School Voucher Program Batted Down in Florida

MIAMI —  The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the nation’s first statewide school voucher program, ruling that it violated the state’s constitution by robbing public schools of resources.

Though Florida’s Constitution explicitly provides for “a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high-quality system of free public education,” the voucher program enacted under Gov. Jeb Bush “diverts public dollars into separate private systems,” Chief Justice Barbara J. Pariente wrote in the 5-2 ruling.

The justices’ decision was seized upon by opponents of vouchers as a precedent of national import on the controversial issue, but discounted by proponents, who said its impact would be limited.

Known as the “Opportunity Scholarship Program,” the Florida vouchers have been offered since 1999. About 700 schoolchildren across Florida receive the vouchers, which allow them to attend private or religious schools if their public school is classified as “failing” by the state. Two other voucher programs involving far more Florida children were untouched by Thursday’s ruling.

The court ruled that in addition to undermining the public-school mandate, the vouchers support private schools that are not “uniform” when compared with each other or the public schools.

Among those who welcomed the ruling was Mark Egan, director of federal affairs at the National Assn. of School Boards, an organization that represents public school boards. Florida currently has the only statewide program, he said, and it “has been the spotlight voucher program for years.”

“We think that vouchers undermine public education, and drain dollars from the public schools,” Egan said. “They also create double standards of accountability. Public schools are accountable to the public. Private schools are not.”

The governor of Florida called the ruling “a sad day for accountability in our state.” Bush promoted the use of vouchers as a key tool in his campaign to force Florida’s public schools to perform better or risk losing pupils and funds.

He told reporters in Tallahassee that he would look for ways to continue the voucher program, including private funding and amending the state constitution.

“School choice is as American as apple pie in my opinion,” Bush said. “The world is made richer and fuller and more vibrant when you have choices.”

In a separate statement, Bush said the Opportunity Scholarship students currently enrolled in private schools were 64% African American and 30% Hispanic. Without the vouchers, Bush said, their parents could not afford to send them to private schools.

To avoid disrupting the education of children receiving the scholarship vouchers, the Florida Supreme Court said its decision would take effect at the end of this school year.

Some proponents of vouchers said the effect of the ruling would be limited because of the peculiarity of Florida’s constitution. Few other states have a similar constitutional requirement for a uniform system of public schools, said Clark Neily, senior attorney with the Institute for Justice. And one of those states, Wisconsin, recently rejected the conclusion reached by the Florida justices, Neily said.

“This is a battle, but it’s not the war,” said Neily, who helped argue the case for vouchers before the Florida court.

“The larger fight here is whether parents should have the ability to choose where their children go to school, and if they should have this ability whether or not they have the money. We consider this one of the civil rights issues of the 21st century, and we’re going to continue to fight it.”

Florida Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Bell, who cast one of the dissenting votes, said there was no proof that the money spent on Opportunity Scholarships had kept the state from running a statewide public school system of uniform quality.

About 30,000 other Florida children benefit from other voucher programs created for disabled and lower-income students. Those two programs were not directly affected by Thursday’s ruling, but one official for an organization that represents many of the state’s private schools said it could have a chilling effect.

Under the uniformity argument cited by the Florida Supreme Court, private and religious schools could be barred from receiving voucher students if they refused to obey state regulations they are now exempt from, such as fingerprinting school directors and fire safety inspections, said Skardon Bliss, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools.

“The right of parents to choose the kind of school, whether religious or not, for their child is in jeopardy,” said Bliss, whose association represents 157 schools with an enrollment of 764,000.

Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Assn., which represents the school boards in all of Florida’s 67 counties, said his staff was ready to celebrate after the court’s ruling.

He called it a “killing blow” to any immediate plans afoot to expand voucher programs in Florida or other states.

“It’s a great way to start the new year,” Blanton said. “It’s a great ruling for the public school systems in the U.S. and in Florida.”

The law creating the scholarship vouchers had been ruled unconstitutional by a Florida appeals court on grounds that it violated the separation of church and state by giving tax money to religiously affiliated schools. The Florida Supreme Court sidestepped that issue, voiding the law because of the state constitution’s language on education.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld school vouchers that allow parents to use state funds toward private education, including religious schools, provided that the programs were “neutral with respect to religion” and parents who enrolled their children did so of their own free will.

Voucher programs are not widespread. They exist in some variation in six states, but most are limited in scope or to individual cities. The first was established in Milwaukee in 1975.