Judge rules Florida voucher program is unconstitutional

8/13/02 – A state judge in Florida has ruled the state's voucher program is unconstitutional.

NSBA hailed the ruling. "No only do vouchers fail in the court of public opinion for numerous practical reasons, but this decision proves that vouchers continue to fail the constitutional test at the state level," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant.

The Aug. 5 decision, by Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey, says Florida's constitution is "clear and unambiguous" in preventing public money from going to churches or other "sectarian institutions."

The ruling is a major setback for Gov. Jeb Bush, who touted the voucher program as the centerpiece of his education reform proposals. The state filed an appeal of the ruling Aug. 7.

The Florida decision comes just six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Ohio's voucher law, which allowed lower-income families in Cleveland to use vouchers to help pay the tuition at religious and other private schools.

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Cleveland program did not address state-level constitutional problems, which clearly remain an impediment," Bryant says. "It's at the state level where the rubber meets the road. State constitutions can be more restrictive than the U.S. Constitution. If vouchers violate state constitutions, then the federal constitutional question becomes a moot point."

Florida's voucher law, enacted in 1999, provides "opportunity scholarship funds" to students at schools identified by the state as failing for two years out of the previous four years.

Last year, only two schools qualified, both in Escambia County, and fewer than 50 students participated.

For the coming 2002-03 school year, 10 schools qualified, including five schools in Miami-Dade County, three in Palm Beach, and one each in Orange and Escambia counties. State officials reported that 702 students among 9,000 who were eligible planned to participate and 352 of them planned to attend religious schools.

The Florida case (Holmes v. Bush) was filed in 1999. The plaintiffs included the Florida Education Association, the state's teacher union; Florida PTA; NAACP; and the Florida League of Women Voters.

The decision by Davey states that "any opportunity scholarship funds distributed to a participating student or their parent result in a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the funds of the public school or school district where the student was assigned."

The ruling notes that the defendants claimed that the voucher program did not directly or indirectly aid any particular church or religious institution because parents make the choice of where to send their child. Davey says, "These contentions, while appealing, do not have constitutional merit."

Legal issues notwithstanding, vouchers for a few students remain a bad alternative to improving public schools for all students, Bryant says. "Florida's program, like all voucher programs, ignores the needs of the 90 percent of students who attend our public schools and drains away critical dollars."

Bryant urges lawmakers nationwide to "leave behind this unproven and unpopular idea and place their attention and our public resources where it belongs on improving public schools for all students."