Jeb loses his Vouchers Yeah!

[donsu]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0601060149jan06,1,1855644.story?ctrack=1&cset=true


Court tosses out school voucher law in Florida


The state Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Florida's landmark school voucher law--the only statewide voucher program in the country and a cornerstone of education reforms championed by Gov. Jeb Bush.

In a 5-2 decision, justices ruled that the Opportunity Scholarship Program violates a constitutional mandate that the state provides for a "uniform, effective, safe, secure and high quality system of public schools" by illegally siphoning off public dollars to benefit private schools.

The ruling affects 733 of the state's 2.4 million public school students. They will be allowed to finish out the school year at the private schools where they are enrolled but then will likely return to the public school system unless the law or the constitution is changed.

-snip-

A disappointed Bush vowed to find a way to continue the 1999 program although he has no specific plan yet. He credited the threat of students leaving failing public schools with helping to boost individual student test scores and school grades.
-snip-
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Jeb the man also said: "The fact is that in Florida we no longer tolerate failure," said the governor,


I can't tolerate Jeb

[FrannyD]

1. I know

I heard it on radio yesterday. Makes me happy.

[shoelace414]

2. Wisconsin has had vouchers for over 15 years

so that must mean our school system should be the best in the nation!

[Roaming]

6. But it's very limited

However, the children who attend voucher schools overall do very well and the parents of these children love the program.

[madfloridian]

3. Not really. Only a small portion.

The court did not rule on the private religious school issue...that they are getting public school money. Trying to figure it out now.

Over 10,000 in one program won't be affected at all.

I am re-reading the article in our paper now, and it is not so much a loss as a draw I fear.

[Thorandmjolnir]

5. Its a loss

What the court said was that the state, which is obligated to provide a free education system to all floridians, cannot divert tax dollars to a parallel system (private schools), since the private school don't follow the same standards as the public schools. There is not the same oversight and regulation of the private schools.

This situation is unique to Florida because of the provision in the Florida Constitution:

SECTION 1. Public education.--

(a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.

[yellowcanine]

4. A disappointed Bush vowed to find a way to continue the 1999 program ...

Apparently he is not adopted after all. Breaking the law in the Bush family tradition....

Maybe some of his "faith based" rich buddies could just give the students scholarships out of their "faith based" pockets?

[WhereThereIsFire]

7. Reporters here in Tallahassee said ...

"The once-dominant Democrats can barely stop a constitutional amendment restoring vouchers in the Legislature - and this time, there probably won't be a U.S. Supreme Court appeal to reverse what the teacher unions and other plaintiffs won Thursday." (Don't blame me for the reporter's poor grammar.)

Although admitting the ruling Thursday struck a "blow to Gov. Jeb Bush" the only program affected was the Opportunity Scholarship program and 733 students in the state of Florida.

Democratic candidate for Jeb's job in 367 days, U.S. Representative Jim Davis said: "the politicians in Tallahassee have done everything they could to avoid tackling the tough job of really improving our public schools." One of Davis' platform lines is "Public Dollars for Public Schools."

see: www.jimdavis2006.com for more info on his candidacy

see: www.tallahassee.com for the full story on vouchers: "High court stamps out vouchers"

[madfloridian]

8. 30,000 still unaffected...

I have a post about this in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x67664

Our 4 year olds can still attend pre-school at religious schools with public tax money. I am still trying to understand that.