AFT on Florida Supreme Court Ruling on Amendment 8

WASHINGTON—Statement of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Amendment 8 must come off the general election ballot in November:

“This is a victory for public education, the students who attend public schools, their communities and democracy in the state of Florida. Amendment 8 was deceptively written to mask its true intent—to take control away from parents, educators and communities to create an unaccountable way to take money away from public schools for charters. The proponents of Amendment 8 wanted to install the same kind of anti-public school agenda that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos created in Michigan by spending millions of dollars to privatize schools—which had a terrible record: lackluster results for the kids in the non-public schools, and hurting kids who remained in the public schools too. They knew the only way they could succeed was by trying to deceive and fool communities. We’re glad the Florida Supreme Court saw this amendment for what it was and rejected these cynical efforts. Parents and communities want their public schools to be invested in and their voices to be strengthened, not silenced, as this amendment would have done.”