A lawsuit challenging whether Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature are meeting their constitutional duty to finance a high-quality public school system headed back to the trial court Tuesday after the state Supreme Court denied reviewing the case.

The lawsuit was  filed in 2009 in Leon County Circuit Court by Citizens for Strong Schools, a nonprofit organization.

The First District Court of  Appeal had narrowly ruled that the case could go forward in lower court. But Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, argued that the Supreme Court should review the decision — which justices denied Tuesday.

The case is widely seen as a key challenge to whether Florida schools are appropriately financed, based on a 1998 constitutional amendment approved overwhelmingly by voters and backed by the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union.

Here are the Florida Supreme Court’s filings in the case: http://bit.ly/yKXEwx  

 The amendment demands a uniform system of free public schools by requiring the state make adequate provision for an efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system. The broad language of the amendment became the grounds for justices throwing out former Gov. Jeb Bush’s private school voucher program in 2006.

The high court’s 5-2 ruling said it is unconstitutional to use tax money to send students to private schools.

 

Tags: bnblogs, Florida Education Association, vouchers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 at 4:54 pm and is filed under education, Florida Supreme Court, Jeb Bush, Rick Scott. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.