ACLU challenges School vouchers

ACLU challenges School vouchers
February 1999

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida is opposed to Governor Jeb Bush's school voucher program, and has vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the plan.

In general, school voucher programs would take money that ordinarily would go to the public schools and give it to parents who are putting their children in private schools, most of which are affiliated with churches.

Under Bush's proposed plan, children who attend schools with two or more years of "chronically" low performance would receive around $4,000 for tuition if they take their children out of the public school and put them into a private school. The money would be removed from the budget of the already beleaguered "low performing" school the child attended.

Locally, the Gainesville area chapter of the ACLU is organizing a public meeting where members of the community can discuss the issue and write letter to legislators expressing their objections. The meeting will be Thursday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville (4225 NW 34th St.). Other community organizations supporting this event include the Central Labor Council of North Central Florida, Alachua County NAACP, the Campus Unitarian Universalists, and the Democratic Socialists of America. For more information, contact Andrea at 377-5433.