The Ivy League elite running the courts must keep the little people from succeeding.
Ms. Parks, who is African American, has, with the help of Florida’s tax credit scholarship for families with limited resources, parlayed her children’s struggle in public schools to success at two private schools, Mount Zion Christian Academy and Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg.
The choice and autonomy have been empowering, she says, for her children – and for herself as a single mom. “It’s hard for some people to know their worth and know what they are able to do [for their kids],” she says by phone. “Vouchers help parents to understand that and be more heard, and that is an amazing thing.” . . .
In 2006, the private-school portion of a previous effort was struck down by Florida’s Supreme Court. But after his election last fall, Governor DeSantis named three conservative jurists to the state’s highest court, creating an all-Republican-nominated top bench that could act as a shield for legal challenges to this new law. In that way, Florida’s decision to test constitutional boundaries infuses a larger national debate about school reform – and the very nature of “public” schools.
The new test reflects “a more clear-cut partisan divide in the courts, where courts have traditionally tended to rule simply on questions of church and state and where now conservatives … see this as a matter of economic freedom, of making a choice,” says Christopher Lubienski, who studies school choice policy at Indiana University Bloomington.
In Florida, vouchers win ground, but courts may have ultimate say
Ms. Parks, who is African American, has, with the help of Florida’s tax credit scholarship for families with limited resources, parlayed her children’s struggle in public schools to success at two private schools, Mount Zion Christian Academy and Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg.
The choice and autonomy have been empowering, she says, for her children – and for herself as a single mom. “It’s hard for some people to know their worth and know what they are able to do [for their kids],” she says by phone. “Vouchers help parents to understand that and be more heard, and that is an amazing thing.” . . .
In 2006, the private-school portion of a previous effort was struck down by Florida’s Supreme Court. But after his election last fall, Governor DeSantis named three conservative jurists to the state’s highest court, creating an all-Republican-nominated top bench that could act as a shield for legal challenges to this new law. In that way, Florida’s decision to test constitutional boundaries infuses a larger national debate about school reform – and the very nature of “public” schools.
The new test reflects “a more clear-cut partisan divide in the courts, where courts have traditionally tended to rule simply on questions of church and state and where now conservatives … see this as a matter of economic freedom, of making a choice,” says Christopher Lubienski, who studies school choice policy at Indiana University Bloomington.
In Florida, vouchers win ground, but courts may have ultimate say
