The Mackinac Center and attorney John Bursch are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case that could give Michigan families meaningful school choice options.

We are representing five families from across the state who want to use their Education Savings Accounts to help offset the cost of K-12 tuition. Unfortunately, Michigan has an antiquated and bigoted Blaine Amendment, which prohibits public funds from being used for private schools.

This wouldn’t be the first time the Supreme Court has heard a challenge to a Blaine Amendment.

Recently, in the 2020 decision Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the justices struck down Montana’s Blaine Amendment, which prevented parents from using a state-funded scholarship program to pay for private religious schools.

The court ruled that Montana violated First Amendment rights. If a state offers a taxpayer-funded school choice program, religious schools cannot be excluded.

While most states saw the demise of their Blaine amendments, Michigan’s survived. In Michigan, broad language bans state aid from being used to fund any nonpublic school, not just religious ones.

Michigan’s Blaine Amendment is deeply rooted in religious bigotry. The primary group supporting the 1970s ballot measure that created the amendment was called the Council Against Parochiad, which tapped into anti-Catholic bias. At the time the vast majority of private schools were both religious and Catholic.

Michigan families are now watching as friends and relatives in neighboring states get greater access to school choice programs. Our state could one day provide this life-changing assistance, particularly for low-income families. As most parents will tell you, every little bit helps.

If the Supreme Court doesn’t accept this case, states would be able to resurrect their Blaine amendments by using our state’s language as the new model. It’s only a matter of time before another state tries to imitate what Michigan has done.

Michigan needs to catch up with the rest of the country and pass widespread school choice reforms — not lead a counterattack against school choice. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the Mackinac Center’s case, Michigan families could soon see a vast increase in options.