Voucher foes reignite challenge to new law
By JIM SAUNDERS
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, October 22, 2014.......... After losing the first round in a court battle, school-voucher opponents have filed a revised challenge to a new law that would expand Florida's de-facto voucher program.
The challenge, backed by the Florida Education Association teachers union, was filed Tuesday in Leon County circuit court. The filing came nearly a month after Chief Circuit Judge Charles Francis said the plaintiff in an initial version of the case, Lee County teacher Tom Faasse, didn't have the legal standing to sue.
The revised case continues to name Faasse as a plaintiff but also adds parents Andy Green, Iggy Monsalve and Rachael Diasio, all of whom have children attending Miami-Dade County public schools. It contends they have legal standing, in part, because an expansion of the voucher program --- formally known as the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program --- would shift to private schools money that otherwise would go into the public-education system.
"The significant expansion of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program … will result in additional funds being diverted from the public schools (including from the Miami-Dade County public schools and the Lee County public schools) to private schools, thus further undermining the quality of education provided to the children of plaintiffs Green, Monsalve, and Diasio, and further undermining the ability of public school teachers like plaintiff Faasse to provide a high-quality education,'' said the revised complaint, posted on the website of the law firm Meyer, Brooks, Demma and Blohm, which represents the plaintiffs.
But Patricia Levesque, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, blasted the renewed legal challenge. Levesque's organization, founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, is a major supporter of school-choice programs.
"It is unfortunate, but not unexpected, that the Florida Education Association continues its crusade against families who are poor or have students with learning disabilities,'' Levesque said in a prepared statement. "How are we to take seriously an allegation that giving more than 70,000 disadvantaged children an opportunity to succeed in life threatens injury to three parents and a social studies teacher? That union bosses would attempt to throw these kids out of their schools reveals a callousness that's hard to fathom."
The dispute stems from the Legislature's approval this spring of a wide-ranging education bill that included expanding eligibility for the voucher program and creating "personal learning accounts" to help parents of students with disabilities pay for educational services.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that the law, signed by Gov. Rick Scott, violates part of the state constitution that says legislation should deal with a single subject. The renewed complaint said "there exists no logical or natural connection" among the various provisions of the bill, which included subjects such as "middle-grades reform, digital materials and industry certifications, collegiate high-school programs, criminal penalties for hazing, juvenile-justice education, students with disabilities, fine-arts courses, personal learning scholarship accounts and private-school tax credits."
Some Republican leaders, such as House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, made a priority this year of expanding the Tax Credit Scholarship program. In the program, corporations can receive tax credits for money they donate to organizations that then help pay for students to attend private schools.
