TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 30 (UPI) -- Gov. Jeb Bush, fighting apathy and downright disagreement, is pushing a plan to amend the Florida constitution to allow school vouchers.
A poll by the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times found 61 percent of Florida respondents oppose school vouchers, while 35 percent are in favor of them. Some voters think vouchers will hurt public education and others see them as unfair.
"It doesn't seem fair to me that if I can't send my own children to private school that my tax dollars are being used to send other kids," Theresa Holcomb, a Manatee County, Fla., resident, told the newspaper.
The state Supreme Court recently struck down Opportunity Scholarships, one of the three Florida voucher programs. Voucher supporters in the legislature are working on measures that would protect the other programs.
Bush has made vouchers a key part of his education program since his election seven years ago. But even members of his own party are apathetic, the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun said.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, said that the governor's proposed language allowing voucher money to go to religious schools could lead to Taliban-run schools because the state would not be able to discriminate.
