Note that they found it to violate the Florida constitution, not the US Constitution. Who knows what the Florida constitution says?

Indeed, it probably has one of those Blaine clauses in it, which was to prevent those dirty Catholics from benefiting from the state like the respectable Protestants were doing.

Ace, ever since 2000 they're properly referred to as the Florida Supreme "Court".

meep, you're right; as of failed presidential candidate Blaine's day (late 1800s) public schools had Protestant sectarian prayer in them. This was not only before O'Hair etc in the 1950-60s but also before the Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925.

The Blaine Amendments were to preserve the monopoly for Protestant fundamentalists, on the ground that it wasn't really fundamentalism but the truth or else the common American heritage or other such bunk.

Blaine would have called it "ceremonial deism" if the phrase had existed then.

The decision seems to have rested on the preamble to the class size amendment in the FL Constitution, which requires (in part): "Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require"
Of course, by that logic, the public schools are unconstitutional as well.

they mandate public school class size in their freakin' constitution? florida is indeed full of fucktards

My name is Inigo Montoya, not Thomas Jefferson. You killed my father; prepare to die.

I've spent the last five years envying Rehnquist his chance to shoot those silly bastards down. Now it's my turn.

Aren't we spending more on education (adjusted for inflation) than ever before. If so, why is education in decline (or perceived to be)? Has the cirriculum strayed off target? Mebbe because parents raise their children differently than in the "golden days" of public education. Dint Pa Wilder put the smackdown on his kids if they messed up in school?

Aren't we spending more on education (adjusted for inflation) than ever before. If so, why is education in decline (or perceived to be)?

Hence the empirical evidence requirement tucked into NCLB, which like every other sensible thing in that law has way fewer teeth than it needs.

"they mandate public school class size in their freakin' constitution?"

Nevada does it, too. I wonder how common that is.

Oh yeah, and of course they spend gazillions of our tax dollars encouraging teachers to indoctrinate their kids with "social justice" and all that let-us-run-everything bullshit.

Arizona actually has a section in its education clause about providing for hearing- and vision-impaired students (Art. 11, sec.1B). California mandates it (Art. 9, sec. 5). Not only that, but California's constitution actually states a freakin' minimum wage for teachers (not less than $2400.00, art. 9, sec. 6).

If youdebate.com is to be believed, funding for public education at least doubled since the '60s

It's my understanding that many state constitutions are nothing like the US one. They are much more specific, and amended much more often. More "positive" rights (as opposed to "negative" rights) such as, well, the 10th Amendment, although that's a confusing example.

They are as much "law" as "framework for lawmaking."

Re: The Class-size mandate in the Florida constitution:

This was a huge issue during the last gubernatorial election. Jeb's opponent had the class-size thing as his main issue and stumped for it repeatedly. The voters initially went with it (after all, it was a program with "children" and "schools" in its title), and the Democrat led the polls. Then it was discovered how many billions of dollars it would cost, and the voters turned against its champion and there was widespread opposition. Jeb won in a landslide (60-40 or there abouts).

BUT, because Floridians apparently dont read the dozen constitutional amendments we have on every ballot, they voted in the actual class size amendment on the same ballot! I think a lot of them thought the the program the losing candidate was talking about was something different.

BTW, we also have a constitutional amendment banning the confinement of pregnant pigs (which PETA heavily advertised as protecting cute puppies and kitties).

A standard exercise for first-year law students is to read the federal Constitution (which you should pretty much have memorized before you even applied), then go look up your home state's constitution (which very few non-lawyers have ever read). I remember my shock to discover that New York's constitution was the length of a novella and had been entirely rewritten several times since the Revolution, most recently in the 20th century.

It was also hella stupid.

Hasn't the SCOFLAW done this before? We all know that libs love their constitutional to extra bendy, flexible enough to wrap around whatever their union contributors want.

But, yeah, the Fl constitution means a lot of things. Bush needs to impeach these guys.

If youdebate.com is to be believed, funding for public education at least doubled since the '60s

Most studies I've seen say "tripled", including the rate of inflation...

Dont knock florida just becuase of a few idiot judges after all they have passed what is called a to retreat law and they have a lower crime rate then calfornia becuase their not run by stupid jackasses