The American Federation for Children, a national organization that backs school choice, has contributed $290,000 to a related Florida group that is sending out mail pieces, according to newly filed campaign-finance reports.
The contribution, dated Oct. 1 on the state elections website, went to the Florida Federation for Children, which is headed by prominent school-choice activist John Kirtley. In July, the American Federation for Children also sent $300,000 to the Florida group.
The records show that between Sept. 29 and Oct. 12, the Florida group spent $265,638, with almost all of it on direct mail. While the reports don’t detail the nature of the mail pieces, voters this fall will cast ballots on a proposed constitutional amendment that could help clear the way for the state to offer vouchers to send children to religiously affiliated private schools.
That ballot proposal, Amendment 8, would repeal part of the state constitution that bans public aid to faith-based organizations. School choice also has been an issue in some high-profile legislative races this fall.
Funny, when I read things on Pro-8 web sites or by Pro-8 writers, a lot of them say Amendment 8 is not about vouchers. Some even claim no pro-voucher groups have contributed money to any Yes on 8 effort because the passage of Amendment 8 would have no legal effect – vouchers, they say, are still unconstitutional under some section of Title IX.
I guess in large measure it is about vouchers.
Truthfully, even if it really wasn’t about vouchers, I would not vote for it anyway. Our tax money needs to be funneled back to tax-paying businesses, not tax-exempt ones, wherever possible. Cultural non-profits, for example, need funding because those services are simply not being provided in most communities by for-profit organizations.