F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
01/03/07
January 3, 2007
Thousands of New Scholarships Available for Low-Income K-12 Students
(More scholarships available! See bottom of Newsletter!)
Empower Parents To Raise Scholars, editorial in the Tampa Tribune. Curtis Stokes is president of the Hillsborough County chapter of the NAACP and is a strong supporter of choice! He was asked by the paper to give his thoughts on what is important in 2007.
Hong Kong's Lessons for U.S. Education, by David C. Michael, HispanicBusiness.com.
The Bush Legacy, St. Petersburg Times, and an editorial response by John Kirtley.
FCAT--exam has changed how teachers teach, Miami Herald, and another editorial response by John Kirtley.
Imprint carved on system: F-C-A-T, St. Petersburg Times
Study: Poor students are shortchanged, Miami Herald.
Don’t forget, School Compliance Forms are due March 1, 2007!
There are new requirements this year like fingerprinting, background checks and standardized tests.
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
Hong Kong's Lessons for U.S. Education
November 13, 2006
David C. MichaelSome of the same qualities that have made Hong Kong's economy one of the top performers in the world also have produced a world-class education system. America would be well-served to take an open-minded look at Hong Kong's approach.
Hong Kong is well known for its open economy, enjoying the top spot on two indices of global economic freedom: Economic Freedom of the World, published annually by Canada's Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based think tank, and the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative U.S. think tank.
These annual surveys show that economic freedom isn't an abstract concept. As Fraser Institute scholars noted in September, when the 2006 report was released, nations in the top quartile in economic freedom have an average per capita gross domestic product of $24,402 and an average per capita growth rate of 2.1 percent, while those in the bottom quartile average $2,998 per capita and -0.2 percent annual "growth" rate. Economic freedom and economic success go hand in hand.
Math Numbers
While Hong Kong's economic accomplishments are well known by now, fewer people realize that its attitude toward business is reflected in other important areas as well, with similar results. Most notably, its school system.
Education reform ideas that are the subject of bitter division in the U.S. are not only considered noncontroversial in Hong Kong, they're credited with producing one of the world's most successful school systems -- a system whose students consistently outperform American students.
Consider student achievement in science and math. According to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement [IEA], which, since 1995, has been conducting the "Trends in International Mathematics & ScienceStudy" [TIMSS], Hong Kong students consistently score among the world's best in science and math, well ahead of U.S. students.
In science, for example, U. S. eighth-graders were outperformed by eighth-grade students from Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Estonia, Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands in the most recent [2003] TIMSS survey. In math, U.S. eighth-graders were outperformed by students from 14 countries: Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia, Hungary, Malaysia, Latvia, Russia, the Slovak Republic, and Australia.
Roll Out the Vouchers
So what is Hong Kong's formula for creating top-performing schools? Basically, the same factors that help produce winning businesses: choice and competition.
In the U.S., there are just 19 "school choice" programs in the entire country, serving approximately 100,000 students in 11 states and Washington, D.C. Efforts to expand this are being spearheaded by the conservative Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, established by the Nobel Laureate and his wife, but opposition from teachers' unions and other members of the education establishment is fierce.
In Hong Kong, by contrast, every student has a choice of schools. This is one of the defining businesslike qualities of a Hong Kong education. School choice in Hong Kong is made possible by a voucher system, known as the Direct Subsidy Scheme, in which students and parents choose their schools and the government pays.
Standard Curriculum
There are basically three types of schools in Hong Kong: those run by the government, the type of school known in the U.S. as a public school; government-subsidized schools operated by independent nonprofit and religious organizations; and nonsubsidized private schools, run by private organizations.
Most Hong Kong schools are fully financed by the government [and therefore provided free to the students] -- but very few are actually operated by the government. Indeed, of the 674 government-funded primary schools now operating in Hong Kong, only 38 are directly run by the government. Of the 524 government-funded secondary schools, just 36 are government run. All government-funded schools follow standard curriculum guidelines.
More importantly, students have a choice of schools to attend. While the actual selection process varies, as a practical matter, the typical primary-school student in Hong Kong will have a choice of three or four different schools, all fully funded and free of charge. The typical U.S. student attending public schools has no such choice. Hong Kong's schools stand out for other reasons as well:
Competitive environment. Since schools must compete for students in order to receive the financing that follows the students, they have an incentive to perform at the highest possible level. In Hong Kong, students are consumers, and they and their parents can vote with their feet.
Strict standards. While the government doesn't run most schools, it sets strict performance standards, conducts regular [and strict) inspections, and will shut schools down if they don't meet the requirements. In March, 2005, for example, the government ordered the closure of 20 underperforming schools. Every headmaster faces the credible threat of having his or her institution shut down if it fails to meet government standards.
Clarity of purpose. Education in Hong Kong is overseen by the Education & Manpower Bureau, making explicit the link between education and jobs, the needs of the students and those of employers.
Better use of resources. Most urban school systems in the U.S. have layer upon layer of bureaucracy: a superintendent, numerous deputy superintendents, special offices for "special education," lawyers to negotiate with the teacher unions, centralized purchasing, facilities and maintenance offices, and on and on. Hong Kong's system of autonomous schools eliminates most of this, freeing up more resources for teaching. As a result, the student-teacher ratio in Hong Kong's primary schools is 18.5 to 1.
Strong curriculum. While apologists for the U.S. education system attribute the success of many Asian children to cultural factors, that's only a part of the story. What the children are expected to learn is far more important.
My nine-year-old niece, for example, was one of the approximately 373,700 students who attended a Hong Kong primary school last year. She was admitted to the free but independently run school by competitive examination, a rarity in the U.S. these days.
The school follows a government-set curriculum that's no cakewalk: She's required to master two languages [Chinese and English] to full fluency, study a musical instrument, study science and math, wear a uniform, perform well academically, and behave.
Controversial Concepts
Hong Kong's education system is now producing class after class of graduates well-positioned for the needs of the future global economy. They are multilingual, diligent, disciplined, worldly, excel in the basics, and have a realistic sense of competition on a global scale.
The Hong Kong education system includes concepts many Americans consider controversial, at least when it comes to education: choice, competition, involvement of private and religious groups in a subsidized system, pressure to perform placed both on schools and students, and insistence on multi-language fluency. Yet Hong Kong has moved well beyond the controversies into full and successful implementation of these concepts.
The Hong Kong system produces results that command our attention. America should learn from these impressive results.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Bush Legacy
After eight years, Jeb Bush leaves behind a more powerful office and high expectations for those who come after him.
STEVE BOUSQUET
Published December 29, 2006
Part I : The office
People in Florida had never seen a leader like Jeb Bush, and they are not likely to see one like him again. The first Republican governor to win re-election in Florida history will leave office Tuesday. During his eight-year tenure, he rewrote the job description of governor and raised expectations of how elected officials should lead, especially in times of crisis.
John Ellis Bush governed the nation's fourth-largest state with a determination that leaves behind two contrasting images: the principled leader guided by his inner compass and the hardheaded ideologue indifferent to opposing views.
To syndicated columnist Fred Barnes, Bush was "the best governor in America."
To state Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, he was an arrogant monarch: "King Jeb," she called him.
Bush steered Florida through eight hurricanes, the most contentious presidential election in more than a century, the creation and dismantling by the courts of a school voucher program, a sustained real estate and employment boom, record tax cuts, revamping of Medicaid, restoration of the Everglades, a highly emotional fight over the death of Terri Schiavo and the dawn of a post-9/11 world.
He leaves behind an office that has been transformed, invested with more power, both politically and structurally, than it has ever had.
"He'll go down as one of the most consequential governors in Florida history," said political scientist Aubrey Jewett at the University of Central Florida. "He was a strong leader, he had a vision for the state, and he had big ideas that he articulated to the public and to the Legislature."
- - -
At 6-4, Bush towered over Florida's political scene, both literally and figuratively. The son of a past president and brother of the sitting one, he brought a sense of dynastic royalty to the office.
Across a wide policy arc, Bush also brought a sense of mission to his work that had not been in evidence since Democrat Reubin Askew's two terms in the 1970s.
"I think people would say that we're doing things," Bush said of his record. "They may not agree with everything we're doing, but there's stuff being done. I think people like that. They like government to be focused on their issues, and activist."
A string of high-profile controversies, and his tendency to appear high-handed in his activist governing style, made him the most marched-on governor in the state's history. But he departs with his popularity intact: Nearly six of 10 Floridians rated Bush as a "good" or "great" governor in one recent poll.
"If I had a horrible grade, the joy of this time in service would be no different," Bush said. "It's a nice validation, but it's not the motivation of service."
Bush didn't redraw the job of governor by himself. His iron will and natural boldness meshed fortuitously with good timing and good luck.
He entered office in 1999, soon after Republicans gained control of both houses of the Legislature, and just as the first effects of term limits were being felt.
Term limits largely emptied Tallahassee of seasoned lawmakers, many of whom saw themselves as equals of the governor. They were replaced by less experienced politicians, mostly Republicans who gladly deferred to Bush.
Voters also downsized the Cabinet from six elected members to three, combining two offices into one, and eliminating statewide officeholders of secretary of state and education commissioner. Both became appointees of the governor.
The Legislature went further by abolishing the Board of Regents for higher education at Bush's urging and replacing it at all 11 state universities with boards of trustees, who are appointed by the governor.
The Legislature revamped the judicial selection system by eliminating the Florida Bar's power to appoint members to 26 judicial nominating panels. Those picks became the governor's.
Bush appointed more than 250 judges during his eight years in office.
- - -
State Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat, said that through sheer persistence, Bush was able to push through an agenda more conservative than most Floridians.
"His ideas were farther to the right than the people he represented," Gelber said.
One of the lasting contradictions of Bush's record is that he cut state taxes by more than $19-billion, far more than any governor in the state's history, but as he exits, many Floridians feel overwhelmed by the crushing weight of local property taxes.
Bush faults cities and counties for being unwilling to control spending, but local officials say they have been forced to pick up the slack left by Bush and his fellow tax-cutters in Tallahassee, especially on education, where the state's contribution to local school funding has shrunk.
- - -
The Jeb Bush legacy is likely to include a redefined sense of what it means to demonstrate effective leadership in a crisis, such as a Category 4 hurricane.
Nature's wrath challenged Bush to reassure Floridians that better times were ahead. From the state's emergency operations center in Tallahassee, Bush exuded calm and confidence in the face of multiple-hurricane summers, then flew to the damaged regions to meet with the displaced and to hand out supplies.
For a time during his tenure, terrorism, too, posed a grave threat to Florida tourism, a cornerstone of the state's economy.
Two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, with many Americans fearful of flying, Bush boarded commercial flights to Boston and Chicago in a gesture aimed at restoring confidence in air travel.
Working as a crisis manager emphasized Bush's hands-on approach to problems and his ability to inspire others.
But the same CEO-style qualities that served Bush so well in moments of peril abandoned him at other times. His hiring decisions at some agencies proved disastrous.
His second-term corrections secretary, James Crosby, is likely headed to prison after admitting he took kickbacks from vendors.
The second of three Bush secretaries in the beleaguered Department of Children and Families, Jerry Regier, was forced to quit in 2004 after he and two subordinates accepted favors from contractors or lobbyists in violation of Bush's ethics policy.
In eight years, Bush appointed six secretaries at the Department of Management Services, which acts as the state's landlord and oversees a vast array of outsourcing ventures.
"It's a never-ending supply of secretaries and directors who had to leave under bad circumstances," said state Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon.
- - -
Bush's hard-charging style generated mixed results in his dealings with the other two branches of government, the Legislature and the courts.
The most significant defeat of his tenure was handed to Bush by the courts: In 2005, the state Supreme Court struck down school vouchers as unconstitutional.
His controversial and fruitless efforts to force a state judge to reconnect Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was seen by many critics as a direct assault on the independence of the judiciary.
In the state capital, Bush repeatedly fought with the moderate state Senate over spending, medical malpractice legislation and school vouchers, a key component of his education agenda.
In 2003, Bush publicly criticized "wandering senators" in his party who disagreed with him on the need to limit a doctor's liability in medical malpractice cases, but he was forced to compromise with them.
"He's tough-minded and hardheaded, and he likes to get his way," said Jim Apthorp, a public policy expert and a Democrat who was Askew's chief of staff in the 1970s. "Lawton Chiles was, too. But he didn't feel required to dominate the scene the way Jeb has."
Bush was dominating, all right.
He seized the power of the purse from the Legislature, insisting that requests for state dollars be endorsed by agencies under his control.
This was no bureaucratic tweak. It was a fundamental change in the way tax dollars were spent, placing the governor squarely at the center of a process that had long been driven by lawmakers.
"He usurped a good deal of the Legislature's power," noted Curt Kiser, a former Republican state legislator from Pinellas County. "He staked that claim out in his first year in office, and he's done nothing but build on it."
In 1999, legislators sued Bush, claiming he had no right to veto part of a budget line item. The Florida Supreme Court sided with the Legislature, but that didn't ease Bush's appetite for cutting budgets.
Over his eight-year tenure, Bush vetoed more than $2-billion in legislative spending, earning the tag "Veto Corleone" from former House Speaker John Thrasher, an ally.
Bush believed in socking away as much money as possible for a rainy day; he leaves office with nearly $8-billion in reserves.
In his last round of budget vetoes in June, Bush axed a record $449-million in spending. The cuts infuriated lawmakers every year, but they never tried to override Bush's vetoes.
By executive order, he replaced affirmative action with his so-called One Florida initiative in university admissions and state contracts in 1999. The move opened a gaping political wound between Bush and African-Americans on the issue of race, and thousands marched on the state capital in protest.
State contracts with minority-owned businesses have increased dramatically, but the percentage of black students enrolled at state universities has remained largely unchanged under Bush.
- - -
At a symposium in October honoring the legacy of former Gov. LeRoy Collins, Bush spoke of how he drew inspiration from Collins, whose moderate course on race relations through the 1950s saved Florida from the disorder that flared in other states.
Early in his first term, Bush quietly ordered the Confederate flag removed from the front of the Florida Capitol and placed in a history museum.
It was his way of sparing Florida a racially divisive flag debate that was already raging in South Carolina and would soon take hold in Georgia.
Bush said Collins' vision of leadership inspired him. He quoted Collins' 1957 inaugural address, in which he said the duty of a governor is to "navigate the ship of state out of the harbor, but not beyond the horizon, where it can no longer be seen by those on shore."
Bush said Collins' words stayed with him.
"I have a tendency of seeing problems and creating five-point plans," he said. "The people around me tire out quickly, because I try to create a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose. I might have gotten out too far past the port for people to see. To be a leader, you have to have followers."
On the day Bush took office in 1999, he said in his first inaugural address: "The best and brightest ideas do not come from the state capital, but from the untapped human capital that resides in our diverse communities."
Yet from that day forward, as he guided Florida into a new millennium, this advocate of limited government was a man of unlimited energy and ideas.
"BHAGs," Bush called them. "Big, hairy, audacious goals."
He privatized a vast array of government services, from state workers' paychecks to meals in prisons.
He eliminated 13,000 state jobs, and during his tenure Florida was a national leader in job creation. Its unemployment rate was well below the national average.
He created the nation's first voucher program that allowed students in failing public schools to leave them and enroll in private schools using state money. He also made the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, the engine behind a push to make public schools accountable for the academic standing of its students.
He signed into law the largest rate hike in basic phone service in the state's history in the name of increased competition for telecommunications.
- - -
The intense loyalty Bush inspired in others was never more apparent than on a day two weeks ago when he appeared at his final Board of Education meeting. One by one, his appointees took turns lavishing praise on him.
"Wherever you go, if you send for me, I will come," said T. Willard Fair, who started a charter school in Miami's Liberty City with Bush's help and money more than a decade ago. "There is no greater person on the Earth than you. I love you."
In the next stage of his life, Bush is expected to continue having an impact on education policy. He has a well-financed political committee, the Foundation for Florida's Future Action Fund, but he has not been definitive about his plans.
"I want to find a way to stay involved in some fashion in public policy that is not intrusive," Bush said.
Times researchers Angie Drobnic Holan and Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press.
About this series
Gov. Jeb Bush ends his second and final term in office next week. The St. Petersburg Times is spending the next three days examining the office and policies he leaves behind.
TODAY: The office of governor is more powerful today then ever, thanks to Bush's iron will, a compliant Legislature and willing voters who expanded the authority of the state's chief executive.
SATURDAY: Florida led the nation in turning government jobs over to private contractors, but spotty record-keeping and a string of scandals makes it hard to evaluate Bush's trailblazing privatization policy.
SUNDAY: From the FCAT to school vouchers, Bush spent more time and energy on public education than anything else. He changed the system, but did he improve it?
RESPONSE
To The Editor:Steve Bosquet's 12/29 article on the Jeb Bush legacy states: "In 2005, a unanimous state Supreme Court struck down school vouchers as unconstitutional. Two justices who joined in the decision were Bush appointees."
In fact, in the January 2006 decision, two justices issued a blistering dissent to the majority opinion that the program violated the state constitutional requirement of a "uniform" system of public schools. These two justices agreed with the Appeals Court, which ruled unanimously that the program didn't violate this provision. These two Supreme Court judges also took the majority to task for avoiding the issue of the separation of church and state. Many believe the majority avoided this vital question because ruling against the K-12 program on these grounds would have jeopardized Bright Futures college scholarships and the new pre-k program. Under both programs students take taxpayer funds to faith based schools.
Your readers should also be aware that the Wall Street Journal called this verdict "the worst by any state court in decades" due to its tortured legal argument and its damage to school reform. Strictly interpreted, even charter schools and public magnet schools are unconstitutional because they are not "uniform" with conventional public schools.
John Kirtley
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
FCAT
Exam has changed how teachers teach
Gov. Jeb Bush's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test has revolutionized Florida education, but critics say it has hurt more than helped.
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.comTALLAHASSEE - When there was no big stick to both measure and punish public schools, Gov. Jeb Bush re-invented Florida's education system and utterly changed the face of teaching with four words: FCAT.
The governor took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and used it to grade schools and keep failing third- and 10th-graders from moving up a class, creating a system premised on statistics, measurements and accountability.
But Bush's A-Plus plan doesn't always hold everyone accountable or use every statistic to measure Florida schools. Still, it has given Bush the results to campaign about ``rising student achievement.''
Consider: Today, 66 percent of Florida's fourth-graders earned reading scores considered proficient, up from just over half when Bush he assumed office. Fourth-grade reading proficiency ticked up seven percentage points in a national test, putting Florida in the middle of national results. The performance gap is shrinking between whites and minorites, rich and poor.
''In 1998, I couldn't tell you how many kids were reading at grade level because we didn't measure. We didn't consider it important enough,'' Bush said.
The governor gives a one-word response to account for the improvements: ``scrutiny.''
Except in one place: Private schools that take tax money to educate public school students. The voucher schools get the public money but face no punishments for FCAT scores, an exemption born of Bush's free-market privatizing philosophy as well as political necessity.
The Legislature created two more voucher programs for disabled and poor kids. Religious teaching was allowed, there were few standards, and some scammers ripped off the state. The Florida Supreme Court this January dealt a fatal blow to the private-school vouchers when it echoed every other lower court and found that type of voucher unconstitutional. Voucher proponents fear the other programs are in danger, although Bush said the other programs are safe for now.
''I'm proud of the fact that our state has led the way in providing more choices -- whether they're public choices through charter schools . . . or private choices for parents. We have more options than any other state in the country,'' Bush said. ``More choices will yield a better result.''
But under Bush, Florida's high-school graduation rates have remained among the lowest in the nation. And the percentage of high-school sophomores with proficient reading scores has slightly dropped during the Bush administration. One of Bush's former education officials, Jim Warford, said Bush focused on the lower grades for his reforms because it was easier and would yield more results, to the detriment of ''ignoring'' the harder-to-fix higher grades until his latter-term reforms.
''We were picking the low-hanging fruit,'' he said, ``and we were fighting the wrong problem.''
Bush said he had to start somewhere, and the gains are happening. ''I can tell you that since 1999, adjusted for the growth in the population, that's 240,000 more kids in grades 3-10 are reading at grade level,'' he said. ``The implications of that a generation from now are significant.''
RESPONSE
To the Editor:Marc Caputo's article on 12/17 stated that school choice programs in Florida have no "scrutiny" because students using the programs don't have to take the FCAT. What he failed to mention is that students in the tax credit scholarship program for low income children must take a nationally recognized standardized test approved by the state, such as the Stanford 10. The tests must be comparable to the FCAT and the scores reported every year to a research group chosen by the state, so that the progress of the students can be measured--including against similar public school students. Of course the schools educating these children face the additional "scrutiny" of empowered parents, who can take the scholarships to a different school if they are unsatisfied--a scrutiny underperforming public schools do not face.
When Caputo stated that "every lower court" found the Opportunity Scholarship Program unconstitutional, he did not mention that the Appeals Court unanimously rejected the grounds used by the Florida Supreme Court to kill the program---that it violated the mandate for a "uniform system of public schools". Your readers should know that the Wall Street Journal called this verdict "the worst by any state court in decades" due to its tortured legal argument and its damage to school reform.
John Kirtley
Tampa FL
Imprint carved on system: F-C-A-T
LETITIA STEIN
Published December 31, 2006No governor has done more to change the way Florida students learn than Jeb Bush.
Or created more controversy along the way.
Bush introduced the nation's first statewide voucher program, only to have it tossed out by the state's highest court. He banned the use of racial preferences in university admissions, prompting sit-ins and protest marches.
But the governor is best known for using a single, high-stakes test to reward or punish schools and crack down on social promotion.
Eight years later, polls show a majority of Floridians oppose Bush's decision to make the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test the centerpiece of a strict accountability system.
Bush defends the test, pointing to signs of rising achievement, especially among elementary students.
"The fact is that more kids are learning now, and we're not dumbing down the curriculum to have that be achieved," he said.
For better or worse, Bush transformed the education landscape in Florida.
"What he did is change the direction," said Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, "which is an accomplishment in itself."
Most Floridians know Bush's impact on public education by a four-letter word: FCAT.
"In 1998, I couldn't tell you how many kids were reading at grade level, because we didn't measure," Bush said. "We didn't consider it important enough."
Now the FCAT makes or breaks many schools. It helps decide whether third-graders get promoted and high school seniors graduate. It provides a letter grade for almost every school, which determines whether it is sanctioned or rewarded with extra money.
Bush's accountability system has critics, including Hillsborough parent Sherman Dorn. He said his sixth- and ninth-graders are angry about wasted time preparing for the FCAT.
As a historian of education policy at the University of South Florida, however, Dorn recognizes Bush's political skills.
"It's this very ingenious way of capturing public sentiment," said Dorn, who writes about accountability as an associate professor in USF's College of Education. "Adults in the state think, 'Well, if I got grades, why not schools?' "
The FCAT's impact has gone far beyond school grades. Test results brought attention to the long-standing achievement gap between white and minority students. It forced schools to focus more effort on their under-achieving students.
But some teachers and parents never bought into the system. They say it has created a culture of teaching to a test.
"We're going to look back at public education in Florida in 10 or 15 years the way that we look back at apothecaries who used leeches," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach and a public school parent. "We created this high-stakes test that only measured a very few things and minimal competence and put all our eggs in that basket."
* * *
Jim Warford started off as a fan of Bush's efforts to hold schools accountable. But the former Marion County superintendent changed his views after serving as chancellor of K-12 education in Bush's administration.
"What I saw was that 90 percent of the energy went to undermining our public schools with vouchers and charters," said Warford, now executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators.
Bush's first voucher program allowed students at chronically failing schools to use public dollars to attend private schools.
The program, called Opportunity Scholarships, drew an immediate court challenge. That didn't stop Bush and the Legislature from creating two larger programs while fighting in court.
"The parental choice movement owes an incredible debt to Gov. Bush," said John Kirtley, a Tampa businessman and leader in the voucher movement. "He was the first governor to demand that low-income parents with children trapped in (under)performing schools be given the right that parents with means have - the right to choose a better school for their children."
As Bush leaves office, vouchers face an uncertain future. A year ago, the Florida Supreme Court ruled his original program unconstitutional. That decision leaves the other vouchers vulnerable.
Charter schools, another alternative to traditional public schools, also saw explosive growth during his tenure. Charters are public schools exempt from many of the state's rules and regulations. The idea is to create freedom for innovation, but critics argue many aren't held to the same, tough standards.
Today, Florida is home to more than 350 charter schools serving some 100,000 students.
"I'm proud of the fact that our state has led the way in providing more choices," Bush said. "We have more options than any state in the country."
* * *
The governor's bold views on education drew mixed reviews from voters when he faced a re-election challenge in 2002.
Bush handily defeated an opponent with close ties to the state teachers union. But voters used two constitutional amendments to tell Bush what they wanted for schools: smaller class sizes and free prekindergarten.
Bush opposed the class size amendment, predicting its cost would "blot out the sun." Voters narrowly approved it anyway.
"That may have been one of the riskier chances he took," said Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, a teachers union that campaigned for smaller classes. "I don't think people reacted very well to it."
Bush makes no apologies for his efforts to kill it: "My views are clear on this; my conscience clean."
He also faced criticism for the outcome of the prekindergarten initiative. Pre-K advocates were heartened when he vetoed a bill that lacked standards for curriculum and teacher qualifications. Then he signed a nearly identical bill into law.
"It shouldn't be difficult to make investments in our youngest children when we know it counts the most," said Rep. Lorrane Ausley, D-Tallahassee. "Yet, for some reason, this administration and leadership just haven't been there."
Republican legislators see things differently.
Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, calls the pre-K program a work in progress, pointing to rising participation. He sees it as one of many ways Bush has changed the culture in public schools.
"The dynamic change we have seen in the last decade has Jeb Bush's signature and fingerprints all over it," Pickens said.
* * *
The education transformation that occurred under Bush was, in part, the product of good timing.
He entered office as Republicans surged to dominance of state government. Florida voters also eliminated the elected education commissioner, handing the governor vast new powers.
As a result, Bush's changes are unlikely to be undone any time soon.
Even after he returns to private life, Bush says he expects to stay involved in education debates. He has raised more than $2-million to push education reform through his Foundation for Florida's Future.
"I love public policy in general," Bush said, "but my real passions, I think, are in the education arena."
Times staff writers Jeffrey S. Solochek and Joni James contributed to this report.
About this series
Gov. Jeb Bush ends his second and final term in office this week. The St. Petersburg Times spent three days examining the office and policies he leaves behind.
TODAY: From the FCAT to school vouchers, Bush spent more time and energy on public education than anything else. He changed the system, but did he improve it?
ON THE WEB: To read other stories in this series - how Bush changed the office of the governor and how he tried to revolutionize government operations through privatization - go to links.tampabay.com.
Posted on Thu, Dec. 21, 2006
EDUCATION STUDY
Study: Poor students are shortchangedThe federal government should change the way it doles out funds for poor students because of disparities among states, a new study suggested.
BY TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@MiamiHerald.comA federal program that seeks to level the playing field for poor students disproportionately helps states that pay more for public education, leaving Florida at the back of the pack, notes a study released Wednesday.
''What is so clear is that, at every level, the decisions we make stack the deck against low-income kids,'' said Kati Haycock, director of The Education Trust, a Washington advocacy group for disadvantaged students.
Studies have found that students who live in poverty go to school less prepared than upper- and middle-class students, score lower on standardized tests and are less likely to graduate from high school. Title I, which provides for extra money for school districts based on the number of poor students, was supposed to close that achievement gap.
''It provides us with the opportunity to expand education opportunities,'' said Alberto Carvalho, who oversees Title I funding as associate superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. ``Be it smaller class sizes, opportunities for tutoring or expanding the school day.''
But while it would seem that the most money would go to states with the most poor students, the study found that the opposite was true. Past studies have yielded similar results.
For example, with more than half a million children living below the poverty line, Florida ranks fourth in the nation for its number of poor children. However, the amount of federal funding the state gets per child -- $1,023 -- is the fifth-lowest in the country. Wyoming, by contrast, has fewer than 10,000 students living in poverty, but receives nearly $3,000 per student from the federal government.
The funding disparity arises, in large part, because the federal government allocates the funds based on states' per-pupil expenditures. In 2003, Florida spent $6,199 on each student, according to the report, while Wyoming spent $9,191. Hence, Wyoming received more Title I money per pupil than Florida.
''The disparity is exacerbated by the fact that the Title I distribution formula rewards states that spend more on education,'' Carvalho said.
More than 220 of Miami-Dade's more than 350 schools received a total of $131 million in Title I funding last year. In Broward, 104 schools received a total of $67 million last year. To qualify in Miami-Dade, 66 percent of students in a school have to receive free or reduced lunch. In Broward, the threshold is 50 percent.
In addition, the study found that high-poverty districts in Florida on average received $272 less per student than those with more affluent student populations.
Changing the way that Title I dollars are allocated is part of Miami-Dade's federal legislative agenda for 2007 and a recommendation in The Education Trust's report. An amount independent of state funding that would take into account regional differences in cost of living would be fairer, Carvalho said.
''Money isn't everything,'' he said. ``But let's get to these children the funds that, by law, they're entitled to.''
Miami Herald staff writer Nirvi Shah contributed to this report.
Don’t forget, School Compliance Forms are due March 1, 2007!
There are new requirements this year like fingerprinting, background checks and standardized tests.
8,000 New Scholarships Available
for Low-Income K-12 Students
Florida P.R.I.D.E. and Children First Florida, Florida Corporate Tax Credit scholarship funding organizations, will award approximately 8,000 new scholarships for the 2006-2007 school year to Kindergarten through 12th grade students who qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a public school, unless they are entering kindergarten or first grade. Those who qualify may receive up to a $3,750 scholarship for tuition at an eligible private school of their choice or a scholarship for up to $500 for travel expenses to an out-of-district public school. The scholarships provide a fresh start for students who are not succeeding in their current school setting.
This year, $70 million in scholarships will be awarded to qualifying Florida students until funding is exhausted so applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Income limits for scholarship recipients are determined by household size. For example, a family of four can earn no more than $37,000 to qualify. To apply, log on to www.floridapride.org or call (813) 258-2700 for Florida Pride and www.scholarshipfunding.org or call (904) 247-6033 or (407) 702-2607 for a Children First Florida application.
The Florida Corporate Income Tax Credit scholarship program provides K-12 scholarships that currently allow over 14,000 low-income Florida students to attend an eligible private school or out-of-district public school. One hundred percent of corporate contributions go directly to funding scholarships – not a single penny can be used for administrative costs.
Children First Florida - Serving Orlando, Central Florida, Jacksonville and Panhandle
P.O. Box 49099
Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32240
(904) 247-6033 or (407) 702-2607
cforster@scholarshipfunding.org
Florida P.R.I.D.E. - Serving Tampa Bay, South Florida and Marion County
P.O. Box 1670
Tampa, Florida 33606
(800) 782-9140
info@floridapride.org
School Year 06 - 07 Income Eligibility Guidelines
Persons in Household
Annual Household Income
2
$24,420
3
$30,710
4
$37,000
5
$43,290
6
$49,580
7
$55,870
8
$62,160
9
$68,450
10
$74,740
11
$81,030
12
$87,320
13
$93,610
For each additional person, add
$6,290
Effective from June 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)
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