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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Sunday, March 20, 2005

Voucher Madness

    This has got to stop, but it won't:
    Private school "entrepreneurs" have taken vouchers for students who don't exist. "Consultants" have taken fees to funnel voucher money to home-schoolers who aren't entitled to it. Voucher schools don't have to provide any proof that their students are making academic progress. Unlike Florida's public schools, voucher schools can hire teachers with no credentials or experience, and don't have to do background checks on employees. Private schools can discriminate on the basis of religion when admitting voucher students.

    Against that backdrop and before passing any meaningful reforms, the House wants to increase the number of students in the corporate voucher program by 5 percent a year, up from the current cap of $88 million. Worse, legislative committees have advanced and expanded Gov. Bush's plan to provide another new voucher program. Under the House bill, which would give vouchers to students who fail the reading FCAT any two out of three years, 350,000 students would be eligible. Making the rush to balloon the voucher programs even more irresponsible, the new vouchers would divert state money to religious schools. That flaw has led Florida courts to declare that similar vouchers violate the state constitution. The issue is on appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, which has yet to schedule oral arguments.

    Voucher reforms are too little too late. Voucher expansion is too much too soon. All of it is a distraction and an excuse not to give public schools the support they need. With that anti-school attitude firmly in place, real improvements will come later rather than sooner.
    "Slow voucher expansion".

6:00 PM

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