A Sad Day for Educational Choice

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled vouchers are illegal under the state Constitution.

The article notes that while the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution does not prohibit vouchers, "It also held last year that states were not obliged to finance religious education as well as secular education, a ruling that left state courts to decide whether voucher programs are legal and focused national attention on the battle over Florida's voucher program, which the teachers union first challenged in 1999."

Note who was working in favor of the state's educational monopoly: the teachers union.

The ruling is not expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, as there are no federal issues involved.

Alan Bonsteel, writing in yesterday's Orange County Register, believes the tide is turning for the better for school choice in California and the nation. While charter schools are doing well in California, they are strongly opposed in many quarters, and I'm not sure I share Bonsteel's overall optimism at this point.