Indiana Supreme Court hears school voucher arguments

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WLFI) - The state's school voucher program is now in the hands of the Indiana Supreme Court.

There was a packed house and an overflow crowd during Wednesday's hearing. More than 9,000 Indiana students have used state funds to switch from a public to a private school.

Former Lafayette School Corporation Superintendent Ed Eiler is one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which challenges the voucher law as unconstitutional support of religious schools. Eiler was in attendance and said going in he wasn't sure how fair of a hearing it would be, but he came away respecting the court.

"There were a balanced number of questions, questioning the positions of both parties, which frankly I was a little surprised as balanced as it was," Eiler said.

Eiler said in the end, it will be a difficult task to persuade three of the five justices to overturn the lower court ruling. But he added, he sleeps with a clear conscience believing he's done all he can to not set Indiana's education system back 35 to 50 years.

He reiterated his comments from News 18 at 11 Tuesday that he believes if his lawsuit fails this time, there will be other legal challenges filed soon.