PRESS RELEASE: Heartland Institute Expert Comments on Florida Court Ruling on Tax Credit Scholarship Program

Published January 4, 2019

Today, the Florida Supreme Court, in Citizens for Strong Schools v. Florida State Board of Education, upheld the decision of lower-courts by ruling against plaintiffs attempting to attack the successful Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program. In the ruling, the court wrote, “The manifest goal of the Petitioners and the dissenting justices is to put educational funding and educational policy firmly under the control of the judiciary.”

In the opinion for the court, the justices wrote they believe there is no objective standard for the definitions of “adequacy,” “high quality,” and “efficient” in the state’s constitution, rendering these words political in nature, and thus, they reasoned, issues that should be dealt with by elected officials, not the court system. 

The following statements from education experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.


“The plaintiffs, repeatedly defeated politically, turned to the courts. Thankfully, the courts rejected their attempted political end run around the state’s legislature, providing an important victory for the students of Florida, many of whom have been able to choose an education that meets their individual needs because of these important scholarship programs.”

Lennie Jarratt
Project Manager, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000