By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Teachers unions and their Big Labor allies argue Florida’s Amendment 8 is a backdoor attempt to reinstate a private school voucher program struck down by Florida courts in 2006.

Proponents contend it really has little to do with private school vouchers, and will have no impact on K-12 education if approved by voters Nov. 6.

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The reality is the proposal is a good thing for school choice supporters, because it removes one of the two main legal arguments unions have made against vouchers in Florida and elsewhere. But legal experts contend the second argument concerning the establishment of a “uniform” system of public schools would still keep private school vouchers from making a comeback in the Sunshine State.

So proponents of Proposal 8 are basically correct. The amendment would not open the door to private school vouchers in Florida. But it could encourage similar efforts in other states that could lead to the establishment of voucher programs.

If that happens, we’ll be leading the cheers.

Florida’s Proposal 8 asks voters to scrub a “no aid” provision in the state constitution (otherwise known as the Blaine Amendment) that prohibits state support for religious institutions in an effort to ensure the continuation of faith-based social services many Florida families rely on. It also protects religious schools participating in the Florida’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program and state scholarships to religious colleges, although there is no direct threat to state funding for those programs at this time.

A “yes” vote on Amendment 8 would strike the following phrase from the Florida constitution: “No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”

If approved, the measure would replace the wording with: “No individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief.”

Last summer, the Florida Education Association, the state’s teachers union, along with the Florida School Board Association and the Florida Association of School Administrators, filed a lawsuit against the ballot initiative, claiming it contained misleading language.

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Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi rewrote the ballot question for clarity and the measure has since been certified for the ballot.

The teachers union is now working to brand the initiative as “an underhanded attempt to legalize state tuition vouchers for private schools, including church-affiliated schools,” according to the Florida Capital Bureau.

FEA president Andy Ford says the proposal “is designed to open up the state treasury to voucher schools,” the AP reports.

While we would certainly support any attempt to expand school choice options for Florida’s families, including state vouchers for private schools, Amendment 8 will have no immediate impact on efforts to give parents public dollars to pursue private school options.

“Contrary to what opponents say, this amendment isn’t about vouchers,” said Jaryn Emhof, communications director for the Foundation for Excellence in Education. “It will impact whether Floridians can continue to receive high-quality social services from private and parochial providers. For example, whether low-income patients can receive services paid by Medicaid at private hospitals or if faith-based halfway houses can provide services to their community, or if chaplains can be in prisons.

“It does impact education – whether students with Bright Futures scholarships can go to private or parochial colleges such as Stetson or Bethune-Cookman and faith-based pre-K providers being part of the Voluntary Pre-K program.  The Foundation supports faith-based providers being part of the VPK program, so we support the amendment, because it protects this.”

Amendment 8’s impact on school choice

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a group fighting against Amendment 8 alongside the public school establishment, contends the measure “would … open up the door to taxpayer-funded vouchers for religious schools,” according to the propaganda on its website.

“According to the Florida Supreme Court, two of Florida’s constitutional provisions bar state funding of private school vouchers. Amendment 8 would strip the Florida Constitution of one of these two provisions,” according to Americans United. “Passage of Amendment 8 would be the first step towards allowing private school vouchers in Florida.”

Actually, the first and only step toward private school vouchers in Florida would be to eliminate the portion of the law that prohibits private school vouchers. The state Supreme Court cited a different provision in the state constitution, known as the “uniformity clause,” as the basis for ending the Florida voucher program in 2006.

“The court focused on the uniformity provision in the Florida constitution and said because the private schools … didn’t have the same oversight it wasn’t a totally uniform system” as the state constitution requires, Lowell Matthews, FEE’s state policy director told EAGnews.

“Even if (Amendment 8) revises the Blaine Amendment out of the constitution, it does not affect the uniformity clause,” he said. “From a public relations standpoint, (opponents) are trying to make it into an education, voucher-type issue and it’s not.

“What I think you have going on here is basically the unions are arguing this is voucher creation in order to mobilize their base against it.”

Beyond Florida

Those supporting Florida’s “Yes on 8” campaign have a legitimate reason to wanting to eliminate the Blaine Amendment.

The Roman Catholic church and other religious groups want to protect their right to receive funding from the state to run hundreds of social service programs as they have for decades. A lawsuit pending in Florida courts points to the Blaine Amendment as justification for cutting funding to prison programs provided by religious groups, Highlands Today reports.

Proponents of Amendment 8 are concerned other programs could be targeted if the prison lawsuit is successful.

“It would be a pre-emptive strike to make sure no activist judge would rule that a Catholic hospital, for example, could not receive funds from Medicaid,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski told Highlands Today.

But we believe there may also be some very positive consequences for school choice if Florida voters approve the measure.

Several dozen other state constitutions contain language similar to Florida’s Blaine Amendment. In those states it might be the only constitutional provision blocking the formation of school voucher programs.  For instance, Indiana teachers unions are using the Blaine Amendment in an attempt to shut down what’s become the nation’s largest voucher system.

If Florida voters strike the Blaine Amendment from the state’s constitution, other states may consider similar measures to erase the union’s main case against the creation of statewide voucher systems.

That would be bad for union business, but good for the school choice movement and students throughout the nation.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of school vouchers in a 2002 case involving an Ohio pilot program, but unions have used Blaine Amendments at the state level to block vouchers or slow their implementation, according to the Pelican Post.

The Blaine Amendments in state constitutions – and the general argument that public dollars should not go to religious schools – is the unions’ best hope in many cases of blocking voucher programs.

But a successful public vote to rewrite Florida’s Blaine Amendment could set a precedent for other states to follow – states where it may be the last viable legal justification for keeping kids trapped in bad schools. Rewriting Florida’s Blaine Amendment could set a  precedent teachers unions can’t afford.

We suspect that’s the real reason Florida’s teachers unions, and other professional associations reliant on the public school model, are twisting the truth to convince Florida residents to vote down Amendment 8.