Florida's school vouchers

When this ruling came out yesterday, I didn’t get it. Today – several analyses (and a full night’s sleep) later, I’m still seeing this as bad: Fla. Voucher System Struck Down

Basically, kids who are in underperforming public schools in Florida had been able to re-direct their public school funds (via a voucher) into a different (better) school. Sometimes that meant a private school, sometimes not.

It’s the basis for the ruling that's bugging me (from the Institute of Justice):

The Court ruled in an opinion drafted by Chief Justice Barbara Pariente that Opportunity Scholarships violate the Florida Constitution’s “uniformity” clause, which guarantees all Florida students a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.”

If the public schools were uniformly up to snuff, the problem would never have come up, now would it? If they're going to enforce this, then it would seem that the Florida schools need to reduce their quality to the lowest common denominator. (Heck of a thought, eh?)

This makes no sense at all.

I rarely agree with Jeb Bush, but I do this time. Yes, Jeb, it is indeed a sad day.

Polimom said this @ 9:48 AM