Constitutional Amendment Could Deliver Funds to Religious Schools in FL

December 16, 2004

Source: Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10427299.htm

On December 16, 2004 Miami Herald reported, "for nearly 120 years, one sentence in Florida's Constitution has forbidden the state to use public money to 'directly or indirectly' help religious institutions -- a provision that is bedeviling the state's school voucher law and a $350 million prekindergarten program lawmakers are crafting this week. Rather than leave the matter in the hands of judges, an influential state senator said Wednesday that he's 'seriously considering' an effort to pluck the offending sentence from the Constitution itself and allow money to flow to religious schools. Sen. Daniel Webster, one of the Legislature's most respected conservatives and head of the Senate's judiciary committee, said he may try as early as this spring to get the Legislature to put the amendment change on the ballot in 2006 -- when the governor's office will be up for grabs and Republicans typically head to the polls in larger numbers than Democrats."