Jared Blanchard
Regulatory Reform/Taxes
Shearer v. City of Scottsdale
QUICK STATUS Last Step Court stopped Scottsdale from enforcing its sign code against Plaintiffs and allowed Plaintiffs to continue to..
0-Government Preferences
Heed Reed: Goldwater Institute’s Guideposts for Amending City Sign Codes
Click Here to Download Report Heed Reed Endnotes City officials across the country are wondering: is my city code unconstitutional? That’s a..
Free Speech
Free Speech is for Teachers and Lawyers, Too!
More and more I’m hearing about the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association in the news. Unfortunately, what is actually..
Free Speech
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
Summary The Goldwater Institute filed a “friend of the court” brief in Friedrichs v. California Teacher’s Association urging the U.S...
0-Related Reforms
Fleck v. Wetch
Mandatory state bar associations—like unions, student organizations, and other mandatory groups—have a special privilege: the law allows them to collect money from people who would rather not give it. With that special privilege comes a special responsibility to not spend that money on politics and other activities irrelevant to the purposes of the group, and to have special safeguards in place to make sure dissenters’ rights are respected.
School Choice
Faasse v. Scott
Our principal goal in this lawsuit is to preserve SB 850 as properly passed under the Florida Constitution. A successful outcome will ensure that PLSA-eligible families do not become a "collateral casualty" of FEA's attack on educational choice.
School Choice
Florida’s Personal Learning Scholarship Account
In May 2014, the Florida Legislature passed SB 850, which was a comprehensive education bill. In part, the bill created the innovative Personal Learning Scholarship Account (PLSA) program. The purpose of the PLSA Program is to empower parents of special needs children to direct educational funds toward a combination of programs and approved providers in order to address the unique and individualized needs of their children as each parent sees fit. The Florida Education Association (FEA), through its member Tom Faasse, has filed suit challenging SB 850. FEA claims that SB 850 violates the Florida Constitution's "single subject" rule, which requires that every bill passed contain only one subject. However, the subject of SB 850 is clearly education. If FEA prevails in its suit, the PLSA program will be wiped off the books and many families will lose the opportunity give their special needs children the unique and specialized education they need to thrive as adults. FEA’s attorney, Ron Meyer, has called the personalized learning accounts "a collateral casualty" in the lawsuit. The Goldwater Institute has filed to join the State of Florida in opposing the lawsuit in order to protect the right of parents to direct the education of their special needs children.
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