The Florida PTA and its more than 320,000 members throughout the state are urging Floridians to vote no on Amendment 8, the so-called Religious Freedom constitutional amendment.
We believe the title of Amendment 8 is misleading, and an attempt to fool voters into approving a measure that tears down the separation of church and state and endangers public schools.
Amendment 8 is not about religious freedom at all, but instead about allowing state government to give public funds to any group or sect that calls itself a religion.
For more than 125 years, Floridas Constitution has contained a no-aid provision that prohibits state government from giving tax money to religious groups for religious purposes. That provision has served the state well, keeping an appropriate line between church and state.
Amendment 8 would erase that line. It eliminates the no-aid provision and replaces it with language that requires the state to fund religious programs if it funds similar secular programs -- something the U.S. Constitution does not require. Religious groups could use tax money to advance their particular beliefs, forcing taxpayers to fund religious views they oppose. Additionally, the amendment contains no accountability provisions for oversight of tax dollars spent for these purposes.
Supporters of Amendment 8 claim that services provided by faith-based organizations with taxpayer funds are in danger unless the Constitution is changed. But such groups can and do provide such services with public funds today, as long as they play by the same rules as everyone else. That means they must serve people regardless of their religious beliefs, without indoctrination or proselytizing, and open their hiring processes to people of all faiths.
The real impetus for Amendment 8 is paving the way for a massive voucher program that would siphon money away from public schools and instead send those tax dollars to private and religious schools. Elimination of the no-aid provision, and the added language contained in Amendment 8, would make it easier for voucher supporters to enact a universal voucher program.
A recent study estimated the cost to public schools over five years could amount to between $3.7 billion and $6.5 billion, depending on the details of the program. That is taxpayer money that public schools cannot do without.
Amendment 8 is opposed by a broad coalition of groups and by people of all political parties and ideological convictions because they are united behind the fundamental principle of the separation of church and state.
Florida does not need to tear down the wall between church and state, and it does not need to inflict damage on public education with a universal voucher program. For those reasons, the Florida PTA urges voters to reject Amendment 8.
Mindy Gould is the legislative chair for the Florida PTA.
