Butterworth endorses vouchers

The attorney general calls the governor's plan ""the only way I can see to jump start the public education system.''

By JO BECKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 24, 1999

TALLAHASSEE -- Just eight months ago, Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth delivered a campaign speech in which he said that adopting a school voucher program would be like waving a white flag of surrender in front of Florida's public schools.

As recently as two months ago, Butterworth said he didn't like Gov. Jeb Bush's voucher plan.

But Wednesday, Butterworth said that the state's new school voucher program, signed into law by Bush this week, is "the only way I can see to jump start the public education system."

Sound like a 180-degree turnaround? Butterworth concedes it is.

"For too long we have allowed failing teachers to be put in failing schools with failing administrators, and then we are surprised that the kids there fail," Butterworth said.

As attorney general, Butterworth must defend a lawsuit filed by the NAACP, teacher unions and other voucher critics challenging Bush's sweeping education reform package that includes the nation's most far-reaching voucher experiment.

In a legal fight, his previous statements could be used against him, but Butterworth says his conversion is real. He said he personally supports the new law that allows parents at failing schools to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their kids to private schools.

Butterworth is the most prominent Democrat to endorse the plan to date. Except for five state Democratic lawmakers who voted for the plan in the Legislature this spring, Democrats have castigated Republicans for giving up on public education.

But a Democratic Party spokesman and the state's largest teachers' union don't see Butterworth's new stance as a defection.

"He has a job to do," said Tony Welch, spokesman for the Democratic Party. "He has to defend vouchers and all of the state's laws."

"I think he was just trying to bend over backward and say to people, "I am fair,' that he is going to do his job as the defender of the state of Florida in this lawsuit," said Maureen Dinnen, a lobbyist for the FTP-NEA teachers' union, which endorsed Butterworth in his last election.

Said Butterworth: "I may very well not be a good guy with the hardcore Democrats, but they sued me yesterday."

Explaining his evolution Wednesday, Butterworth said that when he criticized the voucher plan earlier, he didn't know exactly how it would work.

"The perception was that anyone who wanted to could leave the public school system and attend a private school," Butterworth said. "People thought there would be many, many schools involved."

During his campaign for governor last year, Bush had made clear his plan would only affect failing schools. Bush had already made that distinction when Butterworth made his "white flag" comment in October.

Asked about the comment Wednesday, Butterworth said: "Failing schools were not defined."

In late April, as other Democrats were criticizing the voucher plan that was moving through the Republican-run Legislature, Butterworth joined in.

"I don't think we should have vouchers until we have an adequately funded public education system," he told a Times reporter.

By that point, the details of the plan, including how failing schools would be defined and that the number of schools to qualify this year would be no more than four, were well known. As it turns out, only two Escambia County schools would qualify, 120 parents have expressed interest and there are only 60 slots available in private schools in the area.

Butterworth said Wednesday that since the end of the legislative session he has been able to see the effect that the threat of vouchers has had on failing schools. He sits on the state Board of Education, and he has heard from the two schools that qualify for vouchers this year.

"We're seeing dramatic changes in these schools," Butterworth said, because "they knew they were going to get vouchers."

Is the state meeting its constitutional duty to adequately fund schools so they can provide a quality education? "I don't know," Butterworth admitted. "Obviously when you have schools without textbooks, schools aren't being funded ... ," Butterworth said. "The problem we have right now is that failure is being accepted."

Some voucher critics believe Butterworth's turnaround is for real.

"It takes me a little bit by surprise that he would in any way be supportive of the program, rather than supportive of the need to defend the constitutionality of laws passed," Senate Democratic Leader Buddy Dyer said.

But Dyer added: "Just because one Democrat said he supports the plan does not take it away as a campaign issue."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Weston, said she was shocked by Butterworth's position.

"There are so many other better alternatives that you could use to light a fire under these failing schools, including allowing the kids to go to other public schools," she said. "For General Butterworth to say that vouchers are the only solution is irresponsible."

Butterworth's comments Wednesday came at a news conference Bush called to announce the state team that will defend the voucher program in court. Another member of that team has also had a change of heart over vouchers: Republican education commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Gallagher said he opposed vouchers in his 1996 gubernatorial campaign; this year, he has been one of the program's staunchest supporters.

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