Jeb Bush allies put pro-voucher plans on ballot (guts constitutional separation of church/state)

Voters will get two different choices in November to enshrine vouchers in the state constitution.

On Friday, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission voted 19-6 to approve a constitutional amendment that would remove the state’s ban on using taxpayer money to fund other K-12 education schools.

Proponents said it was a direct effort to reverse the 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision that found Gov. Jeb Bush’s prized Opportunity Scholarship Program was unconstitutional. That program, at its peak, sent about 700 students in failing public schools to private schools.

Yesterday, the TBRC approved an amendment that would remove the constitutional ban on using taxpayer money for religious-based or church-run schools and institutions. An appeals court had ruled that the OSP violated that provision, but the Supreme Court did not address that issue.

House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said Friday’s vote would make Florida “the first state to create a mandate” to pay for taxpayer-funded private schools.

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