F.A.C.E. to FACE   F.A.C.E. BULLETIN 1/5/06   Dear Friends,   After months of deliberation the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the state's Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) is unconstitutional.  The Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program (CTC) is not affected in today¹s Florida Supreme Court ruling and isn't threatened.  The McKay is threatened but not immediately struck down.   We are confident that the legislature and the Governor will do all they can to preserve educational options for these children and hope that the Florida legislature will make the necessary structural changes to the program so that students can continue to receive a quality education.   http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/04/04-2323/Filed_01-05-2006_Opinion.pdf   The Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E.), its allies (including the McKay Coalition of Schools) and hopefully all who benefit from the OSP and McKay programs are proactively working towards protecting all programs that empower parental rights in deciding the best educational environment for their children.   Please be watchful for details on F.A.C.E. activities and how you can be involved in defending your children’s / students’ scholarships.        Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,   Michael A. Benjamin Executive Director, F.A.C.E. Florida Alliance for Choices in Education FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: RUSSELL SCHWEISS THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2006 (850) 488-5394 Statement By: GOVERNOR JEB BUSH   Regarding Florida Supreme Court Decision on Opportunity Scholarships   TALLAHASSEE – “We are disappointed in the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to deny hundreds of parents the opportunity to send their child to a school they believe improves their child’s chances for success. The public never benefits from the government protecting a monopoly. “The purpose of the Opportunity Scholarship Program is to improve public education and stimulate competition. The Court’s decision today is a blow to educational reform. It temporarily removes a critical tool for improving Florida’s public schools and it also challenges the power of the Florida Legislature to decide as a matter of public policy the best way to improve our educational system. “As the dissent and the First District Court of Appeal stated, ‘Nothing in Article IX, Section 1 clearly prohibits the Legislature from allowing the well-delineated use of public funds for private school education, particularly in circumstances where the Legislature finds such use is necessary.’ “There is no question that Florida must provide for a high quality public education system. We’ve done so by providing nearly $100 billion to public education and increasing funding by $1,563 per student in the last seven years. “Today marks the first time the Florida Supreme Court has struck an educational program solely because private schools participate equally in it. The Florida Legislature has historically funded private education for a number of specialized services, including tutoring and education for troubled students, disabled students, and exceptional students. “This year more than 700 students have taken advantage of the Opportunity Scholarship Program and educational choices they could only dream about before. Of the Opportunity Scholarship students currently enrolled in private schools, 64 percent are African-American and 30 percent are Hispanic students whose parents cannot afford to send them to private schools. The Opportunity Scholarship Program and Florida’s other school choice programs give every student a chance to succeed. They provide real choice to students while driving greater student achievement in low performing public schools. “We will work to protect these programs so important to so many families. We will explore all legal options and ask the Florida Legislature to enact any available legislative fixes or amend the Florida Constitution once again to enable the Legislature to fund all educational programs.” Florida Supreme Court declares vouchers unconstitutional By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's voucher system that allows some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools. Thursday's 5-2 opinion struck down the Opportunity Scholarship Program, championed by Gov. Jeb Bush, which was the nation's first statewide system of school vouchers. About 700 children statewide are using the program to attend a private or parochial school after transferring from a public school the state considers to be failing. Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, writing for the majority, said the program "diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools," which are the sole means set out in the state constitution for educating Florida children. Private schools also are not uniform when compared with each other or the public system and they are exempt from many standards imposed by law on public schools, such as mandatory testing, she added. Justices Kenneth Bell and Raoul Cantero, both appointed by Bush, dissented. The 1999 law previously had been ruled unconstitutional by the 1st District Court of Appeal on grounds that it violated the separation of church and state in the Florida Constitution. The high court found no need to address that issue after finding vouchers violate the public education provision. The law was challenged a day after Bush signed it. More than a dozen groups filed "friends-of-the-court" briefs in the case, ranging from the U.S. Department of Justice, supporting the state, to the International Reading Association, supporting the voucher opponents. Those opponents include the Florida Education Association, the state teachers union; the Florida PTA; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and the League of Women Voters. Two more recent voucher programs dwarf the "opportunity scholarships." Nearly 14,000 students attend private schools on McKay scholarships, which was created for children with disabilities, and another 10,000 poor children attend private schools on scholarships funded by businesses that get tax credits from the state.

 

Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)

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