The education lobby: With big money at stake and big changes in the works, lobbying for education in Tallahassee is a booming business. There are lobbyists for nearly every Florida school district, and several for some, for charter schools and private schools and companies that do education work and companies that administer scholarship programs that allow students to attend private schools with taxpayer money. Step Up for Students, which hosts this blog, uses 11 lobbyists, according to state records. “Everybody is trying to get a piece of that pie,” says Ronald Meyer, a lawyer who lobbies for the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union. Florida Phoenix.
Court and education: The new school voucher plan being considered in the Legislature could be a test case for the new-look Florida Supreme Court. A scholarship has been proposed that would draw from general revenue funds instead of tax credits. When a similar idea was enacted in 2006, the state Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. But three of the justices who supported that decision are no longer on the court, having been replaced by conservatives who have previously supported voucher programs. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit and other state scholarship programs. GateHouse.
