Senators Battle FEA over Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program

Sens. Ronda Storms and Thad Altman battled the Florida Education Association on SB 2126. The bill seeks to allocate funds to help low-income families to give students a scholarship move to private schools.

The funds in the bill are from corporate taxes. Florida companies can commit money to low-income scholarships that give disadvantaged families access to some of Florida's best private schools.

But Lynda Russell, from the FEA, says the money shouldn't be appropriated and children, and support, shouldn't be drawn away from public schools.
"The schools are getting better," said Russell, "and they will continue to improve."

But Storms challenged the teacher's union asking if Russell had seen studies by Harvard that show minority students perform better in private schools as opposed to public schools. "I would just commend that to you for you and your benefit," said Storms, "and your intellectual expansion."

The debate between the senators and the FEA got so heated that Sen. Altman took a moment to point out this wasn't an attack on the FEA or on Russell.

"We're not taking shots at anybody," said Altman, "What this is, is a lively debate with lively questions."

More to come later on SSN...