RALEIGH, N.C. – More than 2,000 low-income North Carolina parents will be able to send their children to the schools of their choice after all, thanks to the state’s Supreme Court.

“Today’s historic decision vindicates the over 4,500 parents who applied for their child to receive an Opportunity Scholarship and puts parents back in the driver’s seat of their child’s education,” Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, said Wednesday in a statement.

The program allows 2,400 students from low-income families to receive public scholarships, or vouchers, to attend private schools. In the first 25 days of applications, more than 5,500 students had applied, according to PEFNC.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

When the scholarship law was passed in 2013, two lawsuits were filed, intending to stop the program and keep students in public schools, even if those schools weren’t a good fit.

The North Carolina Association of Educators, which filed one lawsuit in conjunction with the North Carolina Justice Center and 25 taxpayers, argued the public money funding the scholarships is earmarked by the state’s constitution to fund public education.

Those representing pro-school-choice parents in the lawsuit agreed  the state’s constitution sets aside certain money for public education, but argued the scholarships are funded through a separate area of the state’s budget.

Lawsuits often take weeks or months, so in February, Wake County Superior Court issued a preliminary decision stopping the program until it gets sorted out in court.

The Institute for Justice appealed the injunction to the Appeals Court, then to the state Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court stopped the trial court’s order, allowing the program to continue until the courts reach a final decision over whether the state’s constitution permits voucher programs.

“The (trial) judge put his foot on the brakes, and the Supreme Court took his foot off the brake,” said Richard Komer, senior attorney for IJ and lead attorney on the case.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

The state Appeals Court will hear arguments and may referred the case back to the trial court for arguments over whether the program is constitutional, said Renee Flaherty, an IJ attorney also working on the case.

In any case, parents previously denied the private-school vouchers now will  have that options available this fall.

“It’s a substantial victory for school choice. Not necessarily a final victory, but it at least means the implementation of the program can proceed again,” Komer said.

Authored by Mary C. Tillotson