ABSTRACT

In 2002, under the Zelman v. Simmons-Harris 536 U.S. 639 (2002) ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Cleveland, Ohio school voucher program. In the wake of the ruling, choice advocates expected a rapid expansion of vouchers across the country, while opponents feared such a scenario. The advocacy efforts around vouchers reveal a complex interplay of ideology, advocacy, and policy networks. Though a nationwide expansion of publicly funded vouchers has of yet failed to happen, other school choice policies have become more common, though in some ways, as contested as vouchers, and as such, the terrain of school choice advocacy has been altered since Zelman.