TAKE ACTION TODAY!
House education bills to receive third reading and final passage today.
Contact your senators and representatives and remind them that:
We are parents. We vote. We will remember in November.
House Joint Resolution 7039/Senate Joint Resolution 2
Since full implementation is required this year and legislators do not want to comply, they are seeking to place an amendment on the ballot in November to alter the original class-size amendment approved by a majority of Floridians and increase the amount of students allowed in each class.
Vote No! Flexibility for class sizes can be implemented through statute and does not require the expense of an amendment to the Constitution.
The Florida Supreme Court in its advisory opinion to the Florida Attorney General was definitive: "the proposed amendment gives the Legislature latitude in designing ways to reach the class size goal articulated in the ballot initiative, and places the obligation to ensure compliance on the Legislature, not the local school boards."
This bill puts financial considerations above the welfare of children. Because the Florida Legislature is unable or unwilling to obey the constitution, it is now proposing to overturn a constitutional amendment adopted by the people of Florida.
The Inflexibility and penalties you read about are at the discretion of the legislature, not a result of the amendment itself. The awful specter of the "19th Child" triggering a cascade of hiring and breaking up classes are a deliberate effort to manipulate and scare the voter and influence the vote.
House Bill 1009/Senate Bill 2126
This bill seeks a dramatic increase in the amount of corporate tax dollars allowed by our legislature to be diverted from our general fund.
Vote No! This is corporate tax money that should go into our general fund. These are public dollars that our state needs, given our looming $3.2 Billion budget deficit.
Instead, this public money is going to fund vouchers for private, religious institutions (including Christian, Hebrew, and Islamic schools) in the complete absence of transparency, accountability, or evidence of success. These schools are not required to take the FCAT, have libraries or use current teaching materials.
- Florida taxpayers deserve 100% transparency any time corporate tax revenues are being diverted anywhere other than the general revenue accounts of this state.
- No significant study is underway to evaluate the reading and math levels of kids returning to public schools from Voucher/"CHOICE" schools
- Anecdotal information exists that implies that these kids re-enter the public schools system significantly below grade level and require remediation, COSTING THE STATE THE ADDITIONAL MONEY THEY HAVE BEEN SEEKING TO AVOID.
Contact your Representatives today. Find your county's delegation and their contact information on our County Pages. Find a complete list of Representatives' email addresses here.
Tell them to Vote No. Remind them that you are a voter and you will remember in November.
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