Florida voucher plan ruled constitutional

Christian Century, Oct 18, 2000

A Florida appeals court has ruled that a taxpayer-financed school voucher plan does not violate the state constitution. The ruling October 3 by the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee said that a lower court erred when it declared unconstitutional Governor Jeb Bush's voucher plan permitting students in poor-performing public schools to transfer to private schools.

The first statewide program of its kind, the voucher plan serves as a model for a nationwide program proposed by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, the older brother of the Florida governor. Under the law, children at schools that are considered to be failing two years out of four are eligible for vouchers of up to $3,389 at parochial or private schools.

Overturned was the ruling March 14 of Leon County Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith Jr., who said, "Tax dollars may not be used to send the children of this state to private schools." Smith said the voucher system violated the then recently enacted state constitutional provision mandating Florida to offer a free, adequate system of education. But in a unanimous opinion, the three-judge appellate court said that the constitution "does not unalterably hitch the requirement to make adequate provisions for education to a single specific engine, that being the public school system."

The Florida Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations that have traditionally fought private school voucher programs indicated that the legal battle will likely continue to the Florida Supreme Court. When the voucher plan received an adverse ruling in March, William Donohue, president of the New York--based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, predicted, "This issue will eventually be settled in the U.S. Supreme Court, and a decision can't come too soon."