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Senate committee vote: report from the trenches

Yesterday the Florida Senate Education Committee voted on the proposed amendment to the state constitution permitting school vouchers.  There are a number of press reports regarding the vote, many of which we plan to comment on soon.  However, we received a fascinating first-hand account from John Kirtley, who was on hand for the hearing.  We pass his remarks along in their entirety, without comment.

Today was another intense day for the school choice movement in Florida. I thought I would give you an eyewitness account of what happened, because you will never read about it in the Florida press.

Last Thursday, the bill to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November barely escaped the Senate Judiciary Committee. We did not expect it to move to the Senate Education Committee for at least a week or two, which would give us time to continue our grassroots efforts. Our C4 has been executing a patch through phone program and a letter writing effort targeting weak Senators. We started the session with 25 firm committed votes in the Senate (24 are needed). Some of you may be aware that a attempted coup later occurred in the Senate Republican caucus over future leadership. Four of the Senators who had given us their commitment later withdrew their support, with some denying they ever made the promise.

Last Friday we were stunned to learn that the bill had been calendared for today in the Senate Education Committee. This may have been done by the committee Chairperson, Sen. Evelyn Lynn, who was one who had recanted her support. Perhaps she felt if she brought it up quick it would die. It was certainly a risk on Friday.

Over the weekend we were able to arrange for 15 Haitian American parents and children to come to the capitol today from Senator Bullard’s district in Miami. They started driving at 1am this morning. Bullard is an African American Democrat who All Children Matter backed in a big way in 2004, when she was targeted by her party for defeat. They have been putting tremendous pressure on her to vote against this bill, with the Senate Democrat Leader "guaranteeing" a locked down caucus. We brought the parents to Bullard’s office and to the committee meeting. We also brought a McKay parent from Senator Lynn’s district to speak.

The hearing to me perfectly captured the politics of school choice. Frederica Wilson, an African American Democrat from Miami, demanded of the sponsor his reasons for the amendment. "I don’t hear any parents in my district asking for this-they want more money for the public schools. Who wants this?" Applause broke out in the room. As I was in front with the parents, I turned around to see a sea of white faces in suits applauding-union and public school people. They cheered again when the teacher union lawyer told the committee there was no need for the bill.

The parent representing the Haitian group spoke next. As he is blind, his son led him to the podium. In heavily accented English, he spoke plainly but powerfully about how the scholarship programs had saved his children. He urged the Senators to give the people the right to decide if they should continue. The McKay parent from Lynn’s district spoke of her two special needs children and how they needed the scholarship to continue their success.

The room surely expected the Democrats to be in lockstep, and noboby knew what Lynn and Senator King would do. Senator Bullard asked the group from her district to stand up. She said, " I’m for the public schools. I’m for them having more money. But how can I sit here and tell these people, these success stories, that their scholarships should be taken away? I can’t do it. I’m voting for the bill".

There were literally gasps behind me from the union and public school people. The vote went 6-1. Governor Bush was watching the vote from his office and asked to see the group from Miami in his office, at which time he thanked them personally for their efforts.

We have a very long way to go. The internal Senate politics still pose a huge hurdle. However we continue to see the power of parents to speak to the truth. When they did so today the other side had no answer.

I want to thank Michael Benjamin, Denise Lasher and Cindy Forster on our team for the incredible work on such short notice. Wish us luck. Remember this account when you read the articles in the paper tomorrow.