Jeb Bush allies put pro-voucher plans on ballot (guts constitutional separation of church/state)

[seafan]

Remember this?


It's never over with Jeb Bush. Failed school voucher vote magically up for revote next week., April 15, 2008


That was last week.


Jeb and Marco Rubio twisted some arms very hard for a **revote** on merging church and state. It's like magic.




Bush allies put pro-voucher plans on ballot

April 25, 2008

Voters will get two different choices in November to enshrine vouchers in the state constitution.

On Friday, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission voted 19-6 to approve a constitutional amendment that would remove the state’s ban on using taxpayer money to fund other K-12 education schools.

Proponents said it was a direct effort to reverse the 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision that found Gov. Jeb Bush’s prized Opportunity Scholarship Program was unconstitutional. That program, at its peak, sent about 700 students in failing public schools to private schools.

Yesterday, the TBRC approved an amendment that would remove the constitutional ban on using taxpayer money for religious-based or church-run schools and institutions. An appeals court had ruled that the OSP violated that provision, but the Supreme Court did not address that issue.

House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said Friday’s vote would make Florida “the first state to create a mandate” to pay for taxpayer-funded private schools.

.....

The Florida Supreme Court already declared these vouchers unconstitutional. But that was like water off a duck's back with Jeb. Now, he's back with a vengeance, to force them into our constitution.



So, if Jeb's devious plans pass in November, Florida will be the first state in the nation to allow taxpayer money to fund religious schools.




Voters, it is up to all of us to defeat these amendments that were created by Jeb Bush to undermine our state constitution.


He may be out of the Governor's mansion, but he still wreaks havoc on Florida. And he will continue to do so unless we put a stop to it.



Floridians, this is an emergency action call to preserve our Constitution.




Now, we need to make sure all the voters know just what is at stake. These amendments must be defeated in November.

Jeb Bush's agenda must be slapped down, and hard.

[SteppingRazor]

1. It's funny -- an amendment I initially opposed could really help us here.

By that, I mean the amendment that it takes 60 percent approval to pass new amendments to the state constitution. If this manages to get voted down, it will probably be because of that amendment.

[seafan]

2. What concerns me is that the ballot language will be muddy enough to trick voters into approving it

And look for Jeb Bush to emerge from his pit in a couple of months, for a full-court press on passing these amendments.


It's going to be wall to wall Jeb propaganda fest for his pet voucher project.


It all just makes me ill.