Florida Supreme Court Hates Poor And Minority Students

This is of course an accurate headline, I think. By a 5-2 decision, the Florida Supreme Court has struck down Florida's voucher program.

Now, keep in mind, this program only applied to students who were attending schools that were deemed to be "failing" for two years in a row or something like that. So the Court essentially ruled that no matter how bad your public school was, it was unconstitutional to give you back your own tax dollars to send you to a private school that might be able to teach you how to read.

Avoiding the first amendment establishment clause question that the U.S. Supreme Court already ruled was OK, the Florida Supreme Court focused on a state constitutional provision.

In a 5-2 ruling, the high court said the program violates the Florida Constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public education.

Voucher opponents had also argued that the program violated the separation of church and state in giving tax dollars to parochial schools, and a lower court agreed. But the state Supreme Court did not address that issue.

"Uniform and free." Uniform of course means "public." And "crappy." And "failing." And "incompetent." But at least the students are given the same, uniform crappy, failing and incompetent education.

Showing utter arrogance, some actually claim that is a victory for the poor students who were finally offered a way out of their public school nightmare.

The ruling was a victory for public schools across the state and nation, said Ron Meyer, lead attorney for a coalition that challenged the voucher program.

"Students using vouchers will now be welcomed back into Florida public schools," Meyer said in a statement. "It decides with finality that the voucher program is unconstitutional."

Of course they will be welcomed back. More students means more money for the school, which means higher administrator salaries. And more stupid kids who aren't educated. But screw them. At least the school district gets to squander, er, I mean spend the money.

So who supported the elimination of this limited, student friendly voucher program. The usual suspects of those looking out for the poor students.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support the state. Voucher opponents included the state teachers union, the Florida PTA, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters.

The ruling did not directly affect nearly 30,000 students in two other voucher programs for disabled and poor children, but it could be cited as a precedent.

I can't wait for the all the handicapped kids to lose their private voucher money, too. Somehow, I'll bet the Florida Supreme Court finds a way to distinguish those kids. After all, the public school don't really want them because they are expensive.