quote:The Florida Supreme Court yesterday struck down a statewide education voucher system that uses taxpayer money to fund children attending private schools, energizing the national debate once more.
The ruling will have no direct impact on programs nationwide, but proponents and opponents acknowledged that states will probably look closely at their systems to ensure they are in sync with state laws. In a 5 to 2 ruling, the court said that Florida Opportunity Scholarship Program -- the nation's first statewide program, serving about 700 kids -- is illegal under Florida's constitution because it sets up an "alternative system" not accountable to the state.
My major objection to this system when it was first implemented was that it set up two worlds: one in the public schools where kids have to take the FCAT and pass to get to the next grade a couple of times in their school careers (3rd grade, 8th grade...and maybe another time to graduate HS?), and one in the voucher schools (that remain private, of course) where no such accountability is required.
Since the same pool of money is funding voucher students in private schools as is funding public education, I felt as if the state was simply declaring that kids would obviously do better in a private school, so we didn't need to have the same level of measurement and accountability for students there.
It was a bad way to set up the system, IMHO.
And the court has killed it.
So...I wonder how much money has been wasted, to date, on defending this broken voucher system instead of just making one that actually is fair?
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