Tallahassee
The Florida Supreme Court last week struck down the nations first statewide school voucher program. Under Floridas six-year-old program, students from failing public schools can use taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers to attend private schools. But the states highest court ruled 5-2 that the program reduces money available to the free schools and funds private schools that are not uniform when compared with each other or the public system. The state constitution requires uniform public education, the court noted. Gov. Jeb Bush, who considers the voucher program one of his top achievements, called the ruling a blow to educational reform. While the decision is not binding outside of Florida, experts said it could spell trouble for similar programs in many other states whose constitutions also include provisions about school uniformity.
