do not operate under the same standards and oversight as traditional public schools. 

The four mothers represented by EdChoice — Tatiana Cox Lopez, Jessica Tillmann, Alyssa Hines, and Julie Schulman — argue that the scholarships allow their children to learn in environments better suited to their academic, safety, special education, or religious needs.

In its motion, EdChoice argued that the families directly benefit from the scholarship programs and would suffer harm if the court grants the plaintiffs’ request to block state funding for the scholarships. 

“If the funding for the Scholarship Programs is declared unconstitutional, Parents and many other Florida parents will forever lose the opportunity to protect their interest in the greater educational opportunity that the Scholarship Programs provides,” the group wrote in its motion.

Thomas Fisher, EdChoice’s executive vice president and director of litigation, said the programs give parents “an immensely popular opportunity” to choose the educational setting that best meets their children’s needs. 

“Parents like Tatiana, Jessica, Alyssa, and Julie are simply asking that their children be allowed to continue in the education environments where they are thriving,” he said. “The Florida Constitution protects the right of families to direct their children’s education. We look forward to defending that right.”