Today we're covering several topics, including strong new opposition to this year's property-tax amendment and an update on the story where Florida college students had their degrees threatened for staging a silent protest.
But first, let's look at the latest threat from Florida's unelected attorney general, who's now telling private schools they aren't allowed to require students to get vaccines.
Two weeks ago, Ron DeSantis' appointed A.G., James Uthmeier, sent a letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops that threatened to make their schools ineligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers if they require vaccinations.
Apparently, Uthmeier believes he understands Catholic values better than some priests, with Pope James saying he has concluded "there is no religious basis" for church-run schools to enforce this commitment to public health. Even if it's part of their mantra of protecting human life.
Basically, Uthmeier says that, if a parent claims vaccines violate their religious beliefs — at a school that has said vaccines are clearly part of their religious beliefs — the parent's version of faith should win.
Listen, we can debate the bigger-picture issue of whether you believe Florida should be using tax dollars to fund religious schools in the first place. But looking at the rules as they stand — and as Uthmeier wants to enforce them — there's a blatant and ugly inconsistency here.
Because remember: Florida does allow voucher-supported religious schools to use their faith as a rationale to refuse to admit LGTBQ students and even students who have same-sex parents. Private schools are also allowed to refuse to admit students with disabilities.
In other words: Florida believes it's OK for these schools to use their faith as a bludgeon, but not as a shield.
Not welcome: Gay students, parents are denied service in Florida's publicly funded voucher schools | Commentary
It's worth noting that many faith-based schools don't practice LGBTQ discrimination. Orlando's Bishop Moore, for instance, has made a point of saying it accepts all students.
But as the Orlando Sentinel has documented time and again, many other faith-based schools refuse to admit gay students, some with written policies that explicitly said they'd expel any student who utters the sentence: "I am gay."
Florida's current Republican leadership is fine with that discrimination. If parents encounter a school that refuses to serve gay students, their belief is: Tough luck. That's school "choice" for ya! If you don't like it, find another school.
But that policy apparently doesn't apply to vaccines. So schools are free to refuse gay students, but must accept all anti-vaxxers … even if it endangers other students.
What a twisted version of faith — one that makes it clear Uthmeier and other GOP leaders aren't really committed to respecting these schools' religious values or freedoms, except when they mirror the politicians' ideology.
Uthmeier warns Catholic schools to accept vaccine exemptions
I originally thought this year's proposed ballot amendment to massively cut property taxes would pass with flying colors. Now I'm not as sure, mainly because the chorus of opposition has been growing louder and more bipartisan every day.
Last week, the conservative Florida Sheriffs Association entered the fray, saying it was "significantly concerned" about the amendment, warning that it will lead to longer response times and inhibit local governments' ability to perform basic services like road repairs.
And the sheriffs didn't stop there. One of the association's fiercest pit bulls, Republican Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, railed against the amendment, calling it "ludicrous," "unreasonable" and a "trainwreck."
Judd was particularly aghast that GOP lawmakers never saw a financial analysis of the amendment's impact before voting to put it on the ballot. "Let me say that again … there was zero financial analysis," Judd said. "They have no idea what the devastation of Amendment 3 will be to cities and counties."
Judd said he favors tax cuts and reforms, but that this measure is a mess … which is pretty much what anyone who has actually studied this issue has concluded.
Florida sheriffs 'significantly concerned' with amendment rolling back property taxes
Last week, the Orlando Sentinel carried a story about how the U.S. Attorney's office in Florida had teamed up with the Orlando Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service to go after online scammers who'd targeted elderly residents in Central Florida.
If you want the full details, check out the story. Today, I just wanted to say: Kudos.
Way too often, law enforcement just shrugs its collective shoulders at online scams, which are truly a plague of the 21st century, declaring them too difficult to tackle. But here, law enforcement leaders took a stance. In doing so, they're not only trying to punish these morally deficient swindlers; they're sending a message to other predators not to target victims here.
DOJ: Orlando 'porn fraud' scammers stole over $2 million from elderly
Lastly, we have a follow-up to a column I wrote last month about former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez who, as president of Florida International University, threatened to withhold diplomas from students who had staged a silent protest on immigration crackdowns on college campuses in Florida.
The students didn't interrupt anyone. They simply stood up at an assembly and revealed T-shirts. Yet the school threatened to put a hold on their diplomas and ability to register for future classes unless they made a two-minute "video reflection" acknowledging the error of their ways.
This authoritarian move might've impressed dictators in foreign lands who believe government has the right to silence dissenting opinions. But in a nation that guarantees its citizens a right to free speech, I suggested it seemed pretty extreme — and possibly unconstitutional.
Well, apparently other legal experts and defenders of the U.S. Constitution agree. Pro bono legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Community Justice Project, filed a lawsuit against the school this week that says the students had every right to stage a silent protest.
The complaint makes many compelling cases, but the overriding one is that: "The First Amendment protects university students' right to protest on campus."
That shouldn't be an issue that needs to be litigated … especially in the supposedly "Free State of Florida." So the school should quickly put an end to this lawsuit by admitting it messed up. That might help the school save a little bit of face and also save taxpayers from wasting their money defending this extremist position.
Maxwell: Free speech? Florida students have diplomas threatened for silent ICE protest