Guest Post by Morbo
Jeb Bush has not been governor of Florida since 2006, but he is still managing to mess up the state.
During his tenure, Bush promoted a private school voucher plan. The legislature passed it, but a legal challenge was filed. In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court held that the plan violates the state constitution.
Florida’s Constitution contains strong language barring the diversion of tax money to religious schools and institutions. As it turns out, the Florida high court struck down the voucher plan on other grounds, declaring by a 5-2 vote that it ran afoul a provision requiring a uniform system of free public schools. Bush’s response was to hatch a plan to rewrite sections of the Florida Constitution.
The legislature balked, so Bush, in cahoots with current Gov. Charlie Crist, stacked an obscure state body, the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, with voucher stooges. The tax commission, which meets every 20 years, has the power to put initiatives directly on the ballot by a two-thirds vote. The 25-member board promptly did their bidding and voted to put Amendments 7 and 9 on the ballot.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Neither amendment mentions the word “voucher.” Amendment 7 is titled “Religious freedom.” It would remove the prohibition on tax aid to religious schools. Number 9’s title reads, “Requiring 65 percent of school funding for classroom instruction; state’s duty for children’s education.” It would do that – and also state that Florida does not have to rely exclusively on public schools to educate its children, flinging the door open for vouchers.
Religious freedom sounds good to most people. Spending 65 percent of school funding in the classroom also sounds good. Clearly, Bush & Co. are hoping Florida voters won’t look any deeper and will rubber stamp these proposals.
Newspapers in the state have not been fooled. The St. Petersburg Times recently editorialized:
Here’s a pop quiz: How many of you just guessed from the amendments’ official titles that they are intended to invalidate a 2006 Florida Supreme Court and separate appellate court ruling against school vouchers? If the actual purpose eluded you, then the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission would be pleased. The intent behind the baldly political game commissioners played in putting two school voucher issues on the ballot was obvious: Get voters to approve vouchers without knowing they did.
A key player in all of this has been Patricia Levesque, Bush’s former top education aide, now a member of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. Levesque is a graduate of Bob Jones University. Apparently, she was absent the day her Bible professor talked about how “bearing false witness” is a sin.
Not surprisingly, plenty of people in Florida are angry over this stunt. Some say the Commission has exceeded its authority. There will be litigation. If the amendments survive and end up on the ballot, forces supporting public education will have a lot of work to. The other side hasn’t hesitate to employ deception to get this far, so look for a lot more.
One more thing: A Florida Religious Right group affiliated with Focus on the Family and the state’s Roman Catholic Church hierarchy has already endorsed both amendments. They assert that the Florida constitutional provisions Bush wants to repeal are “anti-Catholic.”
It’s a dumb argument. The language was adopted in 1885 but may have been inspired by similar language in earlier versions of the state constitution. There were very few Catholics living in Florida in 1885. In fact, the language merely reflects a long-standing concern that no one be forced to pay for someone else’s religion. Many state constitutions have similar provisions.