Three days of testimony on the Douglas County School District’s voucher program ended late Thursday with parent Diana Oakley telling a judge that stopping the program now would force her to home- school her oldest child.

That, she said, “would be a huge burden on our entire family.”

Oakley, an oncology nurse, said that with a voucher, she and her husband have enrolled their son in a private school designed to teach children who, like their son, have special needs.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and a group of Douglas County residents have filed a lawsuit alleging the voucher program violates Colorado’s constitution.

They have asked a judge for an injunction to halt the program until the broader legal questions are settled.

Denver District Judge Michael Martinez said he hopes to issue his ruling, which everyone involved acknowledged would probably be appealed, next week.

In March, Douglas County became the first school district in the state to approve a voucher system. The pilot program allows up to 500 students already enrolled in Douglas County schools to receive up to $4,575 toward tuition at a private school.

Three days of testimony before Martinez included appearances by school officials, the state’s education commissioner, leaders of several private schools, a state senator and even a history lesson describing how post-Civil War religious intolerance may have influenced provisions of the Colorado Constitution that deal with public education.

Oakley’s was by far the most emotional testimony, as she described how, for her 13-year-old son, Asperger’s syndrome is akin to being in a Las Vegas casino, with constant flashing lights, ringing bells and drunks “next to you acting like jerks.”

She said the condition has made her son the target of bullies and that she won’t send him back to public school.

Without Douglas County’s $4,575 contribution, Oakley said, the family can’t afford the $17,000 tuition at Humanex Academy. Even with it, she said, they had to get a home-equity line of credit.

But the plaintiffs’ attorneys say that, other than Humanex, schools participating in the voucher program are faith-based. That, they argued, violates a provision of the Colorado Constitution forbidding public school districts from using “any public funds whatever” in support of a church.

Attorney Michael McCarthy said the school district emphasizes the “choice” the program gives parents.

“Choice is not the pre-eminent constitutional value in this state,” he said. “There is a social contract to have the strongest possible public school system we can have.”

But James Lyons, representing the school district, said an injunction would please “a handful of disgruntled taxpayers” but leave 500 students who have signed up for vouchers in a lurch.

Of those, 271 have received the voucher money and paid their tuition, he said.

Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com