Prometheus 6

Echoing school officials in Miami-Dade and Broward, FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow said most schools spend more than 65 percent of their operations money in the classroom anyway. But the number depends on the meaning of ''classroom instruction'' and whether it includes media specialists and school psychologists.

Pudlow said allowing for more public money to be spent on private schools will make things even worse.

''This doesn't make the pie any bigger. It just rearranges the pie,'' he said. ``The 65 percent solution is a Trojan horse. And what's inside is vouchers.''

And if that don't work there's still the "starve the beast" strategy.

Only 50 percent of voters like the tax commission's proposal to eliminate the state-directed portion of school property taxes, replacing the revenue with budget cuts and increases in sales taxes and other taxes. About 64 percent of voters said they were familiar with the tax-swap plan.

Word change ups chances for school vouchers
BY MARC CAPUTO

A majority of Florida voters don't want to spend public money on private and religious schools -- but they'll probably vote by large margins to do it in November, anyway, according to a new poll.

The reason: A tactical decision by the state Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to combine private-school vouchers with a proposal to ensure that 65 percent of every education dollar is spent in the classroom.

Known as the ''65 percent solution,'' the measure is so popular that 63 percent of voters would approve the constitutional amendment if the election were held today, according to the new poll from Quinnipiac University.

But if vouchers stood alone on the ballot, only 38 percent of voters would favor it, with 56 percent opposed, the poll found.

''The incredible power of the 65 percent solution is that people will vote for something they don't much like to get it,'' said Peter Brown, the Connecticut-based university poll director who regularly surveys the largest swing state in the nation.

The findings encouraged voucher supporters, bothered the state teachers' union and presaged a potentially tough campaign during a presidential election year in which former Gov. Jeb Bush could play a side role.

Squaring off in the election battle: the ''school-choice'' movement and the teachers' union. They'll flyspeck school-board budgets, debate the meaning of ''classroom instruction'' and rail over whether the amendment is a bait-and-switch in a year when the Republican-led Legislature cut $891 million from K-12 classrooms.