OPINION

Teachers union should drop lawsuit

Richard Corcoran
My View

You see it in the water. A ship, cutting through the waves, full of smiling children of all race, colors and creeds – life ahead and a future of possibilities. But their vessel is taking on water. No one seems to be helping. Kids dash for lifeboats. But only one lifeboat is full and the ship owners are in it.

As children swim frantically for safety, for a future, the ship-owners smash the remaining lifeboats. Why? Why would anyone deny a child a future when it is within their power to rescue them?

This story, whose end is not yet written, is happening – metaphorically – every day to nearly 100,000 poor children right here in Florida. It’s happening and it must stop.

I have to make one thing very clear. The disgrace rests solely at the feet of the Teachers Union – the bureaucrats – not classroom teachers.

So, how did these good kids end up fighting for their future?

In 2014 the statewide teachers union (FEA), school boards association and PTA filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) program. The FTC program was established in 2001 to provide an income tax credit for corporations that contribute money to nonprofit Scholarship-Funding Organizations that award scholarships to students from families with limited financial resources.

Private dollars, incentivized with a tax credit, for providing funds necessary to put lifeboats in the water and save the future of nearly 100,000 students – 38 percent Hispanic and 30 percent African-American. And not a single dollar is lost from public education.

In fact, the Florida Legislature passed record K-12 funding last year and per-pupil spending is the highest it has been since 2007.

None of these facts seem to matter to those addicted to the status quo. The Teachers Union continues to try and sink them. How?

The FEA legal assault on our kids began in trial court on Feb. 9, 2015 and was dismissed by Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds.

The FEA appealed to the First District Court of Appeals on August 21, 2015. But prior to the appeal, the Florida Association of School Administrators and the Florida School Boards Association withdrew from the lawsuit. And like a ray of sunshine, the appeal was dismissed by the three justices on August 16, 2016.

Two courts, two resounding victories for kids. Safety!

Wrong.

On Sept. 14, the FEA asked the Supreme Court to hear another appeal.

In my speech upon becoming Speaker of the Florida House I said the FEA is “attempting to destroy the lives of almost 100,000 children, mostly minority, and all of them poor.” And I called on them to drop the lawsuit.

And while the FEA tried to cloud the issue and act like they were fighting on behalf of teachers, I’ve yet to meet one teacher who supports this lawsuit.

Unlike the union, we stand with students, parents, and classroom teachers. And that's why, no matter the outcome of the FEA's legal attack, the Florida House will never give up, and never stop reaching down and pulling kids safely into their lifeboats.

Richard Corcoran is the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.