FLORIDA TO BATTLE IN FAVOR OF SCHOOL VOUCHERS

Florida took a lead position last year in one of the great issues of our time: the fight to open up the public education monopoly to parental freedom to choose any school -- public, private or parochial. With Republican majorities in both houses of the Florida Legislature, Gov. Jeb Bush moved swiftly to push through the nation's first statewide school voucher law. This past week, a state judge threw out the law, declaring that it violated the state's constitutional prohibition on spending public money on private education.

Those opposed to parents' rights to choose any school are part of the familiar coalition that brought the lawsuit: the Florida Education Association/United Teachers Union, the NAACP, the Florida PTA, the League of Women Voters.

Governor Bush promises a prompt appeal of the court ruling and more besides. He pledges to raise private funds for vouchers to keep children in the private schools their parents chose for them. "We'll raise the money," Bush said. "This is the first inning of a long, drawn-out legal battle."

The Florida law is far-reaching and aimed at allowing children to escape the state's worst-performing schools. Students at Florida schools rated badly by the state can seek vouchers for private-school tuition at taxpayers' expense. Voucher values vary based on how much a failing school spends per student, but they are generally worth $3,000 to $4,000.

Only two of Florida's 2,500 public schools -- both elementary schools in Pensacola -- qualified for the voucher program this year. Both religious and non-religious private schools are eligible. Fifty-two children attending private schools in Pensacola under the program can finish the year, the judge ruled, but the state can't implement the law in any other way, pending further proceedings.

The judge didn't take up the religion issue, concluding without hearing evidence that the law violated the Florida Constitution's mandate of a free education through a system of "public schools." It is important to note that this single judge's ruling flies in the face of most recent court rulings on the same or similar issues.

Court rulings from the supreme courts in Wisconsin and Ohio, following a string of U.S. Supreme Court precedents, have upheld far more limited voucher programs in their states. These courts have upheld similar laws, stressing that as long as the money goes to the parents, who make the choice free of any coercion, no constitutional prohibition is transgressed.

Seen in this light, what we have here is a K-12 version of our higher education system, which is thoroughly and completely voucherized and has been for more than 50 years.

So, with the Florida case wending its way toward appeal and another of the Bush brothers the GOP presidential nominee, the issue is joined. Let the debate over parental freedom to choose any school be placed before an American public that deserves to hear why Al Gore's and Bill Clinton's children can choose private schools, but poor parents whose children are trapped in failing public schools can't.