League of Women Voters of Fla., Inc. v. Detzner
| Decision Date | 20 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2018-CA-001523 |
| Parties | LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, INC., PATRICIA BRIGHAM, individually, and as President of the League of Women Voters of Florida, Inc., and SHAWN BARTELT, individually, and as Second Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Florida, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. KEN DETZNER, in his official capacity as Florida Secretary of State, Defendant. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
SUMMARY FINAL JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFFS
In this action, Plaintiffs contend that a revision to the Florida Constitution proposed by the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission, designated by the Secretary of State as Revision 8, must be stricken from the ballot for the upcoming 2018 general election because its ballot title and summary fail to comply with the accuracy requirement imposed by Article XI, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution and section 101.161(1), Florida Statutes.
The parties agreed to an expedited procedure for resolving this matter through cross motions for summary judgment. The Plaintiffs have standing and this Court has jurisdiction.
The Court, having reviewed the respective motions for summary judgment and supporting memoranda, heard argument on August 17, 2018, and finding no genuine issue of material fact, finds for the reasons set forth below that Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted and Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment should be denied.
Article XI, Section 2 of the Florida Constitution establishes a 37-member Constitution Revision Commission which convenes every 20 years to debate and propose revisions to the Florida Constitution. A vote of sixty percent of the general electorate is required for any such revision to be effective. Art. XI, § 5(e), Fla. Const. The most recent CRC concluded its work on May 9, 2018, proposing eight revisions for the November 2018 ballot.
On March 21, 2018, the CRC approved Proposal 71, which, as then drafted, would have made the following revision to Article IX, Section 4(b) ():
(b) The school board shall operate, control, and supervise all free public schools established bywithinthe school district and determine the rate of school district taxes within the limits prescribed herein. Two or more school districts may operate and finance joint educational programs.
During debates over Proposal 71, its sponsor stated that the proposed revision was intended to overrule Duval County School Board v. State, Bd. of Education, 998 So 2d 641 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), and allow the power to authorize new charter schools to be assigned to any of a variety of potential public or private entities. The sponsor specifically listed a broad range of charter school authorizers that had been successful in other states, including a non-profit organization, a state university, a state board of education, a local school district, and a charter board.
The CRC combined Proposal 71 with two other unrelated changes to the Florida Constitution's education article. The language from Proposal 71 was reworded slightly to provide: "The school board shall operate, control, and supervise all free public schools established by the district school board within the school district . . . ." This language was combined with CRC-approved Proposals 43 and 10 to create a single omnibus educationamendment, referred to by the CRC as "Revision 3." The portions of Revision 3 that were derived from Proposals 43 and 10 would, respectively, impose term limits for school board members and constitutionally-required civics education in Florida public schools. The revision will appear on the November 2018 as Revision 8.
Commissioner Donalds, who also sponsored 43 regarding term limits, emphasized that term limits were extremely popular with the public. The sponsor of Proposal 10 regarding civic literacy explained that he supported bundling his proposal with other education provisions because it would help some of the other education issues pass. However, a number of CRC members expressed concern that bundling the proposals would cause problems for voters. Nevertheless, a motion to "unbundle" proposals 10, 43, and 71 failed.
The CRC-drafted and approved title and summary for Revision 8 read as follows:
Florida's system of public schools is governed by local and state officials, each with related but independent duties to educate all children in the state. Since 1968, the Florida Constitution has conferred upon local elected school boards certain exclusive authority over the public schools within their respective school districts:
The school board shall operate, control, and supervise all free public schools within the school district and determine the rate of school district taxes within the limits prescribed herein. Two or more school districts may operate and finance joint educational programs.
Art. IX, § 4(b), Fla. Const. (emphasis added). This delegation of constitutional authority includes both traditional public schools and charter schools, both of which are "free public schools" as that term is used in the constitution. § 1002.33, Fla. Stat. (). Also, since 1998, the Florida Constitution has obligated the State of Florida, including all branches of state government, to provide a uniform, high quality system of free public schools:
Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allow students to obtain a high quality education . . . .
These constitutional provisions do not explicitly address the "establishment" of public schools, the term used in the ballot summary. But Florida courts have held that the constitution prohibits the state from enacting measures authorizing new charter schools at the state level if such measures would limit local school districts to merely "ministerial" functions. See Duval Cty. Sch. Bd. v. State, Bd. of Educ., 998 So. 2d 641, 644 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008). The current constitutional and statutory scheme permits the state to play an active role in reviewing districts' decisions concerning charter authorization and supervision, but only after local school boards have made authorization decisions in the first instance. See Sch. Bd. of Palm Beach Cty. v. Fla. Charter Educ. Found., Inc., 213 So. 3d 356, 360 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) ().
"Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact and if the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Volusia Cty. v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So. 2d 126, 130 (Fla. 2000) (citing Menendez v. Palms West Condominium Ass'n, 736 So. 2d 58, 60 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)). Courts view cases that center on the "construction of a written instrument and the legal effect to be drawn therefrom" as being questions of law rather than questions of fact. Id. at 131 (quoting Cox v. CSX Intermodal, Inc., 732 So. 2d 1092, 1096 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (internal citation omitted)). The only relevant facts in this case—the text of the proposed revision, its supporting ballot title and summary, and the debates of the CRC—are undisputed. Summary judgment is therefore appropriate because this case presents pure questions of law. Volusia Cty., 760 So. 2d at 130-31.
In reviewing a challenge to a proposed ballot amendment, courts look only at whether the language of the proposal meets the state constitutional and statutory requirements enumerated below. Courts do not review the merits of the proposed amendment. See Advisory Op. to Atty. Gen. ex rel. Amendment to Bar Government from Treating People Differently Based on Race in Public Educ., 778 So. 2d 888, 891 (Fla. 2000). At the ballot amendment stage, courts lack "the authority or responsibility to rule on the merits or the wisdom of these proposed initiative amendments." Advisory Op. to the Atty. Gen. re Tax Limitation, 644 So. 2d 486, 489 (Fla. 1994).
Only accurate ballot titles and summaries are constitutionally permissible. "Although the constitution does not expressly authorize judicial review of amendments proposed by the Legislature . . . the courts are the proper forum in which to litigate the validity of such amendments." Roberts v. Doyle, 43 So. 3d 654, 657 (Fla. 2010). The Florida Supreme Court has extended the accuracy requirement to applies to "all proposed constitutional amendments," not merely those proposed by the Legislature. Id. Specifically, the courts have the power todetermine whether proposed constitutional amendments comply with Article IX, Section 5(a) of the Florida Constitution, which requires that they be "accurately represented on the ballot; otherwise, voter approval would be a nullity." Id. (quoting Armstrong, 773 So. 2d at 12) (emphasis in original).
To be accurate, a ballot title and summary must avoid both (1) misleading language and (2) material omissions; the Court has described the accuracy requirement as a type of "'truth in packaging' law for the ballot." Id. To avoid being misleading, a ballot title and summary must provide a "clear and unambiguous"...
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