State judge strikes down Florida voucher law - Nation - finds school vouchers unconstitutional - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

National Catholic Reporter, August 16, 2002 by Gill Donovan

The executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference said he was "disappointed and surprised" by an Aug. 5 ruling of a state judge striking down Florida's voucher law.

"We were caught off guard," said Michael McCarron, who heads the public policy arm of the conference. "In view of the national decision and other state decisions, we think the judge's decision is very narrow."

Florida Circuit Court Judge P. Kevin Davey said the state constitution is "clear and unambiguous" in prohibiting public money from going to churches or other "sectarian institutions."

His ruling, coming just weeks before school starts, could mean that 46 students who currently attend private schools under the state's voucher program and hundreds of others who planned to use the program in the upcoming year will be required to return to their public schools.

The 1999 Florida law allowed students attending public schools that earned a failing grade in two out of four years to obtain a voucher to attend private schools, including religious schools.

The Florida voucher law was challenged by the state's teachers union, the Florida Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Florida branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the state's League of Women Voters.

McCarron said that a motion for an appeal would probably be filed.

On June 27 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Cleveland's school voucher program (NCR, July 5).

Briefs gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Gill Donovan.