F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
10/24/06
Thousands of New Scholarships Available for Low-Income K-12 Students
(More scholarships available! See bottom of Newsletter!)
Kenric Ward: Politicking on Florida's high court. Columnist Ward writes about a very important subject matter. It is regarding the Florida Supreme Court justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince who are coming up for retention vote Nov. 7. He asks what has this trio done?
Governor candidates differ on FCAT, vouchers, Associated Press. Crist wants to amend the constitution to restore the opportunity scholarships and protect two other voucher programs from similar challenges. Disabled children are eligible for McKay scholarships and students from poor families can get vouchers paid for through corporate tax credits. "The disadvantaged and the most vulnerable in our society need to continue to receive the best education possible, and I'm not sure our current (public) system offers that," Crist said. Davis opposes vouchers but would support a scaled-back McKay program for only those disabled students whose needs cannot be met by public schools. "I think public money ought to be used for public schools," Davis said. "Having strong public schools is a bedrock to our democracy and to our economy."
Advocates at rally laud school vouchers, Orlando Sentinel. We actually had more than 2,000 people at this event, where everyone heard very moving testimony from children whose lives have been saved by the scholarship program. The coverage wasn't too bad when you consider what we usually see in the press. The theme was 5 Years + 100 Donors = 20,000 Children's Lives Saved.
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
A glimpse of what might have been.
Kenric Ward: Politicking on Florida's high court
By KENRIC WARD
columnist
October 24, 2006When Florida Supreme Court justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince came up for retention votes in 2000, 71 percent of voters said "yes" and gave them another six years. Facing another retention vote Nov. 7, what has this trio done?
In the days following that same 2000 election, the three justices joined with Harry Anstead to order a statewide recount in the hotly contested race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Their controversial ruling was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
This year, the justices, along with Charles Wells, struck down the state's school voucher program, passed by the Legislature.
Last year, Pariente led the court in deciding that attorneys could not call themselves "pit bulls" in advertisements. The year before, the justices unanimously ordered that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be pulled, and again excoriated the Legislature for playing politics.
Agree or disagree with their decisions, Lewis, Pariente and Quince have repeatedly ventured into the political arena. This would seem worthy of coverage and comment, but not by Florida's media.
Declaring that "merit retention is not about politics," the Palm Beach Post recently instructed readers to renew the terms of all Supreme Court and appellate judges on the ballot. Case closed.
Voters (and editorialists) might be persuaded by Bar Association surveys that gave the three high court justices 80 percent-plus approval ratings. Yet this all seems a bit too cozy, like legal eagles preening each other's plumage.
Those who don't belong to "the club," have more critical insights.
The Wall Street Journal called Pariente's voucher ruling "one of the most absurd legal decisions in modern times. Because the performance of the voucher kids was superior to those in public schools, the court ruled that education was not uniform - or in this case not uniformly miserable."
Of Pariente's sensibilities about advertising, legal columnist James J. Kilpatrick opined, "If I want to sue my doctor for a botched operation, give me a pit bull lawyer every time. And if I learn of his services on TV, so what?"
Commenting on the Bush-Gore debacle, legal analyst Julie Hilden called the court's behavior "remarkable when judged against standards of what courts typically do in cases that might cause conflict among different branches of government. In such cases, courts typically try to reach a unanimous decision and avoid conflict with other branches of government and other courts. The Florida Supreme Court did neither."
Hilden, by the way, is no partisan hack; the Yale Law grad clerked for then-U.S. appellate Judge Stephen Breyer, who has tortured Republican administrations on the high court and voted to continue the Florida recount.
Rather than honoring the constitutional separation of powers, the Lewis-Pariente-Quince team (appointed, like Wells and Anstead, by Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles) frequently indulges in judicial (liberal) activism.
On the Bush-Gore fandango, Hilden suggests the justices "might have decided to defer to the state Legislature or to defer to the state executive branch official who earlier certified the vote for Bush. The court might have exhibited such deference in order to heed the warning, in the U.S. Supreme Court's earlier opinion in Palm Beach County v. Katherine Harris, that it should not infringe upon the Legislature's plenary power over electors' appointments."
The media invariably paint Harris, the former secretary of state, as a GOP hyper-partisan. But Lewis, Pariente and Quince, et al., allegedly are above politics and are blessed by a quiescent press.
Despite solid media approval, 1.7 million Floridians cast ballots against Lewis, Pariente and Quince in 2000. This year, voters have more to go on. Or at least they should.
Ken.ward@scripps.com
About Kenric Ward
Kenric Ward is opinion page editor of the Press Journal. He has worked as an editorial writer at the San Jose Mercury News and as an editor at the Columbus (Ind.) Republic and the Las Vegas Sun. His commentaries on education twice earned first-place awards from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform. Author of the 2002 book "Saints in Babylon: Mormons and Las Vegas," he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA.
Article published Oct 23, 2006Governor candidates differ on FCAT, vouchers
BY BILL KACZORASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
True or false? Gov. Jeb Bush's use of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to reward high-performing schools, teachers and students and punish those that aren't is an excellent program that should be continued.
True, says Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist. The former state education commissioner, now Florida's attorney general, wants to continue most of Bush's education plan including the school grading program.
False, says Jim Davis, his Democratic opponent. The Tampa congressman has proposed sweeping changes in the way schools are graded and wants to refocus the FCAT instead on diagnosing children's learning problems.
The candidates also disagree on such education issues as vouchers that let some children attend private schools at public expense and giving teachers raises based on their performance, although both support a 2002 state constitutional amendment that reduces class size.
How Florida voters grade the candidates' answers will go a long way toward deciding whether Crist or Davis will win the Nov. 7 election to succeed Bush, who has made overhauling the state's education system a centerpiece of his eight years in office.
The Republican governor says under his administration's APlus school accountability program, FCAT scores have improved dramatically with about three-fourths of all schools this year getting grades of A or B. Democrats, the state's teachers union and other critics say Florida continues to trail most other states in national comparisons of student performance, teacher pay and other measures.
The FCAT is "an issue that all parents, PTA members, are very concerned about because they do see so much emphasis being placed on a single test and the pressure that we see placed on the children," said Florida PTA president Nancy Cox.
The PTA cannot endorse candidates, but Cox, a Heathrow kindergarten teacher and mother of two public school system graduates, acknowledged the organization advocates FCAT changes similar to some of Davis' proposals.
"As a parent, as a governor, I believe the FCAT should be used as a learning tool for children, parents and teachers," Davis said. "Right now the FCAT is used to punish children, teachers and schools, and I think that's wrong."
Davis would do away with grading schools A, B, C, D or F and go to a three-tiered system: "excellent," "achieving" and "needs improvement." Instead of relying exclusively on FCAT scores, he wants to include other factors such as discipline, parental involvement, class size and teacher input in the grading system.
"You ought to look at the graduation rate, how the students perform once they leave school, SAT scores in addition to the FCAT score - the kind of information a parent would want to have when choosing a school," Davis said.
Davis also wants to lift a requirement for third-graders to pass the FCAT's reading section to be promoted, eliminate $100 per student prizes for top-performing schools and abolish a new performance pay program that rewards teachers based in large part on how much their students improve on the FCAT or other tests.
Davis proposes to use money from the FCAT rewards and performance pay programs, state proceeds from Broward County slot machines and an endowment fund he would create from surplus tax revenue to give teachers a $3,835 pay raise without increasing taxes.
Crist, on the other hand, takes credit for helping implement Bush's FCAT policies when he was education commissioner. He said he is open to changes but wants to make sure schools remain accountable for student achievement.
"I think if we're willing to grade 5- and 6-year-old children and kids in elementary schools, why wouldn't we be willing to grade the schools that are supposed to perform for those children?" he asked.
Crist supports Bush's performance pay plan and has proposed expanding it as an incentive to attract and retain "the best and brightest teachers."
Vouchers, dubbed "opportunity scholarships," were another key part of Bush's 1999 APlus program. Students from chronically failing public schools received state money so they could transfer to parochial and other private schools until the Florida Supreme Court ruled this year that program violated the Florida Constitution.
Crist wants to amend the constitution to restore the opportunity scholarships and protect two other voucher programs from similar challenges. Disabled children are eligible for McKay scholarships and students from poor families can get vouchers paid for through corporate tax credits.
"The disadvantaged and the most vulnerable in our society need to continue to receive the best education possible, and I'm not sure our current (public) system offers that," Crist said.
Davis opposes vouchers but would support a scaled-back McKay program for only those disabled students whose needs cannot be met by public schools.
"I think public money ought to be used for public schools," Davis said. "Having strong public schools is a bedrock to our democracy and to our economy."
Both candidates agree class size limits that voters added to the Florida Constitution through a citizen initiative should remain unchanged and be fully funded. That puts Crist at odds with Bush who opposed the amendment and twice unsuccessfully tried to get the Legislature to offer voters a watered-down version.
Advocates at rally laud school vouchers
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 21, 2006Shamel Donawa was struggling at a public school in Osceola County when she heard about a program that would help her go to private school.
Her widowed mother works as a hotel housekeeper, but Shamel, 17, can attend Heartland Christian Academy near Kissimmee because of a school voucher funded by Florida businesses.
Shamel, who hopes to become a nurse, said the smaller classes and personal attention have improved her chances for success in life.
"I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to come here and my parents had the opportunity to decide for me," the high school senior said Friday.
Shamel joined Gov. Jeb Bush and others in celebrating the 5-year-old program at a rally of more than 2,000 students, teachers and others at El Calvario Christian Academy in south Orange County.
Advocates of the Florida Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program hope it will not go the way of the state's Opportunity Scholarships, a smaller voucher plan declared unconstitutional in January by the state Supreme Court.
The program works like this: Corporations can redirect up to three-quarters of their annual state taxes to a nonprofit scholarship-funding organization. The corporation then gets a dollar-for-dollar tax credit from the state.
That money finances vouchers for low-income students -- up to $3,750 a year to attend a private school, or up to $500 for transportation to a public school outside a child's home school district.
About 15,000 students are enrolled in the program. About 60 percent of them are from single-parent homes; 77 percent are minorities.
Businesses have contributed more than $200 million in the past five years. On Friday, Walgreens announced an $8 million donation.
Seventy percent of participating schools are religious, said John Kirtley, president of the Florida School Choice Fund.
Friday's rally was full of cheers from advocates of school choice.
But critics of the program consider it an attempt to undermine public schools.
The Supreme Court threw out the Opportunity Scholarships on grounds they violated a provision of the Florida Constitution requiring the state to maintain "uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high-quality" public schools.
No one has challenged the corporate voucher on those grounds, but Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, described it Friday as a "thinly veiled . . . end run around the Constitution."
"I think it will eventually be evaluated and found unconstitutional," Simon said.
Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, which represents teachers, said the program allows private corporations to target where they send their tax money -- something private citizens can't do.
"It fosters this parallel school system, which is something we think is wrong and unconstitutional," Pudlow said.
Laquanda Fields, who attends Teacher's Hands Academy in Orlando, said she is grateful to the program. She likes being able to pray in school, she said.
"I think it's better to start out that way in the morning," she said.
Susan Jacobson can be reached at sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7903.
Copyright © 2006, Orlando Sentinel | Get home delivery - up to 50% off
8,000 New Scholarships Available
for Low-Income K-12 StudentsFlorida 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)
If you no longer want to receive this mailing or you wish to unsubscribe from
F.A.C.E mailings, please send an e-mail with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to mbenjamin@flace.org.
