Why not . . ?

Given that Florida families receive tax funds to send their children to public or private preschools and colleges, why don’t they receive them for use at public or private elementary and secondary schools?

The answer is primarily political: Vouchers for K-12 education can only be created by the Florida legislature. Parents may want them, but many others don't. In particular, the public school establishment maintains a permanent army of lobbyists to preserve its monopoly on our K-12 education funds going only to them. By contrast, parents have few lobbyists to advance their cause of school choice. To win it parents must get bills filed and passed in Tallahassee. They must win the legislative battle.

They must also win an electoral battle. The struggle over school choice bills is now largely drawn on party lines. Most Republicans are strongly in favor of vouchers for K-12 education and most Democrats are strongly opposed. So securing school choice for all families depends as much on who wins the elections as on who wins the arguments in the Florida House and Senate. Without knowing it, parents often vote for candidates who are against them on school choice.

And finally there are the courts. On the day after the first K-12 vouchers were passed in 1999, the teachers unions, PTA, ACLU and others sued to stop the families from getting them. The case ended in 2006 with the Florida Supreme Court ruling that they violated the Florida Constitution. The ruling excluded the other vouchers but the opponents have threatened lawsuits against them also. In the meantime, the United States Supreme Court ruled that vouchers do not violate the U.S. Constitution. What we are permitted as Americans we are denied as Floridians. To win school choice families must also win the judicial battle.

For an account of the legislative battle for school choice, we suggest this by the Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/SchoolChoice/Florida.cfm

For an account of the electoral battle for school choice in Florida, we suggest this by All Children Matter: http://www.allchildrenmatter.org/state.php

For an account of the judicial battle for school choice in Florida, we suggest this by the Institute for Justice: http://www.ij.org/schoolchoice/florida/index.html