No end to board pay: The Constitution Revision Commission rejects a proposal to end pay for members of local school boards. A majority of the members expressed concerns that ending pay would limit the diversity of candidates, especially in poor and rural counties. "If you cannot work for free, you cannot be a school board member with this proposal," St. Johns County Superintendent Tim Forson argued. Eight other proposed amendments will be discussed and voted on at a future meeting. Gradebook. Politico Florida.
Charter school authorizers: A proposed amendment to create charter school authorizers other than local school boards is changed to allow outside entities to also start public schools. By state law, that authority to start free public schools largely rests with local school boards. Commission member Erika Donalds, who introduced the original proposal, backs the amendment, which was brought by Patricia Levesque. redefinED.
Blaine Amendment: Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero urges the Constitution Revision Commission to support a proposal that would end the prohibition against state money going to religious institutions, including schools. Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Cantero says the Blaine Amendment is likely to be declared unconstitutional. redefinED. News Service of Florida.
Flu concerns: The flu virus is sweeping the state with 107 outbreaks already reported. Ninety-four percent of those reports are from schools and health-care facilities. Baker, Bradford and Holmes counties have had elevated activity, according to the Florida Department of Health, and 46 of the state's 67 counties are reporting increasing flu activity. Only Jackson County has reported no cases. Several school districts have sent warnings home to parents. Tampa Bay Times. WOKV. Keynoter. Gainesville Sun.
The logic that led the Florida's Supreme Court to strike down a school voucher program should not apply to tax credit scholarships, which face a new legal challenge, according to a former justice who heard the state's seminal court case on private school choice.
Former Justice Raoul Cantero, who was on the high court when it decided Bush v. Holmes, squares off with Joanne McCall, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the tax credit scholarship program, in dueling opinion pieces in the state's largest newspaper.
The two columns in Friday's Tampa Bay Times may serve as a preview of coming attractions, since a key hearing in the tax credit scholarship lawsuit is scheduled for a Tallahassee courtroom on Feb. 9.
In her guest column, McCall, a vice president of the Florida Education Association, echoes a central claim her side is making in court — that the tax credit scholarships are legally similar to the voucher program the court found unconstitutional.
In the 2006 Bush vs. Holmes case, Florida courts used two different reasons for declaring the Opportunity Scholarship vouchers unconstitutional. The 1st District Court of Appeal said the vouchers violated the "no aid" clause in Article I, Section 3, of the state Constitution, which prohibits taking revenue "from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." The Florida Supreme Court ruled that the program was "in direct conflict with the mandate in Article IX, Section 1(a) that it is the state's 'paramount duty' to make adequate provision for education and that the manner in which this mandate must be carried out is 'by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.' "
Like the Opportunity Scholarship vouchers, the state provides tax-credit vouchers for students to attend private schools at public expense. Proponents say that because tax-credit vouchers are funded by revenue that bypasses the state treasury, the program is different than the voucher program already declared unconstitutional by the courts.
That's wishful thinking.
Former Justice Raoul Cantero joined the dissenting opinion in the Holmes case, which argued the voucher program should have been upheld. In Friday's Times, however, he notes that even the justices who struck down the Opportunity Scholarship Program identified key features that distinguish the vouchers from tax credit scholarships.
