The Florida Educational Association lawsuit was thrown out of court recently, as you know.
Another case, Citizens for Strong Schools, is working through the courts. It hit a bump in the road. In a December 7th article reported by the Associated Press, Judge Reynolds rejected a portion of the Citizen’s for Strong Schools lawsuit dealing with vouchers. The issue was lack of legal standing. What does this mean? What happens next?
In the hearing, the attorneys for the case argued that McKay scholarships and tax credit voucher programs were unconstitutional by creating a parallel system to the public school system. The private school vouchers and tax credit scholarship went to schools that were not required to meet the same accountability and teacher certification standards as public schools. Moreover, most of these schools are openly religious which violates the separation of church and state clause.
Circuit court Judge Reynolds ruled that the Southern Legal Council arguments did not show harm to the defendants; thus, the issue did not have legal standing. Moreover, parents chose to send their children to these schools.
This is not over yet. In March, Citizens for Strong Schools comes to trial. The issues will be framed differently. Stay tuned.