The Florida League of Women Voters filed the lawsuit against the effort to destroy public schools in Florida by altering the part of the state constitution that mandates them.
Today, the League won in court. They are heroes of public education and the common good!
LWV has been a steadfast ally of public schools. Its report on charters and conflicts of interest was powerful.
Here is their statement:
“Amendment 8 to the Florida Constitution is off the November ballot. The Tallahassee judge ruled today that the League was correct in its claim that Amendment 8 was misleading to voters. The amendment did not specify that local school boards would lose the right to authorize charter schools. It also bundled that proposal with two others…term limits for school boards and a civics requirement for students. Civics is already required for students; it just is not in the constitution.
“Amendment 8 was championed by Erica Donalds, a school board member from Collier County who started her own separate school board association. Her backers include a number of prominent conservatives who support school privatization. The League of Women Voters filed the complaint against Amendment 8. Here is the ruling.
“No doubt there will be an appeal.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Currently, each county superintendent has to approve charters. This makes total sense because he or she knows if there is a need or not, and local tax dollars will be used for charter expansion. Amendment 8 proposed giving the approval and money to the state. We know the charter lobby owns many of the state representatives. The county would lose control over its local tax dollars and have no say over how much will be spent on charters, which has the potential to bankrupt county districts. Peter Greene called this amendment a form of taxation without representation. Here’s an outline of what was proposed, three different items to undermine public schools. https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_8,School_Board_Term_Limits,_Allow_State_to_Operate_Non-Board_Established_Schools,_and_Civic_Literacy_Amendment(2018)
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If charter schools are so popular and people are demanding them then why did the ed reform lobbyists who drafted this proposed law carefully and deliberately avoid any mention of them?
They keep telling us how popular ed reform is, but they go to such great lengths to mislead people about the privatization goals. Why is that?
One would think they would be shouting “charters and vouchers” from the rooftops, but instead we get these end runs around the public.
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That was exactly what I noticed, Chiara. The sponsors of this amendment were trying to pull a fast one. They didn’t mention the words “charter schools.”
Similarly, vouchers are always called anything but vouchers: education savings accounts, tuition tax credits, etc.
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I think Jeb Bush and his deep pocket friends are likly to fund a legal challenge. ESSA is really making state control of money a big deal with many in the charter and edtech industries Ok with that, along with Gates and others who hate districts with “near democracy” that is, locally elected officials.
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