F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
10/2/07
October 2, 2007
Dear Friends,
Thousands of New Scholarships Available for Low-Income K-12 Students
(More scholarships available! See bottom of Newsletter!)
Press Release: Secretary Spellings Delivers Remarks at White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference on Youth and Education in The Hispanic Community. Secretary Spellings talked about keeping kids in school and making them college and workforce ready....and the role that school choice can play to achieve that. One of Jill's articles in last month's School Reform News (about the Hispanic voter poll) received attention from the US Sec. of Education Spellings at the recent event in D.C. The poll showed that education is among the top three voting issues for 82% of Latino voters.
The Orlando Sentinel (Column): Jeb's education legacy proving to be historic
State vouchers help, but go largely unused, The News Press.
Former Viacom CEO in Supreme Court Fight Over Private School Tuition, Associated Press.
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
FOR RELEASE:
September 24, 2007Contact: Trey Ditto or Samara Yudof
(202) 401-1576U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today delivered remarks to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference on Youth and Education in the Hispanic Community. The following are her prepared remarks. Please note the speaker may deviate from the text.
It's a pleasure to be here, especially during Hispanic American Heritage Month. Americans of Hispanic backgrounds have made profound contributions to every aspect of our national life, and especially to education. This audience is a great example.
From Ms. Arce [of Hispanic CREO] to folks like Irasema Salcido, founder of Cesar Chavez Public Charter School here in DC [Hispanic CREO affiliate], and Carlos Villagrana, Principal of Amigos Por Vida Charter School in Houston. You're all working hard everyday to equip children with the skills and knowledge to succeed.
Education is the fundamental issue in determining whether rising generations of Hispanics - and all students - will live in the full embrace of the American dream.
This is an issue of the greatest concern for me, not only as Secretary of Education and a parent, but also as a Texan from a place where there are so many strong Hispanic communities. In my hometown of Austin, 55% of students in the district are Hispanic. As you all know, this demographic reality is becoming more and more common in other parts of the nation as well.
For too long, the academic performance of Hispanic and other students was hidden among averages. They could too easily be shuffled along without acquiring basic skills and knowledge. With No Child Left Behind, we made an historic commitment that schools must be responsible for getting every child - regardless of ethnicity, zip code, or family income - on grade level.
This is a moral commitment to prepare every student for a productive, fulfilling life. And it's an economic imperative to prepare our citizens for success in the globally competitive workforce.
NCLB set a goal, clear and simple: have all children reading and doing math on grade level by 2014. Not doing nuclear physics or advanced calculus, but performing on grade level. To take an example from Indiana's standards, that means a third grader should be able to understand the basic features of words and apply this knowledge to fluent reading.
In other words, they should be able to read Curious George or Paddington Bear. I don't think this is too much to expect, and I find that most parents agree. In fact, if someone told me I had to wait until 2014 for my daughter to read on grade level - which is what NCLB asks parents to do - I'd ask why not now?
"Why not now" is a great question parents are beginning to ask, now that they have access to the data that NCLB requires. Here are some other questions we're asking:
Why do less than half of Hispanic and African American fourth graders have basic reading skills, as defined by the Nation's Report Card? That's 700,000 students who can barely read!
And why do only half of minority students graduate from high school on time?
As my friend Bill Gates has said, if the speedometer says you're going too slow, you don't need a new speedometer. You need to speed up. That's just what NCLB is telling us.So, instead of making excuses about why the speedometer is flawed, we should be talking about improving the law and getting all students on grade level. And we should be firm in our refusal to accept any watering down of grade-level standards in reading and math. After all, these are the gateway subjects for all other learning.
We know this law isn't perfect - it was the best law we could pass in 2001. Back then, few states had annual assessments, only a handful had disaggregated data, and very few had high-quality tests for students learning English.
Since, nearly a half million more students have learned to do basic math. More than 500,000 students have received free tutoring. These supplemental services are critical to improving student achievement and the faith-based community has played an important role - over 12% of provider organizations were from the faith-based community last year.
The fact is, over 70 percent of schools made annual progress goals last year - that's more than 60,000 schools achieving results. But can we do better? Can we do a better job of challenging students with advanced math and science? Can we do a better job of getting and schools extra help to improve? And can we make the accountability system more precise and more sophisticated? Absolutely.
We can and must do more. The President's plan to improve NCLB includes strategies to make these improvements, and many more. We appreciate that Congress has chosen to work on many of the same issues.
But we also must guard against attempts to make the law so flexible that we dilute its power and urgency. The easiest way to ignore reality - to push some students to the margins - is to cover up what's really going on. And the more complicated the system, the easier it is to manipulate the bottom line. And by dialing back accountability, we reduce our ability to make necessary improvements to assessments - improvements that are critical to helping students.
So we must stand together against policies that say some kids can't learn, or some kids count more than others, or it's ok for some to fall behind! My position is this: If a proposal helps more kids perform on grade level, I'm for it. If a proposal reduces or negates our responsibility to any child, I'm against it.
For example, when I see proposals that would mean 250,000 fewer students receiving tutoring, is that because those students suddenly don't need help? I don't think so, and I bet you agree.
Luis Santana, Executive Director of Fresno Covenant Foundation, can tell you a story about a young student named Lizzie, who worked with a tutor on reading. She improved from a second-grade level to a fifth-grade reading level in six months. Lizzie's mom wrote a note of thanks describing the amazing progress her daughter had made, not only in ability but in attitude and enthusiasm for reading. The letter concluded, "Thanks again for being the inspiration in our lives."
That inspiration is part of what tutoring can provide for students. We can't afford to take it away from those who need it most. As it stands, only 14% of eligible students are taking advantage of free tutoring services - that means there are more than 3 million eligible students who could be benefiting from this help. Cutting back these services is the wrong thing to do.
I've also seen some proposals that would enable them to go from third to ninth grade without ever being tested in English.
Last month, I traveled to Chile and Brazil with a delegation of U.S. college and university presidents, including Dr. Eduardo Padrón, of Miami-Dade Community College.
He came to the U.S. at age fifteen speaking little English. But he dedicated himself to learning, went on to earn a PhD in economics, and now runs a college that boasts the largest overall enrollment in the country and the largest enrollment of Hispanic students. Dr. Padrón didn't succeed in the classroom because he was treated as a child who wasn't capable of learning... And neither should Hispanic children be treated like that today. They are smart, motivated students, and the data supports this.
Among students learning English, a majority of whom are Hispanic, 4th grade reading scores jumped an unprecedented 20 points between 2000 and 2005. 43,000 more kids with basic reading skills, thanks to the hard work of teachers who challenged them.
Of course, we're working hard to make assessments of language and math as accessible as possible for students learning English. That's what our Limited English Proficient - or LEP - Partnership is all about. We've partnered with 20 states on this initiative, and we'll meet again in October.
As we move ahead, we need to maintain the law's core principles. One of these is that families, not bureaucrats in Washington, make the best decisions for their children. Thanks to NCLB, the parents of 50 million students have more information, more control, better teachers, and more choices.
Choice is something parents can appreciate. A recent poll by Hispanic CREO showed that education is among the top three voting issues for 82% of Latino voters, with the highest percentage of respondents rating school choice as their top educational priority.
President Bush has been an historic advocate for choice in education. He's supported a robust expansion of school choice options for students and parents, including charter schools. Since he came to office in 2001...
The first-ever federally funded opportunity scholarship program began in DC. Thanks to this program, 1,800 DC students from economically disadvantaged families are realizing their potential at 58 private schools.
We've also seen an expansion of State school choice programs. As of August, there were 24 programs in 13 States providing financial assistance in the form of vouchers, tax credits, and tax deductions. There were just seven such programs a decade ago.
We have invested over $1.6 billion in the Charter Schools Program to facilitate start-ups, spread clear information about successful schools, and improve facilities.
It's no coincidence that there were 2,000 charters in America when the President took office, and today there are over 4,000 in 40 states, plus the District of Columbia.
Charters are also tackling the achievement gap, and realizing great results for kids. For example, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reported last fall on how customized learning through charter schools is translating into improved academic growth among Hispanic students.Charters and choice are effective tools in our arsenal to expand access to a quality education for every child. Faith-based and community organizations can continue to play a leading role.
Just last week, I helped dedicate my Department's headquarters in honor of Lyndon Baines Johnson. At the ceremony, there was much reflection on President Johnson's first job after college - teaching at a school in Cotulla, Texas for poor Mexican children. He said of that experience, "I shall never forget the faces of the boys and girls in that...school... I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to the poor."
We've come a long way in the four decades since LBJ began to transform public education in this country. But our work is not done, and it begins with reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. I appreciate your support, and your hard work for the cause of education.
Together, we can build on the progress we've made, and create a brighter future for all children.
The Orlando Sentinel (Column):
Jeb's education legacy proving to be historicBy Mike Thomas
Fifty years from now, history could well conclude that there were two governors who had the greatest impact on black Floridians.
One would be LeRoy Collins, who led Florida through the tumultuous period of desegregation. And the second could well be Jeb Bush.
Already I can hear the howls and catcalls from Democrats who hate it that he has done something they never have been able to do.
But the evidence is right there in the reams of data spewed out this week in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Florida has made amazing progress in its schools. And the biggest beneficiaries have been low-income, minority kids.
The achievement gap is still large. But Florida remains that rare state actually making at least some progress in narrowing it.
In 1992, white kids in Florida's fourth grades scored 33 points higher than black kids on a reading assessment based on a 500-point scale. That has been shaved to 24 points. The national average is 27 points.
In 1998, low-income fourth-graders scored 29 points lower on reading tests than more affluent kids. That has been shaved by eight points.
Stagnant or declining test scores in eighth grade is a national problem.
Only two states joined Florida in improving reading scores in eighth grade, as well as fourth grade. In Florida, more black kids are being directed into advanced classes.
More are taking the SAT.
Does all this rank Bush with a legend like LeRoy Collins?
When Collins became governor, the gravest threat to black residents was whites behaving badly, very badly. Elected in the 1950s, his calm leadership allowed us to avoid the ugly racial backlash that smeared Alabama and Georgia.
That era led to a variety of civil-rights laws, social programs and affirmative-action laws meant to undo the damage from centuries of abuse.
Along with a lot of individual initiative, they created a growing middle and upper class of black Americans.
But for impoverished blacks, the opportunities have meant little because many don't have the education to take advantage of them.
Education is everything.
Education is hope.
A cancer in many poor, often fragmented families is the lack of an education ethic. That malaise allowed many school administrators to write off poor black kids as incapable, and shuffle them up and out of high school with meaningless diplomas.
Jeb Bush ended the cult of neglect. That is why we have the FCAT, school grades, accountability and transfers. That is why school districts are paying good teachers more to teach in challenging schools.
It is all about leveling the deck. And when you do, the kids respond. It is no longer news when schools with low-income, minority populations score an A. The Nap Ford Community School in Parramore stacks up to any in Central Florida.
Test scores show student achievement appeared to stagnate under Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles -- and then began going up in 1998.
This drives Democrats crazy.
So they take their shots, pointing out the occasional FCAT scandal or setbacks in scores in upper grades.
School accountability is a work in progress. Rather than hide problems,it points them out.
The big picture is that it works.
Jeb Bush has been the necessary next step after LeRoy Collins.
That Republicans don't know how to talk about this success to a black audience, or are afraid that doing so will alienate their white audience, is an example of either stiff incompetence or amazing stupidity.
Mike Thomas can be reached at 407-420-5525 or mthomas@orlandosentinel.com. His blog is OrlandoSentinel.com/mikethomas
http://orlandosentinel.com/mikethomas
State vouchers help, but go largely unused
By Jason Wermers
jwermers@news-press.com
Originally posted on September 23, 2007
Jeremyah Raski peered at his grammar worksheet Wednesday morning.While classmates at Florida Christian Institute for Academic Excellence gobbled snacks during the customary 10:15 a.m. break, Jeremyah set aside the bag containing his treat to continue working.
This is a turnaround for the 9-year-old boy, who moved to Cape Coral with his mother this summer. When he attended public schools in Martin and St. Lucie counties on the east coast, he often was sent to the timeout room and generally hated going to school, said his mother, Tracy Raski.
Raski attributes Jeremyah's change in attitude to Florida Christian Institute, a private, 192-student school in Fort Myers specializing in students with various disabilities.Jeremyah has dyslexia and a developmental disorder that makes it difficult for him to communicate and socialize with peers, teachers, and, at times, his family.
A state-funded voucher is paying for Jeremyah's $10,000 tuition, an expense his mother can't afford.Any disabled child in a Florida public school is eligible for the John M. McKay Scholarship. In Lee, 21 private schools accept students on McKay scholarships.
But the scholarship is mostly going unused. Of the 11,040 disabled children in the Lee County School District last year, 361 of them received the scholarship, according to the Florida Department of Education.
Florida Christian Institute had 107 of those students last year - nearly 30 percent of all McKay scholarships granted in the county.This year, the school has 117 McKay scholarship students and 40 more through another voucher, which is funded by donations from corporations.
"A lot of our students come from lower-income backgrounds," said Keith Leonardo, president and founder of the 192-student school.Jeremyah is in a class for pupils in kindergarten through third grade. Leonardo's wife, Kim, teaches the class. She said Jeremyah is thriving because of one-on-one attention she and classroom aide Karen Kalouris give him.
"His behavior has been very good," Kim Leonardo said. "He'd have a problem with standing in front of the class and reading, or if you told him to go to a desk and work alone. But here, I help every student. Everyone is getting the same attention."
Jeremyah had behavior problems at public schools on Florida's east coast.When Jeremyah's mom moved to Cape Coral over the summer, she tried to enroll Jeremyah in a Lee school. But the only choice she had was Royal Palm Exceptional Center, a school for students with severe emotional disabilities.
Raski said Lee officials wouldn't listen to her pleas that his behavioral issues stemmed from his frustration over a lack of help in class.Lee schools spokesman Joe Donzelli said that when a child with disabilities transfers into the county, district officials must rely on what that child's Individual Education Plan says, "no matter whether Mom disagrees, or even if we disagree."
"The Student Assignment Office cannot ignore what a federally mandated IEP says," Donzelli said. "We can't ignore what another district says. Your IEP is gospel until it's reviewed or changed as necessary."
The parent can request a meeting with Lee County educators to determine if the student's education plan is still valid. Donzelli said that meeting is scheduled as quickly as possible.Raski learned of the McKay program two years ago and applied for it last year, while still living on the east coast.
After being offered Royal Palm, Raski found she had been awarded the voucher. She decided to use it at Florida Christian because she was impressed with the school's philosophy on teaching children with disabilities. She enrolled Jeremyah, and he was there for the first day of class, Aug. 27."We assume that if you have behavior issues, it stems from the learning difficulties," Keith Leonardo said. "If we can help the student to learn, the behavior will take care of itself."
That's happened with Jeremyah, Raski said.
"He's less aggressive," Raski said. And he'll apologize when he does something wrong."
Former Viacom CEO in Supreme Court Fight Over Private School TuitionMonday , October 01, 2007
NEW YORK -
There is no question that Tom Freston can afford to give his children the best education money can buy. The former Viacom CEO was among the country's most richly paid TV executives and got an $85 million severance deal when he was forced out of his job last year.
Nevertheless, he is a combatant in an unlikely legal fight: On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether taxpayers should have to foot the bill for his son's expensive private school education.
The family and the city of New York are at odds over the schooling for Freston's son, who was diagnosed with learning disabilities in the late 1990s.
The family's solution was to send the boy to the Stephen Gaynor School, a top-notch but expensive Manhattan academy for children with learning problems.
Freston also followed a path being taken by an increasing number of parents of special education students: He asked the city's public school system to pay his son's tuition.
Federal law demands such payments when a public school system is unable to properly deal with a student's disability, but in this case New York City said it could do the job. It recommended that the boy attend the city-run Lower Laboratory School for Gifted Education.
Freston sued. The city paid $50,000 in tuition over two years before deciding, after a review, to go to court.
The issue before the Supreme Court has nothing to do with the family's wealth, or the morality of a millionaire asking a cash-strapped school district for help with an ivy league-sized tuition bill.
Instead, New York City is arguing a technicality. It says that, under federal law, special education tuition aid is only available to children who actually enroll in public schools - not to lifelong private-schoolers who have never used the public system.
Attorneys for Freston and several advocacy groups say federal rules don't require such an enrollment.
"The danger of making parents try out the school district's program first, even if it's not an appropriate program, is that students who need early intervention waste critical time," said Gary Mayerson, a lawyer who works with the group Autism Speaks.
"If my child can't swim, and the school district's plan is to throw him in the deep end of the pool, I shouldn't have to allow my child to drown to prove that the district's plan is ridiculous."
Leonard Koerner, chief appeals lawyer for New York City, said parents should be required to give the public system a shot, even if only a brief one, before they can appeal for an outside placement.
An attorney for New York's Education Department, Michael Best, said a court victory for the city would ensure that taxpayers don't pay private school tuition for parents "who never had any intention of enrolling their child in the public schools."
Nationwide, the number of special education students placed in private schools at public expense has risen steadily, from about 52,012 pupils in 1996 to 71,082 in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Overall, however, the number of such placements remains small - just 1.1 percent of the country's 6.1 million special education students.
In New York, a growing number of parents have been exploring a private-school option. During the 2002-2003 school year, the city received 3,908 tuition reimbursement requests, Best said. By the 2005-2006 school year, that number had jumped to 4,804.
Parents who are denied aid may place their children in a private program and sue for tuition, but they run the risk of being stuck with the bill if a court doesn't agree with them.
Freston's lawyer, Paul G. Gardephe, said his client did not want to be interviewed, but issued a written statement in which Freston said he wasn't pressing the case for personal gain.
"Children with special education needs have a right, without jumping through hoops, to attend schools capable of providing them with an education that accommodates their individual needs regardless of their family's financial means," Freston wrote.
He added that the family donated the money it got from the city to create a special education learning center.
However the case comes out, it has had one happy ending: Freston said his son thrived at Gaynor and has transferred to a mainstream school.
5,000 New Scholarships Available
for Low-Income K-12 Students
The Step Up For Students scholarship program, administered through Florida P.R.I.D.E. and Children First Florida--Florida Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) scholarship funding organizations, will award approximately 5,000 new scholarships for the 2007-2008 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 $38,203 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 Step Up For Students (Corporate Income Tax Credit) scholarship program provides K-12 scholarships that currently allow almost 17,000 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 54367
Jacksonville, Florida 32216
(904) 247-6033 or (407) 702-2607
cforster@scholarshipfunding.orgAlachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Indian River, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, Seminole, St. Lucie, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington
School Year 07 - 08 Income Eligibility Guidelines
Persons in Household
New & Add-Ons
(185%)Renewals (200%)
2
$25,327
$27,380
3
$31,765
$34,340
4
$38,203
$41,300
5
$44,641
$48,260
6
$51,079
$55,220
7
$57,517
$62,140
8
$63,955
$69,140
9
$70,393
$76,100
10
$76,831
$83,060
11
$83,269
$90,020
12
$89,707
$96,980
13
$96,145
$103,940
For each additional person, add
$6,438
$6,960
Effective from June 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)
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