Florida school boards gear up for voucher battle
By Stacey Hollenbeck
A Florida commission has approved several statewide initiatives to be placed on the ballot in November that, if passed, could revive a major private school voucher program and limit public funding for K-12 education.
The ballot measures are “extraordinarily troubling,” particularly at a time when the state is facing an economic crisis, said Ruth Melton, legislative director for the Florida School Boards Association.
The state’s largest voucher program, which allowed students in low-performing schools to transfer to private schools, was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in January 2006.
One ballot measure approved by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission would repeal Florida’s Blaine amendment, which bans public support for private schools.
Another would amend the state constitution to give citizens the right to choose among public and private providers of several types of services, including schools. If passed, that amendment would safeguard the state’s voucher program for students with disabilities and the corporate tax credits that support private school tuition.
During the current year, the corporate tax credits drained $88 million from state coffers, and the legislature has just increased state spending on the program by $30 million.
That same ballot measure also would require school districts to spent at least 65 percent of their budgets on classroom expenses. Similar “65 percent solution” proposals had cropped up in several states a few years ago but virtually all were shot down by voters.
A third constitutional amendment approved by the commission would eliminate the use of local property taxes to fund public education beginning in 2010. To help offset that loss, the commission proposed a one-cent increase in the sales tax.
But raising the sales tax would produce only $3.3 billion, Melton said, while property taxes generated $9.4 billion for the current year.
Melton noted that the legislature cut $300 million from the K-12 budget last year and trimmed another $300 million in the session that just ended, causing school boards across the state to consider layoffs and program cuts.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.