BREAKING: FLORIDA SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN SCHOOL VOUCHERS

AP

[SoFloFreeper]

TALLLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Supreme Court has struck down the state's school voucher system that paid for some students to attend private schools.

[Sacajaweau]

You hit the nail on the head....Unions....They're raping us here in Upstate NY...especially with their pensions.

[gondramB]

ICE-FLYER: "I M P E A C H M E N T

...and if not then forceable removal. The people are not to be trumped by those with a world view that only sees left."


This is not a good idea... what if some nut hurts one of the judges and then it turns up that on Free Republic there were calls for "forceable removal?" A disclaimer about exaggeration or hyperbole would probably be a good idea.

I just finished reading the decision and it sounds like the Florida Constitution requires uniform education - I can see the argument that vouchers would allow some students to get much better education. I wonder what's involved in change the Florida constitution?

[Borges]

Has anyone checked to determine if there is something in the water supply of Tallahassee that induces erratic insanity syndrome?

They followed their state Constitution to the letter.

[Red Badger]

see #117.....

[okie01]

I guess I don't understand why then you would oppose it unless its using tax money towards private schools; but not ALL private schools are religious in nature.

There is a very simple solution to the problem of vouchers.

Give the public money refund back to the parents of the affected school children. Let them decide whether to use the money at another public school or a private school -- religious or otherwise. The money should NOT go direct to the school.

This is how GI Bill money was handled. The recipient received the funds and chose the school. It could have been Oklahoma State...or Oklahoma Baptist.

Thus is the question of public funds for private schools resolved. And the question of government control of private schools never arises.

[summer]

In this case no rights were invented. They went by the letter of their State Constitution.

Yeah, but what is sad is that the voucher system was something available to parents of students in public schools that had repeatedly failed, and in those public schools, unless there is a real alternative available to those parents, the schools have no motive to improve. The vouchers provided that alternative to parents and motive to the schools (even though relatively few parents took advantage of it). Still, it existed as something real enough for district administrators and others to consider.

[Madeleine Ward]

Excuse me.

A voucher is not a subsidy. Those parents pay for education through their property taxes or through their rent. It's money taken from them and then given back to them in the form of a voucher.

Explain why conservatives should abhor giving back hard earned money.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"I'm a parent with kids in private school who does not want to see vouchers."

Many folks are concerned about government control of schools receiving vouchers.

There's a simple solution: give the funds to the parent, not the school. Any funds not spent on "education" (including home-schooling costs) would be taxed at 100%. While we're at it, make parental education expenditures above the governmental funding amount deductible.

Simple.

Your tax dollars still go to education, but the gummint has no strings to pull on private schools. Who says the tax system can only be used to further liberal causes, anyway?

[summer]

Re your post #125 - That is a good idea, too.

[Warren_Piece]

This reminds me of something that happened in TN a few years ago that almost bankrupted the state. SCOTN ruled that a similar "equal distribution of funding clause" in the TN constitution meant that rural and urban schools in the state had to be funded equally in ACTUAL per student dollars. They didn't take into account differing urban/rural needs, cost of living differences, and all the other factors that should have been considered. It literally cost billions - that combined with our Rolls-Royce public health insurance forced the state to enact a "doomsday" budget, and almost got us an income tax.

Same-ness in the name of fairness will be the end of us all.

[MineralMan]

You can quote Jefferson all you like. The words you quoted appear nowhere in the US Constitution, nor in the Constitution of Florida.

You want those words in there? Get the document amended.

[Borges]

Jefferson was actually one of the pioneers of Public Education in the U.S...

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1370.htm

[Chanticleer]

But that would mean that you trust the parents to make wise decision regarding their children's education. Government doesn't believe in trusting the people it governs.

[CindyDawg]

Yeah, I said there were drawbacks. Schools are overrated IMO though. It has only been in the last century that we started all this. Does that mean people before weren't able to be productive citizens? If a disaster happened, and schools shut down, would our kids still learn to read and write? It's dedicated parents and not where the learning takes place that is important.

[RonF]

Yes, there was a reason given:

"Our inquiry begins with the plain language of the second and third sentences of article IX, section 1(a) of the [Florida] Constitution. The relevant words are theres: "it is ... a paramount duty of the state to make adequate profision for the education of all children residing within it's borders." Using the same term, "adequate provision," article IX, section 1(a) further states: "Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools." For reasons expressed more fully below, we find that the OSP violates this language. 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. This divirsion 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. Many standards imposed by law on the public schools are inapplicable to the private schools receiving public monies. In sum, through the OSP the state is fostering plural, nonuniform systems of education in direct violation of the constitutional mandate for a uniform system of free public schools."

So it seems to me that for vouchers to pass muster with the Florida Supreme Court, the definition of "adequate provision" would have to be struck or would have to be amended to include private schools. But as it stands, if the state finds that the public schools are inadequate for the task of educating Florida's children, the only constitutional remedy is to fix the public schools.

[doodad]

Landlords include property taxes when calculating what to charge for rent.

Yes they do, but this is one of the pet peeves I have in my area. We have some of the best schools in the state so rather than be able to afford the area, the apartments are full of kids (mostly single moms). Our schools then suffer proportionally and the tax paid does not cover the number of students equally. I subsidize their kids. There has been serious talk of using sales tax instead of property in our state.

[linda_22003]

My parents did not like the public schools where we were when I was growing up (and my mother was a teacher in that system!) so they paid for me to go to a private school. With their money. They did not expect the government to divert money to them specifically that was part of their societal obligation.

[MineralMan]

"[T]o compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.
"

Further, if my taxes go to a religious private school, Jefferson's words would apply to my taxes, as well, since I disbelieve in all religions.

How's that. If you want things to apply, they will apply to all, not just to you. Baptists might object to their taxes being spent on Catholic private schools, and so on, and so on...

[CindyDawg]

Why are the schools failing?

[Warren_Piece]

If a disaster happened, and schools shut down, would our kids still learn to read and write?

You have to ask yourself, "Is our children learning?"...

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.