Judge Hobgood rules in favor of Patterson Harkavy's clients, halting private school voucher scheme

At a hearing today in downtown Raleigh, Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood enjoined the State from implementing its private school voucher scheme. If not for Judge Hobgood's landmark ruling the scheme would have taken millions of dollars from North Carolina's public schools in order to pay private school students' tuition. Private schools receiving taxpayer funds would not have been required to meet any educational standards, would not have been subject to any public accountability, and would not have been prohibited from discriminating against students on the basis of disability, gender, or religion.

Patterson Harkavy attorneys Burton Craige and Narendra Ghosh, working with attorneys from the North Carolina Justice Center and the North Carolina Association of Educators, represent the case's 25 plaintiffs. They have alleged that the voucher scheme violates various provisions of the North Carolina Constitution. The State School Board Association, together with more than half of North Carolina's local school boards, is also challenging the constitutionality of the scheme.

Burton and Narendra have argued that the Voucher Legislation provides taxpayer funds for public education to private schools, in violation of Article IX, Section 6 of the North Carolina Constitution, which requires that those funds be "used exclusively for establishing and maintaining a uniform system of free public schools." Plaintiffs also claim that providing taxpayer funds to private schools with no standards or accountability does not accomplish a public purpose, in violation of Article V, section 2.

On Monday, Judge Hobgood denied the State's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' claims. Today, in issuing his injunction, Judge Hobgood found that that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits and that they would suffer irreparable harm if the State was permitted to continue implementing the program.

Burton's arguments from Monday's hearing can be found here; his arguments from today's hearing can be found here. The historic victory has been covered by news outlets across the state, including the Raleigh News & Observer, the Greensboro News & Record, the Charlotte Observer.