April 9: Gov. Crist, Veto These Bills

By Sylvia Gurinsky

Is four months of a political primary campaign worth handing Florida countless years of damage to its classrooms?

We'll soon find out Gov. Charlie Crist's answer to that question.

Crist has decisions to make on some of the worst pieces of school legislation conceived by the Florida Legislature in years. Those include Senate Bill 6, which would chain teacher pay to standardized test scores and leave teachers vulnerable to capricious firing; and Senate Joint Resolution 6, which would ask voters to begin a reversal of the class size restrictions they approved in 2002. There could also be bills expanding school vouchers and religion-specific prayers at school events.

Crist has more to decide.

As all except for the ants in the sidewalk know, Crist is struggling in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate against former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. Vetoing these bills won't help him in that primary.

But signing them and appeasing a noisy minority of Floridians won't help him in the general election against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami.

For sure, signing them will hurt Florida's schoolchildren.

Yesterday, Crist said he'd listen to his bosses - the people of Florida. Most of them have been speaking loud and clear:

These are bad bills, governor. Veto them.