Court orders Florida tuition vouchers
halted
Miami Herald
BY GARY FINEOUT, MARY ELLEN KLAS AND MATTHEW I. PINZUR
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
January 6, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - In a stunning blow to the education policies that Jeb Bush has
made the centerpiece of his governorship, the Florida Supreme Court struck down
the state's tuition voucher program Thursday, saying it violates the state
Constitution because it diverts public money to private schools.
Although the 5-2 ruling applies only to one of three voucher programs now in
existence, it could place all such Florida programs in legal jeopardy.
The case involves the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which pays private
school tuition for more than 700 students statewide, including 416 in
Miami-Dade and 14 in Broward County.
The carefully worded ruling, written by Chief Justice Barbara Pariente,
allows the program to continue until the end of the school year "in order not
to disrupt the education of students." But in the fall, the program will be
dismantled unless legislators find a way to restore it.
"We do not question the basic right of parents to educate their children as
they see fit," Pariente wrote, noting that voucher proponents ``have a strongly
held view that students should have choices."
But diverting public money to private schools undermines public schools, the
ruling said: ``Our decision does not deny parents recourse to either public or
private school alternatives to a failing school. Only when the private school
option depends upon public funding is choice limited."
KEY BUSH POLICY
The ruling is a major setback for Bush, who won legislative approval for the
voucher program as a cornerstone of his "A-plus" education policies during his
first year in office in 1999.
The voucher program allows students in failing schools to take state money
and use it in private schools. Bush argued that the threat of losing state
money to private schools would serve as a catalyst for districts to improve
low-performing schools.
Bush said Thursday that the threat has worked and schools have improved. He
conceded, however, that the ruling was now the "law of the land" and called it
a "sad day" for the families who now get a private school education at taxpayer
expense.
He said he would press ahead to find a way to preserve the voucher programs,
"as long as I'm governor," even if it means raising money privately to pay the
tuition of students currently enrolled.
"I don't think any option should be taken off the table," Bush said, though
he acknowledged an appeal to the federal courts is unlikely. ``School choice is
as American as apple pie, in my opinion. . . . The world is made richer and
fuller and more vibrant when you have choices."
POSSIBLE REFERENDUM
Bush said that one possible solution is to have lawmakers place a
constitutional amendment on the 2006 ballot that would permit the voucher
programs. Senate President Tom Lee predicted lawmakers would move ahead with
something that meets constitutional muster, and that would keep the programs
intact.
Voucher opponents were jubilant about the decision, noting that they had
fought the law for seven years, filing a lawsuit a day after it became law.
Ron Meyer, lead attorney for a coalition that includes the Florida Education
Association, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, said the
decision ``means that Florida's taxpayers will not be forced to pay for schools
which are unaccountable."
PARTY REACTIONS
The decision could have wide political implications. Republican voucher
backers such as Rep. Ralph Arza of Miami called the ruling "cowardly" and a
display of "judicial activism," while Democrats praised it and said that GOP
leaders should now focus on helping public schools.
After lawmakers enacted Bush's first program in 1999 they added two others:
The McKay scholarship program for disabled children, and the corporate
income-tax credit program, which allows companies to give money to private
groups that offer vouchers and get a credit from the state. Nearly 30,000
students are enrolled in these two other programs.
Although two lower courts ruled that the initial voucher program violated a
state constitutional ban on aid to churches and religious institutions, the
high court sidestepped that issue completely, ruling instead that the program
violated a constitutional provision guaranteeing a "uniform" system of ``free
public schools."
"It diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in
competition with the free public schools," Pariente wrote.
TWO DISSENT
Two justices -- Kenneth Bell and Raoul Cantero, both appointed by Bush --
dissented. Bell wrote that there was nothing specific in the Constitution that
prohibits state lawmakers from offering alternatives to public schools.
Legislators said they will try to cushion the blow for families who rely on
the scholarships.
Angela Mack of Miami, for example, said her oldest children would have been
lost had it not been for the Opportunity Scholarships. They were not getting
the support they needed at Booker T. Washington Senior High, she said, and were
starting to lose interest in school altogether.
"They're not outgoing, outspoken people," she said. ``They're very calm,
to-themselves persons and they weren't getting what they needed."
Booker T. has never earned higher than a D on the state's schools-grading
system, and its back-to-back Fs in 2002 and 2003 made hundreds of students
eligible for vouchers. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Mack put her kids
in a Lincoln Marti private school near her Overtown home.
Some parents, including Mack, said they will now turn to charter schools
rather than return to the low-performing, district-run senior highs. Under
state law, voucher users can choose another public school if they don't want to
return to their failing school.
A DRAMATIC CHANGE
But Rosann Sidener, the principal at Booker T., believes that students who
do return will find a very different school than the one they left. The school
will reopen this fall as an all-academy school with programs in international
studies, business, engineering, liberal arts and health and wellness.
Miami-Dade School Board member Frank Bolaños was skeptical, saying
the "jury is still out" on whether long-struggling schools such as Booker T.
and Edison High have made enough progress.
"If they return to the same chronically failing school they were in, they'll
be worse off," Bolaños said.
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Rudy Crew, however, praised the court's
ruling, saying vouchers distracted money and attention from broader school
change.
"This is a question of the invasiveness of an idea that is intended and was
always intended to erode the public dollar stake in public education," Crew
said.
In Broward County, only 14 students receive Opportunity Scholarships from
the county's three double-F schools: Lauderdale Manors Elementary, Arthur Ashe
Middle and North Lauderdale Academy, a charter high school.
Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till said the schools have made
improvements, but not because of vouchers.
"I don't think the voucher has led to any of those positives," he said.
``It's never been a motivator for us. I think it was the weakest part of the
[accountability] program and I'm glad it's gone."
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