TALLAHASSEE – State officials are facing a second lawsuit filed in as many weeks accusing them of shortchanging public schools in violation of a state constitutional provision requiring a “high quality” education for Florida’s children.
Several parents and two advocacy groups – Citizens for Strong Schools and Fund Education Now – sued Wednesday in state Circuit Court here.
“This suit simply asks the question: ‘Do we have high quality education in this state today?’ and asks the court to answer that question,” said former Florida House Speaker Jon Mills, who is part of the plaintiffs’ legal team.
The suit also argues the answer to that question is no.
“There’s a lot of evidence that we are not in the top echelon,” said Mills, also former dean of the University of Florida’s law school.
The suit contends that the state isn’t spending enough money on public schools, but it asks only that the court order legislative leaders and education officials to come up with a plan to meet the high quality requirement.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a similar complaint Nov. 5 that the state violated the constitutional provision in Palm Beach County, citing low graduation rates there.
The Tallahassee suit is statewide in scope. It also cites low graduation rates as well as Florida’s low rankings in education spending and teacher pay and a high rate of school violence.
“Obviously, those people are well intended and I would encourage them to help us do better for Florida’s kids,” said Gov. Charlie Crist, but he said he wasn’t sure that he agreed with their argument.
