Opinion ID: 1680628
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Diversion of Funds from the Public Schools

Text: The Constitution prohibits the state from using public monies to fund a private alternative to the public school system, which is what the OSP does. Specifically, the OSP transfers tax money earmarked for public education to private schools that provide the same service  basic primary education. Thus, contrary to the defendants' arguments, the OSP does not supplement the public education system. Instead, the OSP diverts funds that would otherwise be provided to the system of free public schools that is the exclusive means set out in the Constitution for the Legislature to make adequate provision for the education of children. Section 1002.38(6)(f), Florida Statutes (2005), specifically requires the Department of Education to transfer from each school district's appropriated funds the calculated amount from the Florida Education Finance Program and authorized categorical accounts to a separate account for the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Even if the tuition paid to the private school is less than the amount transferred from the school district's funds and therefore does not result in a dollar-for-dollar reduction, as the dissent asserts, it is of no significance to the constitutionality of public funding of private schools as a means to making adequate provision for the education of children. Although opportunity scholarships are not now widely in use, if the dissent is correct as to their constitutionality, the potential scale of programs of this nature is unlimited. Under the dissent's view of the Legislature's authority in this area, the state could fund a private school system of indefinite size and scope as long as the state also continued to fund the public schools at a level that kept them uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality. However, because voucher payments reduce funding for the public education system, the OSP by its very nature undermines the system of high quality free public schools that are the sole authorized means of fulfilling the constitutional mandate to provide for the education of all children residing in Florida. [12] The systematic diversion of public funds to private schools on either a small or large scale is incompatible with article IX, section 1(a).