August 24, 2010

Dear Friends,

I have been chosen by the Black Alliance For Educational Options (BAEO) to co-chair their Sixth Annual Seminar on Education Policy and Parental Choice and I’ve also been named to their National Board of Directors. Thought you’d like to know…


Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,

Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education

www.stepupforstudents.com
www.flace.org

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S P R E A D I N G   T H E   N E W S

Longtime Florida champion of parental choice to help plan BAEO’s annual education seminar

Michael Benjamin, the executive director of the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education who helped launch the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students, will co-chair the program planning committee for the Sixth Annual Seminar on Education Policy and Parental Choice sponsored by the Bailey and Sullivan Leadership Institute (BSLI) of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) and the Program on Education Policy & Governance (PEPG) at Harvard University. BAEO’s vice chair, Dr. Deborah McGriff, will also co-chair the program planning committee.

The invitation-only seminar is held every year so that policymakers can be grounded in the latest reform efforts aimed at empowering parents to find the right learning options for their children. Benjamin will co-chair the program planning committee and will help bring Florida’s elected officials to the table. The seminar will take place from Nov. 11 through 13 at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“This is the time and place where our elected leaders can immerse themselves in the education strategies that put the parent in charge,” Benjamin said. “When the seminar concludes, we hope they take away the inspiration and the knowledge that has given the choice movement so much momentum lately.”

Benjamin brings his leadership and skills at mobilizing statewide grassroots causes to a national effort. In March, he was responsible for recruiting 5,521 parents, students and educators to rally for a proposed expansion to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship outside the state Capitol in Tallahassee. It was the largest parental choice rally in the nation’s history. The Florida Legislature later passed the expansion with overwhelming bipartisan support.

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S P R E A D I N G   T H E   N E W S

Longtime Florida champion of parental choice joins BAEO Board of Directors

Michael Benjamin, the executive director of the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education who helped launch the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students, has been named to the Board of Directors of the Black Alliance for Educational Options.

Benjamin brings his leadership and skills at mobilizing statewide grassroots causes to a national effort. In March, he was responsible for recruiting 5,521 parents, students and educators to a rally for a proposed expansion to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship outside the state Capitol in Tallahassee. It was the largest parental choice rally in the nation’s history. The Florida Legislature later passed the expansion with overwhelming bipartisan support.

“Michael has brought energy to this cause that has had a direct impact on the lives of Florida’s most disadvantaged families,” said Kevin P. Chavous, the chairman of BAEO’s board and former councilman of Washington, D.C. “Now, low-income and working-class black families across this nation will benefit from his efforts.”

In 2001, Benjamin helped Step Up For Students Chairman and founder John Kirtley convince the Legislature to create a program that awards private school tuition assistance backed by corporate donations to families who would qualify for free and reduced-price lunch in their public school. That program served nearly 29,000 low-income students in 1,033 schools throughout Florida.

Benjamin joins a Board of Directors at BAEO that counts among its current members Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J.; Howard Fuller, the former Milwaukee schools superintendent and founder of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University; and T. Willard Fair, the chairman of Florida’s Board of Education.

About the Black Alliance for Educational Options
BAEO is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by Howard Fuller, Deborah McGriff, Virginia Walden-Ford, Philadelphia state Rep. Dwight Evans, Kenneth Campbell and several other prominent black educators, elected officials and civil rights activities with start-up funding from the Walton Family Foundation. Its mission is to increase access to high-quality educational options for black children by actively supporting parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working-class black families.

About Step Up For Students
Step Up For Students is an initiative of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which last year provided K-12 scholarships to nearly 29,000 low-income students to attend a private school or out-of-district public school. Step Up For Students scholarships are funded by corporations that redirect a portion of their corporate state income tax, insurance premium tax or alcohol beverage excise tax liability to a qualified scholarship funding organization in exchange for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.

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You may qualify for a scholarship if:

• Your child is entering 2nd through 12th grade and attended a Florida public school for the entire previous school year OR is entering Kindergarten or 1st grade.

• Your household income is at or below the amount shown on the income guidelines chart below.