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School Voucher Plan Faces Challenge From Teachers

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 28, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Even as they fretted over billions of dollars in budget cuts, state lawmakers voted this spring to spend $27 million to help more poor children attend private schools.

A handful of Democrats as well as Republicans voted for the bill, and with relatively little debate. But that calm may have only prefaced a coming political storm over what could be a historic comeback for school vouchers in Florida.

This November, it will be voters who adopt or reject a pair of voucher-related proposals from the state Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. If approved, the measures would write protections for existing voucher programs into the state Constitution and lay the groundwork for a potentially massive voucher expansion. That has opponents gearing up for battle.

The state teachers union intends to file a lawsuit soon, arguing that the commission overstepped its authority when it took up the issue of vouchers. They and others are also planning to campaign against the amendments, should the court challenge fail.

"It's unfortunate, but it's not surprising," said Patricia Levesque, the commissioner who offered one of the two voucher amendments. "I'm hoping they both pass. ... What is good for little Johnnie may be different than what's good for Suzie or Jane. We're giving a different option to certain kids who need it."

A Budget Issue?

The state Constitution requires the appointed Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to convene once every 20 years to examine and propose reforms for the state's budgetary process, revenue needs, government efficiency, spending and tax structure.
School vouchers don't fit that bill, according to the state teachers union.

"The TBRC is charged with examining issues relating to taxation and the budget process," said Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association. "The commission interpreted that to mean everything - with no restrictions, clearly. We don't think this issue deals with taxation or the budget process."

Nonsense, said Greg Turbeville, the taxation and budget reform commissioner who proposed one of the two voucher amendments.

"School spending is well within the realm of the budget commission," he said. "The state's top budget priority is education, and it will continue to be the top priority. Anytime you can reduce waste and abuse in the state's top spending priority, it falls within the purview of the commission."

Turbeville's amendment would eliminate the constitutional requirement that the state fund only a uniform system of free, public education - the provision that the Supreme Court cited in 2006 when it struck down Opportunity Scholarship vouchers.

A centerpiece of then-Gov. Jeb Bush's education agenda, Opportunity Scholarships spent state money to transfer students in failing public schools to private ones. To date, it is the only state voucher program that has been challenged in court, but voucher supporters fear the decision places all of the state's school choice programs in jeopardy.

House Minority Leader Dan Gelber said he remains convinced that Turbeville's amendment would not only allow the state to fund a separate system of private education with public money, it would also require it.

Turbeville disagrees, saying he thinks the commission tweaked the language sufficiently to guard against that mandate.

Levesque's voucher amendment would lift the constitutional prohibition on spending public money on religious organizations, the grounds by which the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled against Opportunity Scholarships, many of which were going to religious schools. Levesque stressed that her amendment would also preserve the right of religious organizations to contract with the state to provide other services, such as hospice.

Passing both amendments would fulfill an agenda that Bush was unable to complete before leaving office in 2006. Levesque and Turbeville were both members of the Bush administration, and Levesque now runs Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future, which continues to push accountability, school choice and other education initiatives that Bush made his hallmark while governor.

"This is, in a lot of ways, a third term for Jeb," Pudlow said. "He was able to get something on the ballot that was rejected by the Legislature and by the courts."

Political fireworks had erupted in 2006 when Bush tried to persuade lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment that would save Opportunity Scholarships. His proposal failed, dividing Republicans in the Senate in the process and contributing to Senate Majority Leader Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, losing his leadership post.

"There was a volatility factor with Jeb there; he was a lightning rod for controversy," Pudlow said.

Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, who sponsored the Legislature's voucher expansion this year, called Bush's final push to save Opportunity Scholarships in 2006 "a casualty of war" during the last days of a politically charged session. Bush was not involved with this year's legislation, Traviesa said, though he credited the former governor with "drafting me into the school choice movement."

Supporter Cites Need To Innovate

The overwhelming focus on the budget this spring kept Traviesa's voucher legislation "under the radar," said Gelber, D-Miami Beach, who voted no.

"In a normal year, in any other year, that bill and concept would have been a first-tier bill of interest," he said. "This year, given the massive budget cut issues we were facing, this one was basically relegated."

Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to sign the bill, which expands vouchers for poor children. The state funds the program indirectly through corporate income tax credits for businesses. The program enjoys particularly strong support in Hispanic and black communities. Some Democrats who voted for Traviesa's bill are members of the House and Senate black caucuses.

All told, the proposal expands the vouchers to about 5,000 more children, increases the maximum size of the award in the coming fiscal year by $200 to $3,950, and raises the $88 million maximum tax credit to $118 million annually.

Voucher proponents argue that the program saves money in the long run because it costs the state less to educate the children who use vouchers to attend private schools. But it costs the state corporate income tax revenue, and the expansion authorized by this year's bill would cost $27 million, at a time when lawmakers have reduced operating funding for K-12 public schools by more than $100 per student.

Traviesa, who is rumored to be the top contender for the post of House education chairman, said he is ready to campaign this year to pass the budget commission's voucher amendments. If they do pass, he said, he is very interested in expanding vouchers, which he thinks inject needed "innovation" and "competition" into the education system.

"I believe, deep in my heart, that the future's coming at us, and the children of Florida, at an increasing pace," he said. "We'd better be ready."

Ballot Ploys Alleged

Pudlow and Gelber expressed fears that the amendments may pass but not on their merits. Gelber worries that Levesque's proposal may sway voters because its wording appears to protect citizens against discrimination on religious grounds - a right that is already theirs by law. He called it a "devious" ploy.

Pudlow also complained about coupling Turbeville's voucher proposal with another that requires schools to spend 65 percent of their funding on classroom expenses. The proposal will sound good to voters, he said, but is meaningless because it does not define what a classroom expense is.

Levesque, who headed the commission's drafting committee that combined the two proposals into one proposed amendment, said it would be inappropriate to define a classroom expense in the Constitution, which is difficult to change. As technology and education needs evolve, she said, the Legislature can alter the definition of "classroom expenses" accordingly.

Pudlow said the coupling was clearly a "calculated effort" to make Turbeville's sweeping voucher amendment more palatable.

"It's like the Trojan horse," he said. "Sixty-five percent is the Trojan horse, and what's inside is vouchers."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.

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