lawsuit updates

All materials on FEA's legal cases are available at http://www.meyerbrookslaw.com/Litigation.htm

Judge Strikes Amendment 7 from 2012 Ballot

December 14, 2011

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Education Association President Andy Ford commended a ruling by Judge Terry Lewis in state Circuit Court in Tallahassee striking an amendment placed on the ballot by the Florida Legislature that would significantly alter the no-aid provision in the Florida Constitution. Judge Lewis said the ballot summary approved by the Legislature was misleading.  

“We applaud the judge’s decision. Amendment 7 would have required taxpayers to fund a broad array of religious programs and institutions,” Ford said. “The judge agreed that taxpayers and voters need to be told the truth and that the purpose and effect of the amendment was not clear in the ballot summary and was misleading to voters.” The constitutional amendment, labeled Amendment 7 by the office of the Secretary of State, would substantially alter the no-aid provision of the Florida Constitution, which has been in effect for more than 125 years. The provision, which is in Article 1, section 3 of the Constitution, protects the religious freedom rights of all Floridians by barring taxpayer-funded aid to religious institutions. In his ruling, Judge Lewis wrote: “It naturally flows from the language deleted and the language added that the primary effect of the amendment will be to make it a lot harder for the state to deny funding or program benefits to a sectarian institution.”

Ford said that if enacted, Amendment 7 could open the gateway to school vouchers for all. Ford and the FEA are joined in the lawsuit by Lee Swift of Punta Gorda, who is president of the Florida School Boards Association and a member of the Charlotte County School Board; Susan Summers-Persis of Ormond Beach, who is president of the Florida Association of School Administrators; Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, who is the Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Deltona; the Rev. Kent Siladi of Rockledge, who is the Conference Minister for the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ; the Rev. Harry Parrott of Clay County, who is a retired Baptist minister; the Rev. Harold Brockus of St. Petersburg, a retired pastor of a Pinellas Park church affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ; Rabbi Jack Romberg of Temple Israel in Tallahassee; and the Rev. Bobby Musengwa, who is pastor of Maximo Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg.

“The judge disagreed with one contention in the lawsuit and said that the state attorney general should be given the authority to rewrite a defective ballot summary,” Ford said. “We are reviewing his ruling and will decide later whether to challenge that ruling in an appellate court.”   

December 2, 2011

SB 736 suit – State has filed its answer denying our claims. We are preparing a motion for summary judgment, which won’t likely be heard until February at the earliest.  

October 26, 2011

Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fulford heard oral arguments in the retirement lawsuit filed by the Florida Education Association. The FEA is seeking to stop the 3 percent pay cut on teachers, school employees and other workers imposed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. Our lawyers, led by Ron Meyer, told the judge that lawmakers did not have the authority to make fundamental changes to pensions of current state employees, arguing that the changes break a contract with state employees and violate their constitutional right to collective bargaining. The lawsuit further contends that the actions by the Legislature to reduce the cost-of-living benefits of those employees were also unconstitutional. During the hearing, Judge Fulford said the decision to cut state and local government workers pay 3 percent and shift the money to the state’s pension fund broke the state’s contract with employees. What remains at issue in the case is whether that broken contract is illegal.  

The state legal team argued that the legislature was entitled to make the changes, which it termed “modifications,” under its budgetary authority and they denied the changes violated the collective bargaining rights of state workers when it made the changes without renegotiating employee contracts. The state team faced a number of pointed questions from the Judge about the cuts made to the cost of living adjustment (known as COLA) and about the requirement that employees contribute 3 percent of their salaries. At one point, Judge Fulford, in an unusual move, came down from the bench to better view and ultimately challenge the state’s interpretation of a spreadsheet that it said shows that benefits accrued by one of the plaintiffs before the new law took effect would not change. Contrary to the state’s arguments, Judge Fulford stated the sheets showed that under the changes, the worker would have to pay more in contributions and receive less money when he retired. She also stated that workers already in the system were counting on the benefits promised by the retirement system at the time they were hired. Ron Meyer argued the changes at issue in the case "are systemic, substantive changes, and to try and characterize that as simply changing a benefit prospectively just does violence to English language." Judge Fulford did not indicate when she intends to issue a ruling on the case. 

September 22, 2011

Pensions

FEA filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the 3 percent pay cut on teachers, school employees and other workers imposed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. The lawsuit alleges that Florida law expressly provides that the Florida Retirement System is one in which employees do not have to contribute and describes that as a contractual obligation of the State. The suit claims that the Legislature’s action unconstitutionally impairs those contractual rights. The lawsuit asserts that the Legislature enacted legislation that was unconstitutional when that body required that 3 percent of the salaries of active members of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) be taken as “contributions”. The lawsuit further contends that the actions by the Legislature to reduce the cost-of-living benefits of those employees were also unconstitutional. The next court date on this lawsuit is in late October.

Amendment 7

The FEA joined with Individuals and groups representing Florida’s public schools and religious community to challenge an amendment placed on the ballot by the Florida Legislature that would significantly alter the no-aid provision in the Florida Constitution, which has been in effect for more than 125 years. The provision, which is in Article 1, section 3 of the Constitution, protects the religious freedom rights of all Floridians by barring taxpayer-funded aid to religious institutions. The ballot summary adopted by the Legislature is misleading to voters about the impact of Amendment 7. This is a violation of the requirement that the summary be clear and unambiguous, and must state the legal effect of the ballot proposed. This is a shady way of opening the door for school vouchers for all. The leadership of the Legislature know voters aren’t keen on having public funds paying for private schools, so they chose to mislead voters by calling the proposed amendment the “Religious Freedom Act.” A court hearing on this lawsuit is scheduled for late October.

SB 736

The Florida Education Association has filed a lawsuit contending that provisions of a bill passed earlier this year by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott are unconstitutional because they deny teachers their right to effective collective bargaining on wages and terms and conditions of employment. The lawsuit asserts that the Legislature enacted legislation that was unconstitutional when that body passed SB 736, which substantially changed wages, employment contracts, performance evaluations, promotions and workforce reduction provisions that had been previously negotiated between teachers and local school districts. These changes swept away the right of employees to negotiate their wages and terms and conditions of employment, a right that is guaranteed and protected by the Florida Constitution. FEA may take further legal actions as specific impacts that result from SB 736 become more apparent. There is no court date yet assigned for this lawsuit.  

FEA and teachers file lawsuit saying SB 736 violates state constitution on bargaining rights

September 14, 2011

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Education Association (FEA) and the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association (SC/TA), on behalf of teachers throughout the state, filed a lawsuit today in Circuit Court in Tallahassee contending that provisions of a bill passed earlier this year by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott are unconstitutional because they deny teachers their right to effective collective bargaining on wages and terms and conditions of employment.

The lawsuit asserts that the Legislature enacted legislation that was unconstitutional when that body passed SB 736, which substantially changed wages, employment contracts, performance evaluations, promotions and workforce reduction provisions that had been previously negotiated between teachers and local school districts.

“These changes swept away the right of employees to negotiate their wages and terms and conditions of employment, a right that is guaranteed and protected by the Florida Constitution,” said FEA President Andy Ford. “The changes that lawmakers pushed through should have been collectively bargained between school districts and teachers.”

Members of the FEA are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, as well as members of SC/TA, which is an independent teachers union not affiliated with FEA.

“The provisions of SB 736 radically transform the teaching profession – and not for the better,” said Cory Williams, a middle school social studies teacher from Sarasota County. “The expertise and knowledge of teachers have been ignored throughout this process and our constitutional rights have been trampled. We must turn to the court to tell the Legislature and the governor that they cannot simply take away the rights that are embedded in the Florida Constitution.”

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