Court and unions slap down school choice
In a January 5, 2006, decision that was all but ignored by Old Media and hardly noticed or commented upon by parents, Florida's Supreme Court wiped out the state's school choice program. The litigious teachers' unions are still celebrating.
Apparently the good justices are of the legal impression that a failing public school system, administered by an inept government bureaucracy, will somehow magically transform itself into an efficient and quality education system.
Who in their right mind would drive a court challenge against such a program that is so beneficial to Florida's children? You guessed it - UNIONS. The state's public school employee unions marked the Opportunity Scholarships program for death by lawsuit.
Forced public school attendance
Yes, mothers and fathers in the Sunshine State are now denied the opportunity to enroll their children in a private school of their choice, using state funds under the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program. For the past six years, the program showed remarkable success in improving the educational results for children who qualified for participation. Unfortunately, a real chance at an enhanced education for the state's children who are mired in the failing public system has been killed, and Florida voters are partly to blame along with the teachers' unions.
In 1998, voters passed an amendment to the Florida Constitution that mandated, among other things: "a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high-quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education." Well, well, well, imagine that. Uninformed Florida voters passing yet another feel-good amendment, a bit of meaningless fluff - but this fluff had hidden teeth used by the court to bite the very children the amendment was supposed to help.
Before continuing, let me add that, as I have shouted to the heavens myriad times, STATE OR FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ARE NOT TRIVIAL AND MUST NEVER BE EMPLOYED, EXCEPT FOR THE MOST GRAVE AND IMPORTANT OF ISSUES IMAGINABLE.
This bad little amendment, and that portion above in particular, became know as the Uniformity Clause, a clause that five of the seven presiding justices ruled would be violated by the voucher program. Well done clueless voters, and well done clueless Supreme Court.
Mind you, this injustice is being carried out in a state that has a shameful public school graduation rate of just 57 percent, third worst in the nation. Florida also holds the dubious distinction of placing fourth lowest among the states for Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score.
Courts legislating from the bench
It is interesting to note that in the oral argument for the Bush v Holmes case, it was determined that Florida legislators may not consider alternative educational arrangements, no matter how effective they might be. Madness.
And so it is quite apparent that the most shameful part of the decision is this:
While the constitution does not say that government-run schools must be the only public education program legislators and policy wonks can consider, the court majority inferred the existence of an implicit requirement to that effect. The court majority fished for an excuse to ignore Florida case law that impels the courts to adopt any reasonable interpretation of a statute that supports its constitutionality.
So now what? Florida has three other options to break out of its public school mess: the McKay voucher program for disabled students, a business tax credit for donations to private scholarship funds, and a charter school law. Well, let's take a look, shall we?
1. McKay will go unchallenged. It would be suicide for the public school employee unions to attack a program that offers choices for disabled children. But the program is only for disabled children.
2. Florida's tax credit program, while avoiding the use of public money and thus able to pass marginal court scrutiny, also allows families to obtain educational experiences specially geared to the needs of their children and hence could be subjected to the same finding as in Bush v Holmes. Kiss it goodbye.
3. Florida's Supreme Court ruling appears to make charter schooling unconstitutional. A specific point made by the justices in striking down the Opportunity Scholarships is that they allow private schools to offer curricula different from that found in regular government schools. Unfortunately, so do charter schools.
Bottom line? This year, nearly 1,000 low-income students currently in Florida's Opportunity Scholarship voucher program will be shunted back into the inferior public schools that vouchers allowed them to escape. And thanks to the court precedent now set, it looks as though many thousands more children will be joining them in the failed morass that is the monopolistic public school system.
We all know that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Would someone please tell the greedy unions, well-meaning but uninformed voters, and the Florida Supreme Court whose members think themselves elected legislators?