Central Florida Public School Boards Say No to Amendment 8
Monday, September 10, 2012
By: Nicole Creston

Sept 10, 2012 | WMFE - An association of school boards met Monday in Orlando to pass a resolution opposing Amendment 8, which will go before voters on the November ballot. The amendment would rewrite the "religious freedom" portion of Florida's constitution, and school districts fear it could affect public school funding.

The Central Florida Public School Board Coalition encompasses ten school districts along the I-4 corridor, from Manatee County on the west coast to Brevard on the east, and Orange, Seminole and Volusia in the middle. The Coalition voted unanimously Monday to oppose Amendment 8, which would reverse the state constitution’s ban on taxpayer funding to religious institutions. 

Joie Cadle is an Orange County School Board member and President of the Central Florida Public School Board Coalition. She says Amendment 8 would allow private religious schools to tap into already-dwindling public school money.

“We see it as the beginning of a voucher program,” Cadle says. “There is no funding source that we can find for the approximately 200,000 students that are currently in parochial schools.”

Also Monday, the statewide school board association passed a resolution opposing Amendment 8.