Madfloridian's Journal - Florida trying for two tiers of schools...public and unaccountable private religious schools.

And the private and parochial school tier will NOT be held accountable for the education they provide.

Several of us have written about this before, but the Florida ACLU has come out now with more on the lawsuit.

The public schools would be as now, accountable to the public who pays taxes to fund them. BUT, as the ACLU points out, it would also open up a new parallel system of "unaccountable private and parochial schools supported by publicly funded vouchers that operate without a state-approved curriculum, without certified teachers, without state standards for instructional materials and without any mandated student achievement."

Our tax money could go to private religious schools, and we would not be able to hold them accountable. The amendments are couched in confusing language that make them sound like a good thing....instead they will diminish the public school in this state. The vehicles they use will be Amendments 7 and 9 which are due to be on the November ballot.

There is now a lawsuit to prevent this from being on the November ballot.

ACLU Florida Report email today

7 & 9 in the Courts

Proposed constitutional amendments 7 and 9 were placed on the ballot by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC),the membership of which consisted mostly of lobbyists, former members of the Jeb Bush Administration and current staff members of Bush’s foundation. A lawsuit, filed in the Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, challenges the TBRC actions as beyond the scope of their authority -- using the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission as a vehicle for ideological social policy objectives, as private school vouchers and government funding of religious organizations was an abuse of power.

The lawsuit, Ford v. Browning, was filed principally by the Florida Education Association (FEA), though the ACLU (both the Florida Affiliate and the National ACLU Program on Religion and Belief) are co-counsel along with other religious liberty and public education defenders. Final oral arguments on our motion for summary judgment will be heard on August 4th. However, we cannot rely on the courts. We must proceed to build a campaign on the assumption that proposed amendments 7 and 9 will appear on the November ballot.

There is much work to be done, and we hope you will join us in protecting our constitution from the attacks facing us on November 4th.

If this works here, it will assuredly be tried throughout the country.

Here is more about the lawsuit at the ACLU with links to follow up. The suit was filed June 13.

Lawsuit Aims To Remove Amendments 7 And 9 From Florida's November Ballot

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A group of concerned organizations, including The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Florida, filed a lawsuit today in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Court in and for Leon County on behalf of a group of Floridians representing parents of public school students, teachers, administrators and concerned citizens. The goal of the lawsuit is to prevent Amendments 7 and 9 from reaching the November ballot.

"The TBRC abused its power and indulged in an ideological crusade," said Dr. Howard Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "Amending the Florida Constitution to require tax dollars to be spent on religious programs and to undermine essential funding to improve neighborhood public schools has nothing to do with tax or budget policy.

"Even worse, the Commission is dishonest about its radical proposals," Simon added. "They disguise government funding of church programs as addressing religious discrimination. They are not even honest enough to use the word ‘vouchers,' which would tell voters what this is really all about."

Plaintiffs in the case are Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association; Beverly Slough, president of the Florida School Boards Association; Joseph Joyner, president of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents; Fran Giblin, president of the Florida Association of School Administrators; Rabbi Merrill Shapiro; and Harry Parrott Jr., a retired Baptist minister.

Credit to the St. Pete Times columnist, Howard Troxler for being one of the few to cover this issue thoroughly.

A blatant attempt to mislead the voters

Floridians will have a lot of voting to do this fall. Besides choosing our politicians, we'll also have to decide nine proposed amendments to our state Constitution. Nine! That is a lot of constitution writing. We will hear about them all in time, but today let's focus on a couple that present some interesting questions on the front end.

Maybe you think expanding school vouchers is a fine idea. Lots of people do. Maybe you think it is a terrible idea. But before we even get to that debate, the first point is … Shouldn't the ballot actually SAY this is what we're voting on?

Yes, it should.

...."Amendment 7 would repeal the "Blaine amendment," an old part of the Constitution that prohibits the use of tax dollars in support of religious institutions.

Amendment 9 would reverse a court ruling saying that Florida has an "exclusive" duty to run public schools. That would seem to mean that the state could use vouchers to educate kids, too

I am finding more and more lately that the ACLU is fighting for us. Here is a link at which you can volunteer.

I have heard few Democrats here speak out about the fact that this will allow public money to go to private religious schools with no accountability. I fear many of them probably approve of it.