Yesterday's 2-1 decision by the Florida State
appeals court invalidated " the centerpiece of Gov. Jeb Bush's
education policies ," striking down a 1999 law allowing students from
failing schools to attend private schools using taxpayer money. Though
Bush has argued his program merely provides lower-income students with
more choices regarding their education -- reasoning used by his
brother's administration to justify similar programs on a federal level
-- the court pointed out that the "'vast majority' of students with
vouchers used them to enroll in the kind of 'sectarian institutions ,'
or religious schools." The ruling affirmed Gov. Bush's program ignores
"the clear language of the Constitution, which prohibits tax revenues
from being used 'in aid' of any religious institution ." It comes less
than two months after Colorado's Supreme Court made a similar decision,
declaring unconstitutional under state law the implementation of a law
that would have provided private and religious school vouchers to
qualifying students in Colorado. [more ]
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