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by (in alphabetical order) John Garrett Clawson, Reynaldo de la Garza, Victoria Keller, Sarah Pollock, Laurie Roberts, 

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States that have passed legislation adopting ESAs include Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee (EdChoice, 2016). Legislation is typically challenged on a constitutional basis; 40 states have made amendments to or included provisions in their constitutions that prohibit public funding of "religious worship, exercise or instruction" (DeForrest, 2003). Referred to collectively as "Blaine Amendments," in reference to the original failed amendment to the United States Constitution, they are part of the legal landscape in all states that currently have ESAs, with the exception of Tennessee. Plaintiffs argue that because money diverted from public schools to fund ESAs can be spent on tuition at religious private schools, such laws are unconstitutional in states that have such a stipulation in their constitution. Similar forms of school choice, such as vouchers, have also been challenged on such this basis in a larger number of states (Burke & Butcher, 2016; Healy & Rich, 2015).

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Lutz, Lauren. "Arizona Court Unanimously Upholds Education Savings Accounts as Constitutional." American Legislative Exchange Council. October 17, 2013. Accessed November 08, 2016. https://www.alec.org/article/education-savings-accounts-upheld/.

“School Choice in America,” EdChoice, last modified Oct. 28, 2016, http://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/school-choice-in-america.

S.B. 1178, Texas 84th Cong. (2015).

S.B. 2695, Mississippi 114th Cong. (2015).

S.B. 302, Nevada 302nd Cong. (2015).

S.B. 431, Tennessee 431st Cong. (2015).

Arizona original bill – http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/1r/bills/sb1553h.pdf

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