The special interests defending the education status quo have lost the battle for hearts and minds on school choice. Families across America are demanding education freedom, and state legislatures are delivering it. But rather than adapt or improve, these groups are now weaponizing the courts in a last-ditch effort to shut down competition. 

Their latest wave of lawsuits claims that school choice programs violate state constitutions by diverting funds from the mandated “system of public schools.” Their argument is as flimsy as it is desperate.

Every state constitution has an education clause requiring the legislature to provide for public education. These special interests argue that such a clause means taxpayer dollars can go only to public schools, and anything else, such as vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, or education savings accounts, is unconstitutional. But their claim falls apart under basic scrutiny. If their logic held, school choice wouldn’t exist anywhere. Yet, programs have thrived for decades in states with nearly identical constitutional language.

Take Arizona, where school choice has been expanding since the 1990s. Its constitution requires the legislature to “provide for the establishment and maintenance of a general and uniform public school system.” Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts allow families to use taxpayer funds for private schools, homeschooling, and more — without any constitutional........

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