School vouchers: the first step towards a discriminatory education system On November 9, 1998, Jennifer Marshall, an education policy analyst for the Family Research Council, said in a press release : “Parental choice in education just got the green light from the Supreme Court.” His statement came in response to the Supreme Court's decision that same day to deny a petition for writ of certiorari in Jackson v. Benton, a Wisconsin case challenging the constitutionality of vouchers in public education. By refusing to consider this case, the Supreme Court is vacating a decision by the state supreme court, in which the court upheld the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program as constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court voted nearly unanimously to deny the certificate, indicating either that they agree with the Wisconsin court's decision or that the case is not worthy of their time or consideration, or both. (Neither the lone dissenter, Justice Stephen Breyer, nor the 8 justices of the majority have released any explanation of their actions.) Legally, their choice not to hear the case sends a passive but clear message: Public school vouchers are valid according to the Constitution of the United States. However, questions remain about the details of Wisconsin's program, as well as broader questions about the voucher concept in general. One question raised is: Can the government, in good faith, authorize the removal of children from public schools, at its own expense and at the expense of the children who remain in those public schools? The Court has been strangely inconsistent in its treatment of voucher cases. In 1973, the Court ruled that vouchers for religious schools violated the Establishment Clause, but... middle of paper... The reasons given for existing voucher programs are admirable; What decent society could oppose giving more opportunities to disadvantaged students? The fundamental problem with voucher programs is that they only treat the symptom and, in the process, create an entirely new community of disadvantaged children. By refusing to hear Jackson v. Benton, the Supreme Court is simply ignoring a question the justices will soon be forced to answer: Do voucher programs violate the Constitution for reasons other than separation of church and state? It is an issue that they will have to carefully consider for its ideological, sociological and political implications. A vote in favor of voucher programs will kickstart construction that could lead to nothing more than an educational model of residential urban sprawl, separating the desirables from the undesirables.