School voucher programs have been controversial since their introduction in the 1990s — not between Republicans and Democrats, but between Democrats and Democrats.
Florida under former Governor Jeb Bush and the GOP-led Legislature created the Opportunity Scholarship Program in 2001, the first statewide voucher program in the nation, which served just 730 students.. But it was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006.
But last month the Florida Education Association, the Florida PTA and the Florida School Boards Association filed a lawsuit against the Tax-Credit Scholarship program currently in place in Florida. That program serves approximately 69,000 students.
Charlie Crist supports that lawsuit, Rick Scott opposes it. And as the Miami Herald's Marc Caputo reports this morning, Crist is not about to denounce it, as he is the candidate of the FEA and the public school teaching establishment here in Florida.
The potential problem here is that a significant portion of the African-American establishment does support these vouchers, because they see them as the salvation for children from low-income families who will never get a quality education in failing public schools.
Crist "runs the risk of estranging black voters who would otherwise vote for him," the Herald quotes the Rev. H.K. Matthews, a civil rights icon who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma in 1965. Getting the black vote out in big numbers is crucial for Crist's strategy of defeating Rick Scott.
Then there is this, as Caputo writes:
Matthews said Crist's response left him "disappointed" because he recalled standing with Crist at the state Capitol in 2010 when the then-Republican governor expanded and pledged to support the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which gives corporations dollar-for-dollar tax credits to underwrite private education.
Oh, there is that, isn't there? Charlie Crist has had to reverse his positions on a number of issues, now that he's running as a Democrat. But it does come at a certain price.
In other news...
It was a packed house in the County Center in downtown Tampa yesterday as once again the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission went back and forth about the pros and cons of ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft. But if you expected some sort of resolution, you came to the wrong place.
On Tuesday Charlie Crist attacked Rick Scott on abortion rights. On Wednesday the RPOF returned the volley, producing a web ad that features Charlie Crist espousing pro-life sentiments from earlier campaigns.
There is some dispute about how closely contested the state Senate District 22 race between Republican incumbent Jeff Brandes and Democratic challenger Judithanne MacLauchlan might be, but the USFSP poli-sci professor isn't being shy in attacking her much better-financed opponent.
And in a CL exclusive, we report that Congressman David Jolly has filed legislation that would require local law enforcement agencies that use military equipment from the Department of Defense to show that they actually know how to use such equipment.
