The House Education Appropriations Subcommittee voted 8-4 to introduce the measure, which would bind together a program aimed at students with disabilities and the voucher expansion. Senate leaders last week pulled their counterpart to the House voucher bill, but the measure for students with disabilities remains alive.
school vouchers
The Problem With “Step Up for Students,” Florida’s Voucher Jockey
Step Up For Children CEO Doug Tuthill is shameless about the way his organization–the administrative agent for Florida’s school voucher program–spends lavishly on political races, which may explain why a Senate proposal to vastly expand the voucher program this year foundered.
Bill Vastly Expanding School Vouchers Dies As Questions About Accountability Mounted
The decision represents a defeat for the GOP’s Will Weatherford, who was home schooled as a child and strongly pushed the expansion of the system, which gives companies tax credits for donating to scholarship funds that help children attend private schools. Under the bills, retailers would have been allowed to divert sales-tax payments to the system.
“Massive Expansion” of School Vouchers Would Fund Private Education at Public Expense
Under the proposal, retailers could divert sales-tax payments to the system; middle-class families would qualify for partial scholarships; and each scholarship would cover more of the cost of attending a private school.
Tony Bennett, Friend of School Vouchers, Foe of Unions, is Florida’s New Education Chief
Before losing a reelection bid as Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, Tony Bennett was boasting of introducing a voucher program and limiting collective bargaining to pay and benefits. Bennett also favors national common core standards, which are coming to Florida.
For Opponents of Amendment 8, “Religious Freedom” Has Never Been Under Threat
The so-called “religious freedom” proposal to amend the Florida constitution would create a government bureaucracy to channel tax dollars to religious organizations, its opponents say, jeopardizing the very religious freedoms it claims to be protecting.
A Few Florida Facts for Republican National Convention Delegates
Florida under the leadership of Republican icons like Bush, Scott and Rubio, and supported by proud and unthinking GOP legislatures for the last 15 years, has happily served as the grow house for Republican policies. The results are stunning, writes former lawmaker Dan Gelber.
Only Partial Victory for Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro in Fight Against Religious Aid Bid
Circuit Judge Terry Lewis struck down only part of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow taxpayer money to go to religious institutions, leaving the door wide open for a fix in time for the 2012 ballot. The case was brought by Palm Coast Rabbi Merrill Shapiro and public education advocates.
Soaring Corporate Tax Credit Voucher Program Costing Flagler Schools Half a Million Dollars
A new law passed by the Legislature last year increased the amount of taxpayer dollars available for private-school vouchers, from $118 million to $140 million-money denied the public school system. Some 33,000 students, including 86 in Flagler, are enrolled.
Palm Coast’s Rabbi Shapiro and Education Trio Sue Over “Religious Freedom” Amendment
Florida’s so-called “Religious Freedom” amendment is misleading, the lawsuit argues, as it would reopen the way for religious, private school vouchers at public expense and turn the state into an arbiter of public dollars for religious organizations.