Jeb on Amendment 9's death: 'Heartbreaking'

“It is extremely disappointing that the Florida Supreme Court ruled today to deny millions of Florida voters the right to make their voices heard on improving the quality of education in our state. Florida is facing serious challenges. Our economy experienced its first quarter of negative growth in 16 years. Tax revenues are declining.

“Now, more than ever, Floridians should have a voice in determining not just how much they are taxed but how their tax dollars are spent. Amendment 9 would have empowered Floridians with the ability to ensure their tax dollars were spent in the classroom on people and programs that make a difference in student achievement, a principled fiscal policy that becomes increasingly important during these tough budget years.

“Perhaps even more heartbreaking is the realization that Floridians will not have the opportunity to protect important programs, including the McKay Scholarship for students with developmental disabilities and Corporate Tax Credit Scholarships for students in low-income families. These programs, as well as 350 charter schools in our great state, will remain in limbo under the real threat of litigation from individuals who want to centralize all education decisions within government bureaucracies."

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Comments

Liberals will laugh. The poor get screwed.

Jeb, go call Columba and ask what's for dinner. I bet it's crow.

Pariente, the puppet of the left, is the biggest political hack in Tallahassee.

if jeb is hearbroken, that means it is a wonderful day the for the great state of florida.

To Jeb:

The decisions were unanimous.

Even your own appointees said no.

Quit the whinning.

Well, maybe out Gvernor will make out Property Taxes "drop like a rick". Oh, right. The only thing that dropped like a rock were the Governor's ratings and his hopes for becoming VP.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie ... and you onder why you were passed over...

Point well taken, 7:46 pm.

Jeb Bush:

Tbe proposed amendments are deceptive.

Just like you.

Posted by: | September 03, 2008 at 07:09 PM

In case you cannot read, the decision was unanimous -- that means 7 to 0.

[terminator]

Jeb:
all I can say is: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

FEA kicked your behind again!

Now drop and give me twenty!

be proud terminator. Your precious union won so our education system can stay just like you people have worked so hard for decades to make it - pathetically below mediocre. Anyone with any idea that doesn't maintain your union's precious power is evil and you fight tooth and nail to defeat them Regardless of whether or not their idea might actually help kids or teachers. Hopevyou sleep well - I guess hanging upside down in your cave must be the only way you can sleep.

[jim]

The Tax and Reform Commission,,,what a joke, all that money, all those not so hidden agendas and for what? Who did they serve? Certainly not the taxpayer, the teacher nor the student.Florida continues to wallow near the bottom of quality education for all. We need to throw the bums out

[Hank Porter]

Congrats to the Business Community for KO'ing these bad amendments.

Chamber and allies, nice job.

The TBRC worked extremely hard to make sure that the average citizen would vote for the amendments whether they agreed with them or not. Claiming that Amendment #5 would hold the public schools harmless was key to polling needed to get 60%, but as the Court ruled, IT WASN'T TRUE.

In amendments #7 and #9, huge pains were taken to avoid any use of the words school vouchers. If you want to empower the electorate to do something in their own interests, why did you need to hide the issue at hand. This wasn't about empowering families; it was about creating the largest new entitlement program in the history of the state of Florida and giving the money to ultra-conservative interests.

Amendment #9 even included the 65% Solution which wouldn't have any impact in Florida because every district already meets the standard. Eighty percent of the ballot language talked about this portion of the propsal even though it didn't do anything. The other 20% did not mention vouchers even though that is all that the entire proposal was about. These guys in the Bush camp seem to use Orwell's nightmares of propaganda as the road map to political communication. Thankfully, they were not allowed to get away with it this time.

If they wanted vouchers, there would have been almost no way for the Court to strip off a voucher amendment which clearly said that school vouchers would be allowed. Of course, this would not have given them vouchers either because the MAJORITY of Floridians would vote against them and not just 40%+ needed to keep it out of the Constitution. But, now they will cry that the citizens didn't get to vote, which is the TBRC's own stupid fault.

Snatching mediocrity from the jaws of improvement. Bureaucracy and budget growth at the expense of children's education. Nothing more money won't solve, though it hasn't.

To Jeb:

The decisions were unanimous.

Even your own appointees said no - three of them.

Quit the whinning and grow up.

7:52 -
I am sure if Jeb had the opportunity to place his own amendment - without having to water it down enough to get by 25 TBRC members, then it would have been passed unanimously by the courts. Not saying it was good or bad, but given what we got from the TBRC, he has ebery right to be dissapointed.

[Gilbert]

Although, we did not get to see the results of former Governor Jeb Bush's plan come to fruition. The mere fact that the Florida Supreme Court struck it down with a 7-0 vote says an awful lot silently!

It seems the things the former Governor are attempting appears to be meddlesome at best. With 3 of his appointees disagreeing with this version of the bill wether it was watered down or not, I surely guess, he will be throwing a "so-called judicial temper tantrum".