The Senate president blames the House for playing politics with a bill that would have closed loopholes in the program.
By Associated Press
Published May 6, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's voucher programs are a "disaster waiting to happen" because the Legislature didn't put them under increased oversight, Senate President Jim King said Wednesday.
The Senate passed a measure last month aimed at tightening oversight of Florida's two largest voucher programs. One gives tax breaks to companies to pay for poor children to attend private schools. The other allows children with disabilities to go to private schools.
But the bill never passed the House - a victim, King said, of political wrangling in the legislative session's final hours Friday.
"During this next year when other charlatans take advantage of the loopholes . . . all the Senate can do is say, "We told you so,' " said King, R-Jacksonville.
Problems identified in the two programs have included questionable business practices at some schools and instances of students using vouchers from both programs.
The Senate bill would have increased state oversight over the programs by, for example, requiring annual registration of participating schools, stricter audit standards and standardized student testing.
Tom Denham, a spokesman for House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, deflected King's assertion that the House killed the bill by playing politics.
"There's always legislation that does not pass in the last hours of every legislative session," Denham said. "Legislative negotiations are a two-way street, and each side was equally adamant about passing certain bills."
King said Byrd would have let the bill pass if the Senate had taken up a House-passed phone rate freeze Byrd pushed.
The group that represents organizations that give out the corporate tax credit scholarships said it is already working to put in place tighter regulations. "We're going to try to duplicate what the legislation was going to require," said Denise Lasher, a spokeswoman for the Florida Association of Scholarship Funding Organizations. "By the time session rolls around next year, legislators will have a lot more confidence in how this program is operated."
Funding organizations collect money from corporations, which get a tax break for funding tuition scholarships for private and religious schools. Lasher said the association is working to require standardized tests for private schools that take the vouchers.
Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, said the governor's office would work with voucher schools and funding organizations to make the changes on their own.
