Senate moves to keep vouchers.
The state Senate advanced a proposal to fix the constitutional weaknesses of Florida's first voucher program. It comes up for a vote today.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - One day after the state Senate defeated Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to rescue a school voucher program invalidated by the courts, the chamber offered up a replacement plan.
The legislation would revamp the way the state handles Florida's first voucher program, which gives children in failing schools state-paid tuition to attend private schools.
The state Supreme Court ruled that the state Constitution bars the state from using taxpayer dollars for private schooling.
The Senate's suggested solution: Don't give the state funds directly to the kids. Instead, let corporate sponsors pay for the vouchers -- then give them a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.
The plan, which will come up for a final vote today, is designed to get around the high court decision in January that declared the Opportunity Scholarship Program unconstitutional.
The scholarships were the first statewide voucher program and became a cornerstone of Gov. Jeb Bush's 1999 ''A-Plus'' school improvement plan. Supporters contend the vouchers forced schools to improve because they created competition for education dollars: Failing schools lose funding for students who get vouchers to go somewhere else.
The bill allows the 733 students now receiving the scholarships to be eligible for the corporation-sponsored vouchers, including 400 in Miami-Dade County and 14 in Broward.
Those students would now have three options: transfer to a higher-performing public school in the same district, get a transportation subsidy to another district or a scholarship to a private school.
Meanwhile, the bill ''holds the schools harmless,'' said its sponsor, Sen. Daniel Webster, a Winter Garden Republican. The school that loses the student would not lose the money, even if the student attends a private school.
The proposal would expand the already existing corporate tax-credit scholarship program but will not affect another voucher measure, the McKay Scholarships, designed to help disabled students go to public schools.
The Florida Education Association and a coalition of groups financed the lawsuit that overturned the governor's first voucher program. The lead attorney, Ron Meyer, called Webster's bill ''a good start toward addressing the constitutional shortcomings that the court found and that is something we support.'' Meyer said his coalition has ''no plans'' to file a lawsuit against the other voucher programs and said warnings from the governor and voucher supporters that his group plans to challenge the McKay scholarships are untrue.
''We could have sued on McKay 5 ½ years ago, and we have no plans to,'' he said.
Later Tuesday, even as it moved ahead with Plan B on vouchers, the Senate voted to resurrect the voucher constitutional amendment killed Monday -- in case any senator changes his or her mind.
Over the objection of those who killed the bill, Senate President Tom Lee insisted this was purely a procedural move and that no arms would be twisted.
Miami Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/14485595.htm
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