Florida’s Supreme Court rules, exposes itself on proposed amendments
Excerpt: The ballot is set: Floridians will indeed vote on 12 amendments come November, after a final challenge to three proposed amendments was definitively struck down Wednesday by the state’s highest court.
In a ruling issued Oct. 17 — just three weeks out from the election — the state Supreme Court backed retaining the trio of “bundled” amendments proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission, overruling arguments that the group’s practice of rolling together different proposals into singular ballot items was illegal.
Though not all justices agreed that the “logrolling” practice was sound, all concurred with the decision to reverse a circuit court ruling that had knocked those items off the ballot.
The three amendments that had remained in dispute:
▪ Amendment 7
▪ Amendment 9
▪ Amendment 11
Bottom Line: Alright so the already confusing Amendment voting featuring 12 Amendments numbered 1-7 and 9-13 won’t become any more complicated or confusing than it already is at this point. It also means my twelve-part Florida Amendment series will continue on as planned. What I do find interesting is that despite how convoluted/bundled some of these proposed amendments are, the only one they struck down was one was one that I found to be among the most compelling. This was it would have been:
BALLOT TITLE: School Board Term Limits and Duties; Public Schools
BALLOT SUMMARY: Creates a term limit of eight consecutive years for school board members and requires the legislature to provide for the promotion of civic literacy in public schools. Currently, district school boards have a constitutional duty to operate, control, and supervise all public schools. The amendment maintains a school board’s duties to public schools it establishes, but permits the state to operate, control, and supervise public schools not established by the school board.
Isn’t it ironic that Florida’s liberal justices were so concerned that you might vote to term limit school board members and threaten the existing public-school monopoly with enhanced opportunity for Charter schools that they wouldn’t even let you vote on it...? As a reminder, the next Governor will determine what direction Florida’s Supreme Court will lean in the future.