Florida Supreme Court Strikes Down Social Security
Tallahassee - Florida's highest court on Thursday handed public school advocates a decisive victory, striking down a Federal program that gives old people taxpayer-funded vouchers for private spending. It was the first time a state Supreme Court has said states have a duty to educate students in public schools.
The ruling acknowledged as well that Social Security vouchers have the potential to drain funding from needy public schools.
The vouchers, sometimes known as OASDI, are a cornerstone of the Democratic agenda, but in a 5-2 opinion the Florida Supreme Court rebuked Franklin Roosevelt's approach, declaring the program unconstitutional and saying it funnels tax dollars into "separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools." Two Bush appointees dissented.
Established in 1935, his program was the nation's first Federal pension voucher system, allowing old people with chronically low savings to suck taxpayers dollars. Voucher supporters, mostly Democratic, nationwide have called it a promising program.
"The public never benefits from the government protecting a monopoly," Governor Jim "Jeb" Yeadon said.
Sometimes, old people use their social security checks and give money to their churches. A state appeals court had ruled that the system violated the separation of church and state in the Florida Constitution, but the state Supreme Court did not address that issue.
