Legislation to Fund Private Religious Schools in Florida

Say goodbye to the separation of church and state -- that is, if a proposed amendment to Florida's constitution passes in November. The Republican-backed proposition would allow public funding of private, parochial schools, among other religious organizations -- two solid blows against public education and an uncompromised democracy.

Cloaked in the guise of "religious freedom," the proposal would eliminate a 125-year ban on state funding of religious institutions in Florida, removing the current prohibitory language and replacing it with: "An individual may not be barred from participating in any public program because that individual has freely chosen to use his or her program benefits at a religious provider." Proponents argue that the current constitutional ban was originally part of an anti-Catholic hysteria in the late 1800s (sure, but it's served a much more egalitarian purpose since) and that its strict language limits religious-based social services from serving people in need.

But such social services can already apply for public funding in Florida, as long as the work they do has no religious affiliation and they don't discriminate against clients or employees based on religious beliefs (already a sticky issue, of course, which may be on its way to Florida's Supreme Court). Instead, many call this move a thinly-veiled ploy for private school vouchers, as allegedly it has been on the minds of Florida's Republican lawmakers since 2004, when one of then-governor Jeb Bush's voucher programs was defeated by the First District Court of Appeals precisely because public money was being funneled toward religious schools.

So far, there has been committee approval of the bill in both the Senate and House, but it still needs an additional three-fifths approval from both Houses to put it to the voters in November.

If this kind of thing passes, it opens all kinds of doors to not only religious discrimination, but also to state-subsidized private education. Taking money from an already-starved state education budget and allowing some of it to go toward private schools? This is hardly what Florida's students need! Let's hope this latest school-voucher bloom gets nipped in the bud.

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