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The Florida State Supreme Court ruled Thursday (January 5, 2006) Governor Jeb Bush's pilot voucher program illegal because it violates a provision in the state constitution that prohibits using taxpayer money to finance a private alternative to the public education system.
In its 5-2 decision, the court said the voucher school program hurt public education because it "diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools that are the sole means set out in the constitution for the state to provide for the education of Florida's children."
Specifically, the court said the voucher school program violates an article in the state's constitution that says, "Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high-quality system of free public schools."
"This diversion not only reduces money available to the free schools, but also funds private schools that are not 'uniform' when compared with each other or the public system," the ruling states.
Although Florida Education Association President Andy Ford applauds the ruling, he questions why it took a six-year battle to accomplish.
"Plenty of people warned that the governor's approach was unconstitutional," Ford said. "And those warnings didn't come just from those who opposed vouchers. The legislative staff that first worked on the original voucher bill noted that the measure had serious constitutional questions."
Advocates for Wisconsin public schools are dealing with a similar situation with the Milwaukee private voucher school program, which is becoming notorious for sub-par schools. The latest school dropped from the program, Northside High School, did not meet minimum standards. A former co-principal at the school who was fired, said the school "was an absolute joke. Most of the time, (the students) were doing crossword puzzles."
Meantime, voucher schools are being rejected at a national level. In November, a group of 23 moderate House Republicans bucked its party's leaders and defeated an effort to include a private school voucher plan in the House budget reconciliation bill.
Resource page: private voucher schools
Posted January 6, 2006