Jeb Bush, via proxies, finally wins Florida voucher fight: Church-State battle on November ballot

[seafan]

This absolutely makes me ill.


Jeb, via proxies, finally wins voucher fight

By Joe Follick
March 26, 2008 at 3:15 p.m.

The state’s Taxation and Budget Review Commission entered the centuries-old battle of church versus state Wednesday, narrowly agreeing to give voters the chance in November to remove the constitutional ban on using taxpayer money for religious-based institutions.

It was a direct response from Gov. Jeb Bush’s former team on the TBRC who grabbed the opportunity to not only protect existing voucher programs, but pave the way for resurrecting broader voucher programs. At least seven of Bush’s former employees or appointees are on the TBRC.
Proponents, led by the executive director of Bush’s education think tank, said appellate court decisions had jeopardized hundreds of millions in state dollars that go to generally popular programs like Bright Futures Scholarships and the pre-K program which do allow students to use taxpayer money to attend religious-based schools. Even faith-based prisons and church-based drug rehabilitation programs could face legal challenges, they said.
“There are real threats,” said Patricia Levesque, the executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future.

Opponents, including a rabbi, a Baptist minister and the American Civil Liberties Union, told the commission that the plan would unwisely break down the centuries-old wall between church and state.
Seventeen of the TBRC’s 25 members needed to approve the plan to put it on the ballot. The vote was 17-7. Voting against the plan were Martha Barnett, Sandy D’Alemberte, Les Miller, Carlos Lacasa, Jade Moore, John McKay and Jim Scott.

McKay said approving a plan in such an emotional area would make the TBRC look stridently ideological in the public eye since few citizens were clamoring for such a change.
“If we vote for this, I guarantee you that everything else we put on the ballot is going to go down in flames,” McKay said. “(Voters) are going to have a blanket indictment of everything we put on the ballot.”

Now, the voters are faced with the consequences of this direct assault by this obscure commission on our Constitutional protections against the merging of church and state, orchestrated from the shadows by Jeb Bush. The voters will be our last line of defense against this egregious assault.

I hope all Florida voters are paying close attention to this, and vote against this in November.


The Supreme Court has already struck down religious school vouchers as unconstitutional, but these battles are never finished as long as Jeb Bush lurks in the shadows.