Blog Against Theocracy 2008: More assaults on church-state separation in Florida

Since Blog Against Theocracy has been extended through this week, the latest news from Florida on the subject of the separation of church and state is eminently apropos ... and really frightening, too.

Truly, America's Wang™ is a thoroughly fucked up state. Our schools are falling apart, both literally and figuratively; our community colleges and universities are facing unprecedented budget cuts; teachers, professors, and administrators alike all are concerned about layoffs; and our legislature, in its inimitable wisdom, is occupying itself with yet another batshit-crazy-fundie-led attempt to turn Florida, already a de facto theocracy in many ways, into an officially sanctioned one.

At a time when president-elect of the Florida School Boards Association Beverly Slough hasn't even had time in the last month to read the book I sent her due to what she has told me is the financial crisis facing Florida and its schools, you would think that the state legislature would be falling all over itself trying to find ways to make sure money got to where it really needed to go — to the [state's] failing universities and public school system.

You would be terribly wrong.

In fact, [a committee] of the state legislature's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission [(TBRC)] have a very different idea about where money should go. They're trying to get Committee Proposal 20 (CP0020) [(.pdf)] on the ballot in November at which time it could be placed by popular vote into the state constitution. What, you might ask, does this proposal do? According to the Committee's website, it's:

A resolution proposing an amendment to Section 3 of Article I of the State Constitution to repeal a limit on the use of public revenues in aid of religious organizations and entities, and to prohibit individuals and entities from being barred from participating in public programs because of their religion.

Who needs schools when you can have churches instead? Why not just hand over tax revenues to religious organizations with no limits at all?

The committee would have you believe that there are heathen atheists blocking the doors of public facilities and keeping people out of programs and activities purely on the basis of their faith (pretty much only Christian faith, I might add). Needless to say, this isn't the case. And yet, the fundies who have slithered their way into leadership positions throughout Florida's government, thanks to the insane machinations of their Chief Standard Bearer and Ass Kisser, Jeb! Bush, continue chipping away at the sacrosanct walls that separate religion from government.

Folks, this proposal is openly and unabashedly designed to funnel state monies to religious organizations, in violation of Florida's Constitution, the United States Constitution, and every responsible and sensible theory of American government ever advanced. But because the state is run by batshit crazy fundies, you just never know ... if the full Commission ends up putting the proposal on November's ballot -- something they are empowered to do and will decide tomorrow -- we could be voting on this at the same time we're voting on the reprehensible anti-gay marriage amendment. It's not going to be an election -- it's turning into a fucking revival.

One of the members of the TBRC committee pushing this proposal is one Patricia Levesque. Now, why does that name sound familiar to me? Hmmm ...

Oh, yes, now I remember. Levesque is the director of Jeb! Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future, the hyper-right-wing group that, among other things, advocates extreme politicization of the higher education system in Florida and, unsurprisingly, wants to Christianize our schools. Yeah, I really trust that committee to do what's best for the state. Right. [/snark]

This shit has to stop, now, before it's too late. If it passes, as the Palm Beach Post pointed out today,

Separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution still would apply. But if the state charter is weakened, the Florida Legislature - which approved vouchers for religious schools with no meaningful oversight and intervened on religious grounds in the Terri Schiavo case - likely would fall all over itself to "outsource" services to religious groups. Only years of lawsuits would get things back on the right side of the church-state line.

The committee also has a proposal to give people "freedom to choose among public and private providers of public services." Obviously another thinly veiled attempt to legalize government support of religious institutions. They aren't even hiding this shit anymore.

Let's see what the TBRC does tomorrow. But I've had it up to here with the Christianist hate-mongers trying to shove their faith down everyone's throats. This fall, the election is about much more than who will be president. It's about marginalizing the rabid Religious Right once and for all -- for nothing less than the survival of America.

(h/t Interrobang)

Governing Florida's universities: a glimmer of hope?

Ever since Jeb! Bush ruined Florida's system of higher education by trashing the old system, replacing the centralized Board of Regents with individual -- and gubernatorially-appointed -- Boards of Trustees at each of the 11 universities (a similar system was imposed on the 28 community colleges) and a central -- but weakened -- Board of Governors also appointed by the Governor, the state has seen increasingly dysfunctional university governance, a uptick in presidents chosen for their political savvy rather than their academic résumés, and a plunge in rankings when compared with universities outside Florida.

Finally, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. State Sen. Lisa Carlton (R-Sarasota) has introduced legislation that could return control to the Legislature, which by definition should have a better understanding of education than the governor.

The Senate Pre-K-12 Education Committee voted unanimously for a bill that would ask voters in November to give budget authority over the state's 11 universities to the Legislature, stripping it from the Board of Governors. Senate sponsor Lisa Carlton said lawmakers should control the debate over how to set tuition rates, not "some appointed board outside of this building."

Carlton ... said that every dollar increase in tuition requires an equal increase in two state-subsidized programs -- the Pre-Paid College Tuition Program and the Bright Futures scholarships. With every tuition increase, she said, the Legislature must come up with more money to pay for the programs, and more students could be priced out of going to college.

Seems to make sense, doesn't it? Well, as you might imagine, ol' Jeb! isn't happy about it:

But Gov. Jeb Bush told The Miami Herald he opposes the measure because he believes that electing an education commissioner will weaken the power of the governor, politicize education and give the Legislature less control over education policy. His view is expressed by the Foundation for Florida's Future, he wrote in an e-mail, referring to the non-profit education reform advocacy group he started.

The group's director, Patricia Levesque, told the committee Wednesday that "there should be a vocal advocate for education in the state of Florida. We just believe it should be the governor."

Oh. My. Fucking. God. (I keep saying that because I can't believe the crap Republicans sling these days.) Weakening the power of the governor, fine -- I have no problem with that. But the idea that an elected education commissioner would inject more politics into education is complete crap.

I can't fathom a more politicized structure than we have now. Thanks to Jeb!, we went from about a dozen or so gubernatorial appointees related to universities to well over 100, and when you add in the community colleges the number approaches 200. I have worked for two state universities and one community college. I have seen firsthand the effect that the political appointees have had on the institutions. The boards today are stacked with Republicans, largely people who gave large amounts of money, or raised large amounts of money, for campaigns for people named Bush, and most of them don't have a fucking clue about how to run an educational institution. As for the Legislature having less control over policy -- when they take over governance as opposed to the current situation -- how the high holy fuck is that even possible?!?

"There should be a vocal advocate for education in the state of Florida," says Levesque. And it should be the governor, she adds. Sure. I agree. Damn straight our governor ought to be a vocal advocate for education. But you can be a "vocal advocate" for universities without governing them. Hell, I'm a vocal advocate for Florida's universities, and I don't govern them -- nor would I want to. Because I'm not qualified.

Kind of like the current Boards of Trustees. Unqualified.

I think the Legislature might actually Get It and this proposed constitutional amendment has a good chance of getting on the ballot. Check out this little exchange:

The committee also heard criticism of the plan from State University System Chancellor Mark Rosenberg, who said that a third revamp of the university system in 10 years would continue to diminish the quality of the education that university students receive.

"It will make our education system weaker, not stronger," he said. "It will further erode our state credibility in national educations circles" and make it more difficult to attract faculty.

He said that higher education needs to rely on both tuition and state funding and "if we can get more state support, we don't need to raise tuition."

Rosenberg's comments irritated Sen. Don Gaetz, chairman of the committee. He asked Rosenberg why he wants to keep the current system if it's so bad -- "a system by the way which you just indicted, by saying it's not giving Florida students the quality education -- which is on your watch, by the way."

Ooooh, burrrrn.

I'd like to invite Jeb! -- and Rosenberg and Levesque, while I'm at it -- to kindly fuck off. Haven't you already done enough to destroy Florida? Seriously, shut the hell up and go crawl in a hole somewhere, you miserable cretin. You, Jeb!, are history. Go make your money and let Florida clean up your mess without interfering. Thanks in advance.

And thanks to the Legislature, or at least the Senate education committee, for taking steps to clean up that mess. Better late than never.