A flier funded by the Michigan group backs Rep. Frank Farkas.
By CARRIE JOHNSON
Published October 26, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The flier features a picture of state Rep. Frank Farkas and lists his goals to improve the state's public education system.
The message - the importance of fully funding schools and demanding high standards from students - echoes the desires of many Floridians.
But the messenger is somewhat more controversial.
All Children Matter, a Michigan-based advocacy group that supports school vouchers and magnet schools, sent the flier to voters throughout Farkas' south Pinellas district.
But the flier only alludes to school vouchers in a short paragraph that stresses the importance of giving parents more education options. Critics say the group should be more straightforward.
"If they're so sure of themselves, they should be more upfront," said state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, a leading opponent of pro-voucher legislation. "It's interesting they have to sugar-coat it to make it sound like vouchers are mainstream education policy. Because they're not."
John Kirtley, the Tampa businessman who is All Children Matter's Florida chairman, said the group has made no secret of its mission even if it has not used the word "voucher" in its mailings.
"Just because we don't use the word that people who are opposed to school choice use, that shouldn't be held against us," Kirtley said.
All Children Matter was created by Richard DeVos, the retired president of Amway Corp. and a former member of the Michigan State Board of Education. A longtime supporter of school choice, he launched a voucher initiative in Michigan four years ago that nearly 70 percent of voters rejected.
The organization, formed in spring 2003, has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping elect voucher-friendly politicians in Virginia, Louisiana and elsewhere.
In Florida, the group already has spent $500,000 and plans to spend thousands more, focusing its efforts on members of the state House. In addition to Farkas, the group is also providing assistance to John Legg, a Republican running for an open seat in west Pasco County; William Proctor, another Republican hoping to fill an open seat in St. Augustine; and Rep. John Quinones, R-Kissimmee.
"We just simply want to make people aware about the positions public figures have taken," said Brecht Heuchan, a Tallahassee-based political consultant who is working on the group's behalf. "Then they can make up their own minds."
Heuchan said the group plans to select more candidates before the Nov. 2 election.
Farkas said he spoke with members of All Children Matter but didn't approve the flier's content. "I didn't even see it before it came out," he said.
"I'm not pro-voucher," Farkas said.
But Kirtley said a review of Farkas' record shows he is supportive of their cause.
Farkas voted to help create the state's two largest voucher programs: the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program for low-income kids and the McKay Scholarship, which helps disabled children.
Democrat Liz McCallum, Farkas' opponent, said All Children Matter also approached her, but she never felt the group seriously considered helping her. She opposes vouchers.
"The overwhelming majority of our children will attend public schools, not private schools," McCallum said. "We need to focus our dollars on improving public schools."
