The legal fight is so very far from over, but on Friday, the first act for Act 2’s courtroom drama ended with a crushing defeat for private school choice and voucher proponents. A Louisiana judge declared Act 2 unconstitutional after a [brisk](https://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/louisiana_teachers_take_gov_jindals_school_vouchers_law_to_court.html) three-day trial. The law was Gov. Bobby Jindal’s crowning 2012 education reform achievement. Among other reforms, it instituted the largest statewide voucher program in the nation to give private schools and entities money designated for public schools in exchange for educating students from low-income families. Gov. Jindal, whose reform playbook is borrowed from ALEC and other conservative forces who have aggressively introduced market forces into the public school sphere with the ostensible goal of improving public education, vowed an appeal. "Today’s ruling is wrong headed and a travesty for parents across Louisiana who want nothing more than for their children to have an equal opportunity at receiving a great education," the governor said in a statement on Friday, the [New Orleans Times-Picayune](http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/jindal_voucher_overhaul_uncons.html) reported. "On behalf of the citizens that cast their votes for reform, the parents who want more choices, and the kids who deserve a chance, we will appeal today’s decision, and I’m confident we will prevail," Jindal said. "All along, we expected this to be decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court."