I am so glad to see the activist email from People for the American Way. I have been very angerered about this, how they are trying to override the rulings of two courts to give public tax money to private and religious schools.
Florida will try to undo two court rulings to give public money to private religious schools.TALLAHASSEE | An unconstitutional school voucher program could be restored and a ban on state aid to religious organizations and institutions could be at least partly lifted through a proposal introduced Friday.
The proposed state constitutional amendment would undo two court decisions that threw out one of former Gov. Jeb Bush's pet projects in 2005. The Opportunity Scholarship Program gave students from failing public schools vouchers to attend religious and other private schools at taxpayer expense.
From the email today from PFAW:
The separation of church and state, that bedrock American principle, is under attack in Florida.
The language of the Florida Constitution actually goes further than the U.S. Constitution in protecting religious freedom with a provision that expressly prohibits the use of public funds in aid of "any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." (This is typical of many state constitutions, which contain numerous provisions that are more protective of their citizens' rights than is the federal Constitution, particularly as construed recently by the Supreme Court.) But now, right-wing members of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission are trying to remove this important protection from the Florida Constitution with a ballot initiative in November.
Don't let them do it!
Email addresses are provided at the PFAW website.
E-mail all the members of the Commission in one simple step here:
http://www.pfaw.org/go/ProtectReligiousFreedom Removing the no-public-aid clause would open up the state constitutional door for all kinds of harm -- expanded school voucher programs, government-funded discrimination in hiring and the providing of services, government-funded proselytizing, and much more. And allowing the question to be put to voters on the November ballot might even be part of a strategy to increase turnout among Religious Right voters (who might not be enthusiastic about their party's candidates for office).
The 25-member Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is only formed once every 20 years, to study Florida's tax code. They should stick to that job and leave the State Constitution intact.
E-mail the Commission now:
http://www.pfaw.org/go/ProtectReligiousFreedom Then, please forward this e-mail and ask your friends to weigh in too.
-- Your Allies at People For the American Way
I am glad to see them do this. Jeb's policies have done much harm to this state. We really don't know all the damage yet. His buddy, House Speaker Marco Rubio, just keeps pushing the same old tired Bush family ideas of privatization and corporatization.
They continue catering to the religious right.
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