Coming in a year of new tax cut proposals, it smacks of hypocrisy. Florida has been so cheap with public education that one in five students goes to school in a portable classroom. But the solution, which is to build more schools, is a bit too obvious for some of the state's government leaders. Instead, House Speaker Tom Feeney wants to hand out private school vouchers. Don't try to follow the logic in this approach.
None is intended.
And we can at least credit Feeney with political consistency. He is the same lawmaker who has spent a career trying to persuade colleagues to give vouchers to every student. Our public school system looks just like the Soviet economic model. Feeney is now in a position to do war with those Soviets, but, more curiously, some other generals have joined the battle. And Gov. Jeb Bush, who has said previously that vouchers should be used only as a tool to spur schools to do a better job of teaching students, is now sending a gubernatorial wink to his former running mate Feeney.