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June 8, 2005

Florida Supreme Court tests both sides in voucher arguments

Here's the day-after coverage of Tuesday's oral arguments over the constitutionality of Florida's flagship school voucher program: Palm Beach Post, St. Petersburg Times and Jackie Hallifax of the Associated Press.

The consensus? Tough questions that focused more on whether vouchers violated constitutional language that the state pay for a uniform and high quality system of public schools, as opposed to the no aid clause prohibiting public dollars for religious institutions. The line of questioning caused some lawyers and pundits to wonder whether the Court will avoid the church-state issue and instead strike down the program on the grounds that it violates the state's responsibility to support public schools. Others noted that a ruling along those grounds would end the entire program, whereas a ruling on the church-state grounds could conceivably allow non-religious private schools to continue participating. All of this is just speculation and reading of tea leaves, and could be all wrong. No clear idea either when a decision will come.

One last nugget of interest, from Kimberly Miller's Palm Beach Post article. The voucher lobby bused in scores of people to make a show of support for the state's multiple programs. But one pro-voucher T-shirt-wearing lad told Miller he had no idea what the sign he'd been handed was about and that he'd basically just hitched a paid-for ride on the bus to Tallahassee because he wanted to see the capital. Reminded us of this story from South Carolina earlier this year.

Posted June 8, 2005 12:00 AM