Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Gary FineoutAugust 16, 2016

A Florida appeals court rejected a bid to end the state’s largest private school voucher program on Tuesday, but it’s unclear if the ruling will end the two-year-old battle. The 1st District Court of Appeal sided with a lower court’s decision to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Florida Education Association and others, who […]

Julie DelegalMay 1, 2016

John Kirtley is at it again. The Tampa businessman who created Florida’s voucher school program is out spinning again for school “choice.” According to the Tampa Tribune, he told a group gathered at the Florida State University Alumni Center that the lawsuit challenging the voucher program’s constitutionality could undo all the good that he says […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 18, 2016

Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will lead a march and rally in downtown Tallahassee on Tuesday in support of Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship that is expected to attract several thousand participants and spectators. News of the event was posted last week on LobbyTools‘ agenda calendar feature. On Friday, Capitol […]

Guest AuthorAugust 27, 2015

Let’s circle back to Jeb Bush’s National Urban League address from several weeks ago, because if a big, pointed word must be used, it is “symptomatic” of Republican racial complacency. (It’s best to exclude Ben Carson, because like all black Republicans from Allen West to Tim Scott, he momentarily forgets that he is black. Colorblindness […]

Julie DelegalAugust 24, 2015

Former State Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand has issued an impassioned plea on behalf of Florida’s 78,000 voucher students. He wants the plaintiffs, namely the Florida Education Association, which represents teachers, to drop its lawsuit opposing the diversion of tax dollars to the voucher program. The FEA lawsuit is now at the appeal stage. […]

Guest AuthorApril 16, 2015

Florida has successfully operated tax credit education scholarships for 13 years. More than 70,000 underprivileged students throughout Florida currently benefit from these scholarships, which provide important school choice options. These students, whose household incomes are only 5 percent above the poverty level, two-thirds of whom are black or Hispanic, and the majority of whom live […]

Jac VerSteegJanuary 19, 2015

In his commentary this week for Context Florida, the Rev. H.K. Matthews draws parallels between the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama and the current effort, including a march Rev. Matthews led, in support of Florida’s corporate tax credit scholarships – also known as school vouchers. Rev. Matthews’ parallel is unseemly and […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 18, 2015

I recently went to see the movie Selma, which I was eager to do – you see, I participated in the first march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. The film certainly brought back many memories for me, and reminded me why that march holds such a prominent place in our nation’s […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 18, 2015

A recent commentary published in Context Florida written by William Mattox, a fellow with the right-wing think tank James Madison Institute, provides a glimpse of the strategy pro-voucher forces use to build support for their program. It begins with an anecdote of a student who says he was ill served in “government schools” – a […]

Jac VerSteegDecember 15, 2014

If Florida lawmakers are such “school choice” advocates, they should give public schools the same choices enjoyed by the private voucher schools. The voucher schools never were required to give students the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and won’t be required to administer the tests involved in Florida’s switch to a testing system based on Common […]

Tag: school vouchers
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Florida court backs state’s largest school voucher program

Julie Delegal: Charity donations, not taxes, should pay for private-school vouchers

Pro-school vouchers rally expected to draw 10,000 to Tallahassee on Tuesday

Chris Timmons: The GOP needs a new Nixon plan for blacks

Julie Delegal: Other ideas follow defense of school vouchers

John Legg: Don't let vulnerable kids get mired in politics of education

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: Parallel between Selma, school vouchers is strained

Rev. H.K. Matthews: March for tax credit scholarships echoes Selma

Joanne McCall: Pro-voucher strategy evades accountability

Jac VerSteeg: Let public schools choose to give voucher-school tests