The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday removed three proposed state constitutional amendments dealing with school taxes and vouchers from the Nov. 4 ballot.
The high court ruled Wednesday, shortly after oral arguments on the three measures. All were offered by Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.
Amendment 5 would have traded a huge property tax cut for an increased sales tax and an end to sales tax exemptions for certain services, to be determined by the Legislature. The justices upheld a lower court's ruling that its title and ballot summary are misleading.
The high court also agreed the tax and budget reform commission exceeded its powers by offering Amendments 7 and 9. They would have allowed the state to expand voucher programs that let students attend private schools at taxpayer expense.
Former state Senate President John McKay, a Bradenton Republican who has spearheaded the tax-swap movement for years, said Wednesday he is disappointed with the ruling.
"I never fail to be surprised by the supreme court," he said. "It is impossible for me to predict the outcome."
Wednesday's high court defeat means the tax swap proposal is likely dead for the foreseeable future, McKay said, because the Tax and Budget Reform Commission, which voted to put it on the ballot, is not scheduled to meet again for 20 years.
Another entity that could put the proposal on the ballot, the state Constitution Revision Commission, is not scheduled to meet for 10 years. The third group that could put the proposal on the ballot as written, the Florida Legislature, is unlikely to do so, McKay said, because of opposition in both houses.
"This effort, as it's currently conceived, is dead," he said.
State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the removal of Amendment 5 was particularly disheartening.
"I think it's unfortunate that these amendments are not going before the voters, especially amendment 5," he said after the decisions came down. "It is something that I think was really needed to generate movement in our real estate market that would in turn generate economic health that we need so badly right now."
Galvano was awaiting opinions by the court to find out its reasoning for the removals - whether the language of the amendment or the ideas themselves were at fault.
"We are talking about (Florida's) highest court . . . so that's it for those amendments this go around," he said.
State. Sen. Mike Bennett, also a Republican from Bradenton, had yet to see the court's decision.
"I might be disappointed because I liked certain points of the tax cuts," he said. "I've always believed Florida should review every single tax exemption every three to five years. No tax exemption should stand. It's not fair."
The proposal to allow the state to pay for private-school vouchers was the last constitutional amendment - one of seven - the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission agreed to put on the November ballot.
It asked voters to undo a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that threw out the vouchers as unconstitutional. The vouchers were the brainchild of then-Gov. Jeb Bush, who wanted the state to pay to send students in low-performing public schools to private schools.
Opponents said it will establish a private-school entitlement to public money, and criticized the commission for introducing a non-budget-related proposal into the agenda.
"This is great news that the supreme court agreed to take the three amendments off the ballot that will be detrimental to public education and public good," said Pat Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association.
The ruling against the voucher program was not the first attempt, Barber said.
"It's already been ruled unconstitutional to have vouchers in Florida," she said. "The TBRC tried to get it on the ballot to change the constitution to allow vouchers."
For every dollar the state spends in vouchers, it's a dollar taken away from Florida public schools, Barber said.
"We oppose vouchers because private schools are not regulated by the state and there are no standards or rules on how they operate," she said.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@