F.A.C.E. to FACE   F.A.C.E. BULLETIN 4/18/08     April 19, 2008 FLORIDA LEGISLATURE PASSED THE BILL TO EXPAND THE SCHOLARSHIP We applaud the great leadership in the Florida legislature for delivering school choice to an additional 6,000 qualifying students. Special thanks the Bill sponsors Representative Trey Traviesa and Senator Don Gaetz. The Bill will: · Increase the scholarship amount to 3,950 this fall and the scholarship can be used for tuition and school fees including registration. As per the new legislation, uniforms will not be covered by the scholarship unless it is a part of the school's fees and not just a requirement of the dress code. · Increase the cap to 118M July 1, 2008 · Allow add-on siblings to qualify under same income guidelines as renewal children · Allow children who were in foster care last year, or currently in foster care to be eligible for a CTC scholarship · Allow SFO's that have been in operation at least three years to retain up to 3% for administrative expenses · Requires an OPPAGA study to be completed by Dec 1, 2008 looking at fiscal impact of the program and methods to annually increasing tax credit funds · Potential to include insurance premium tax, if the review shows a neutral or positive fiscal impact to the state. · Add-on siblings will qualify under the same income guidelines as their renewing siblings- up to 200% of poverty. · The legislation goes into effect July 1, 2008 and the scholarship increase goes into effect for the 2008-2009 school year. Thank you for Stepping Up For Students, Michael A. Benjamin Executive Director, F.A.C.E. Florida Alliance for Choices in Education Democratic lawmakers warm up to vouchers By Ron Matus, Times Staff Writer In print: Monday, May 12, 2008 In 2001, Democrats in the Legislature pounded Republican plans to start a private school voucher program for poor and predominantly minority kids. They said it was unconstitutional, a drain on public schools, even un-American. In the end, all but one Democrat voted against it. Times have changed. This year, a bill to vastly expand the same program passed by large margins. And this time, a third of the Democratic caucus was on board. "I'm a strong advocate for public school education, and I'm not necessarily a strong advocate for vouchers," said Rep. Bill Heller, D-St. Petersburg, one of four Tampa Bay-area Democrats to vote yes. But "the bottom line has to be the child. If good things are happening for the child, then you can justify it." In the past few years, a slow trickle of black Democrats have embraced tax-credit vouchers, which are funded by corporations in exchange for tax credits. But this year a steady stream of Democrats, including a handful of white Democrats like Heller, crossed over, moving toward a program championed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, even as Republicans were backing away from Bush's hard-core emphasis on the FCAT. The erosion in Democratic opposition is especially noteworthy given the timing. The same Legislature whacked public school funding by $332-million. And this fall's ballot will include two proposed constitutional amendments aimed at making vouchers a permanent part of Florida's education landscape. One political observer said the Democrats may have handed voucher supporters ammunition for persuading Floridians to vote yes. The electorate is "moving away from strictly partisan approaches to resolving issues," said Darryl Paulson, a professor of government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. "It seems to me the strongest argument they could make is there is growing bipartisan support for vouchers." The legislation, spearheaded by Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, increases the annual cap on corporate contributions from $88-million to $118-million. Initially, Traviesa pushed for bigger change - an additional $30-million each year for the next five years - but scaled back to accommodate budget concerns and wavering lawmakers. "The bigger it felt, the harder it was to get some of the members who were on the line to come over," Traviesa said. "I wanted a strong bipartisan product." About 20,000 students are in the program - including 1,676 in the Tampa Bay area - and 64 percent are black or Hispanic. Another 5,000 students will be able to join if, as expected, Gov. Charlie Crist signs the legislation. The legislation increases the amount of each scholarship to $3,950, up $200 from this year. The average cost per student in public school is about $7,000. Some Democratic supporters say they back the program because unlike Opportunity Scholarships, the state's first voucher program - which the Florida Supreme Court struck down in 2006 - the money for tax-credit scholarships doesn't come directly out of state coffers. Some offered what critics call a semantic defense. "I don't think I'm voting for a voucher," said Rep. Betty Reed, a Tampa Democrat who has 13 private schools in her district that accept tax-credit scholarships. "It's a scholarship." Reed initially voted for the bill, saying she wanted to give low-income families more school choice. But she switched her vote a few days later, citing budget concerns. Heller voted against the bill in committee. But then he visited the Yvonne C. Reed Christian School in St. Petersburg and talked to parents who use tax-credit vouchers. He said they changed his mind. The other Tampa Bay area Democrats who voted for the bill are Rep. Janet Long, D-Seminole, Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Michael Scionti, D-Tampa. "I think they're seeing the light," said Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland. "This is not a voucher program. This is helping people." Most Democrats remain wary. Many continue to argue that vouchers hurt public schools -and that this year was the worst possible time for an expansion. Others fear poor and minority kids are being used as a Trojan horse for a more radical agenda: vouchers for all kids. House Minority Leader Dan Gelber said some Democrats are "genuinely conflicted." Parents of scholarship recipients lobbied them intensely. And it's not unusual to hear those parents say they don't like the FCAT or prefer the smaller classes they see in private schools. "To a certain extent, I don't know if you're seeing people like the program," Gelber said, "or you're seeing Democrats throw their hands up with what Republicans have put in our public schools, which to some extent has made these private schools more attractive." Ron Matus can be reached at matus@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8873. Lawmakers push to expand school vouchers By Anna Scott Sarasota Herald Tribune Published Friday, April 18, 2008 at 4:30 a.m. TALLAHASSEE - Money to buy textbooks, teacher training and after-school tutoring for struggling students is being cut from the state education budget this year. At the same time, lawmakers are pushing to expand a voucher program that takes more money from local schools and gives it to poor students to attend private or religious schools. Under a proposal being negotiated by House and Senate education leaders, at least 5,000 more students would receive the vouchers next school year, at a cost of an extra $30 million a year. House sponsor Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, is holding out for an annual expansion of the program for five years, but Senate sponsor Don Gaetz, R-Destin, wants only one year to give the bill a better chance of passing with critics. While the effect of even a one-year expansion is relatively small -- the state is cutting hundreds of millions from the state education budget this year -- debate among lawmakers has been fierce as dollars for public schools shrink. "There's no excuse for this," said Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee. "We're not adequately funding public education and now we're going to divert more money away from it, to private schools?" The voucher program saves the state money. The state pays more than $7,000 for every student in public school; the voucher costs $3,750. But for every student who leaves the public school system because of a voucher, the public school loses the state money tied to that student. And often school overhead costs remain the same, even if there are fewer students. Whether the program takes money from public schools is beside the point, said House Speaker Marco Rubio. "I don't think the purpose of the state is to fund schools," Rubio said. "I think it's to fund children and their education, and empower parents to put them in the setting where they can be most successful." The proposals would increase the amount of the scholarship by $200 -- much-needed money for parents like Ulaini Porter, a single mother from Bradenton who uses a scholarship to send her daughter, Valera, to Palmetto Christian Academy. "We struggle every month but it's worth it," Porter said. "My daughter hated the public school, the teacher didn't like her, and now she makes straight-As." Dear Mr. Oglesby, I read with interest Mr. Stierheim's column on the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program. I am hoping that you would consider this submission to run in your paper. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, John Kirtley Merritt Stierheim, the former Superintendent of Dade County Public Schools, published a column in Monday's Herald highly critical of the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program. His column displayed a great concern for the public school system, but shockingly little concern for the low income children in Dade that the program has helped. This program provides scholarships to low income families to help pay tuition at a private school of their choice, or to pay transportation costs to an out of district public school. By law the tuition scholarships are limited to a maximum of $3,750 per year. The average tuition at the 155 schools in Dade serving these children is $5,034 per year. That means the average parent is paying over $1,200 of their own money for each child on the program-- and many have more than one enrolled. This is remarkable given that the average annual income of families in the program is $24,000 for a household of four. These low income parents only make this tremendous sacrifice when their children are struggling in their assigned public school, and there are no other free alternatives available to them. This does not mean that their assigned school is a failure--it just isn't working for them. According to a 2005 Harvard Civil Rights Project study, Dade public schools graduate less than half of its minority students. This is a crisis, and we need to be open new ideas-especially when they are demanded by poor parents. Mr. Stierheim blasts these parents because they took 3,500 children out of district schools in 2002. At the time Dade County public schools had an enrollment of roughly 370,000 children, and overcrowding was bad enough to inspire the class size amendment. Was it truly a crisis when less than 1% of children were removed from overcrowded classrooms? When it costs at least $30 million (and often multiples of that) to build a new public school in Dade, it would have cost taxpayers at least $200 million to build enough new schools to reduce overcrowding by the same amount. In the past five years the scholarship program has grown to 4,750 children in Dade. During that time, the budget for the Dade County Public Schools has grown from $4.3 billion to $6.2 billion. Yet enrollment has dropped from 370,000 to 349,000 children. That means that per pupil spending has soared, and now is over $16,000 per child. Take out funds for new construction and interest on debt, and you still get $3.4 billion, or $9,800 per student. That's what it takes to just to operate the district every year. Is that enough? I don't know. Newark, NJ spends $19,000 per child and has graduation rates similar to Dade's. But one thing for sure-this scholarship program is not a major factor in the success or failure of Dade Public Schools. Less than 1.5% of Dade's public school children are on the program. But it is the most important thing in the lives of these children. Consider Melody Cherflis of Miami Gardens, who in eighth grade was going to drop out when her GPA went below 1.0. She received a scholarship, found the right school for her, and now she's in college. Objective sources such as the Collins Center For Public Policy and Florida Taxwatch have estimated the savings to state taxpayers from this program to be anywhere from $600 million to $1 billion over ten years. At a time when taxpayer dollars are precious, we have poor parents offering to pay their own money for the chance to find the right school for their children. To refuse them this chance would be both fiscally and morally wrong. Mr. Stierheim needs to be more concerned about children, and less concerned about the system. John Kirtley Step Up For Students Tampa Florida (813) 310-7122 May 06, 2008 "Genuinely conflicted" Are Democrats warming to vouchers? House Minority Leader Dan Gelber (left), D-Miami Beach, says yes, to a point: "You can say some Democrats are genuinely conflicted" about some voucher programs, he told the Gradebook today. Last week, 13 House Democrats and five Senate Democrats (nearly a third of all Democrats in the Legislature, and more than ever before) voted yes on a $30 million expansion for corporate tax credit scholarships. A steady erosion of opposition? Maybe. But Gelber noted that many Democrats strongly opposed the Opportunity Scholarships program - the one that was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 - and yet supported McKay vouchers for children with disabilities. He attributed the shift on CTC scholarships to several things: intense lobbying by advocacy groups; the fact that the scholarships go to low-income and predominantly minority kids; and what the Republican agenda has done to public schools. Gelber said parents of scholarship recipients told lawmakers time and again that they didn't want their kids to take the FCAT and liked the smaller classes that private schools offer. "To a certain extent, I don't know if you're seeing people like the program or you're seeing Democrats throw their hands up with what Republicans have put in our public schools which to some extent have made these private schools more attractive," Gelber said. For the record, Gelber said he is not conflicted. He voted no on the expansion. - Ron Matus, state education reporter May 06, 2008 in School Choice | Permalink St. Petersburg Times May 6, 2008 Vouchers boost achievement Unfortunately, in a recent editorial regarding the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, the St. Petersburg Times employs worn-out diversionary tactics to obfuscate the issues and conceal its true position - the paper's editorial board despises the concept of providing school choice options to low-income students. Let's end the theatrics and address the real questions going before the Florida people on November's ballot. This debate is on keeping the promise of a quality education for all of Florida's students. Florida students are no longer just competing with students in Georgia, California, New York and Texas for coveted high-wage jobs. They are competing with their peers around the world. Countries like China, Sweden and Singapore are focusing on tomorrow's economy and placing a premium on education and innovation to ensure they can keep pace with their rivals. For decades, America set that pace, and now we are falling behind. We need all schools - here and in the 49 other states - to get better for our country's future. The only way to improve student performance is through continual and perpetual reform of education. Florida needs a 21st century education system for a 21st century world, and school choice can be an important catalyst to make this vision a reality. Just 10 years ago, Florida schools were failing and our students routinely scored at the bottom in the nation on standardized tests. Vouchers were one of the tools that dramatically improved student achievement and spurred a turnaround. We created Opportunity Scholarships to give low-income families access to high-performing schools - regardless of whether they were public, private or religious. Poor families were afforded the same opportunity as affluent families who have the money to make the choice. The successful program provided options for students in chronically failing schools and created competition that improved low-performing public schools. Choice wasn't just for the elite, and all schools got better. Under a system of high standards, accountability and competition, Florida has made great progress. Nearly a quarter of a million more children are reading at or above grade level today than a decade ago. Florida is scoring above the national average in reading and math. The achievement gap for minorities is narrowing, with increasing numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics making the grade. High standards are working and accountability is working. But it is not enough. Unfortunately, quality is not a concern of the court system. Despite contributing to unprecedented student learning gains, the voucher program was struck down as unconstitutional by a state appellate court in 2002 and by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. The Florida appellate court ruled that state-funded vouchers represented "indirect support" of a religious institution - even though the state was actually paying for a service, not funding a particular dogma. If applied without discrimination, as sought by teachers unions and liberal special interest groups, this ruling would end public funding of dozens of programs across a spectrum of policy areas. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that vouchers for private schools violated a constitutional requirement that public education be "uniform." Under this tortured reasoning, a better education from a private school was unconstitutional just because it was different than the education provided by a public school. Fortunately, the state's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission took action last week to address the concerns of the courts and place these important issues before Florida voters in November. Voters will decide whether to embrace religious freedom or deny faith-based organizations a seat at the table. And voters will ultimately decide the best way to provide a quality education. Do we give parents choices and trust that they know what is best for their child's education, or do we trust a regressive government monopoly of our public school system to meet the unique needs of every Florida child? St. Petersburg Times, please throw away the tired rhetoric. Our urgency should be focused on providing a world-class quality of education to prepare all Florida students to succeed in the competitive global marketplace. Too much is at stake. Jeb Bush is the former governor of Florida. School Choice Competition Working in Florida, New Report Shows; Florida's McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities Linked to Public School Achievement Increases. LENGTH: 442 words DATELINE: WASHINGTON May 2 WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's largest school voucher program for students with special needs, the John M. McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, has led to increased achievement among public school students with special needs, a new report by the New York-based Manhattan Institute reveals. The Alliance for School Choice--the nation's preeminent nonprofit organization promoting school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs--hailed the report as further evidence that the competition brought about by private school choice benefits public schools. Authored by Jay Greene and Marcus Winters, the report, titled The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence From Florida's McKay Scholarship Program, concludes that "rather than being harmed, public schools respond to the challenge of exposure to school choice by improving the education they provide." According to the study, students with mild disabilities who are educated in Florida's public schools posted significant test score improvements in math and reading. These gains occurred when other students with special needs transferred from public schools to private schools using the state's McKay Program. "The paper is the first quantitative evaluation of a voucher program designed specifically for students with disabilities," said Alliance President Charles R. Hokanson, Jr. "Jay Greene and Marcus Winters provide a rigorous, scientifically valid, and conclusive study that adds significant substance to the debate over the impact of competition and school choice on public schools." The McKay Program was established in 1999 and is benefiting 19,439 students this school year. Throughout the country, five states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Utah) offer special needs scholarship programs. "Several local organizations--including Step Up for Students and the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education--as well as the Florida Department of Education, deserve significant credit for ensuring that this important program benefits not only the students who receive scholarships but students with special needs all throughout the Sunshine State," said Lori Drummer, state projects director for the Alliance. Available Topic Experts: For information on the listed experts, click appropriate link. CONTACT: Andrew Campanella of Alliance for School Choice, +1-202-280-1985, acampanella@allianceforschoolchoice.org   SOURCE Alliance for School Choice Bradenton Herald Voucher opinion foul The last paragraph of your April 30 editorial on school vouchers was flagrantly arrogant, outrageous, offensive, uninformed and divisive. Whether I am for or against vouchers is not the issue here. I challenge your "mind-reading" credentials. How dare you say that vouchers are simply a way for the wealthy to fund their superior education and that Republicans would be opposed to vouchers if they thought it would truly benefit the poor. Your bias and ignorance are not worthy of a reply but I cannot be silent and allow anyone to think that what you say is true. When we moved to Manatee County in 1987 we placed our 10th grade son in public school, as he had always been. As a career educator I have taught, served as administrator and volunteered in public, parochial and Hebrew schools. I could tell you horror stories of the academic void we found at Manatee High, especially in the areas of math and science. After one school year and a month into the next we knew we had no choice but to bite that financial bullet and transfer our son to St. Stephen's. It was the best investment we ever made. I was instrumental in obtaining funding for another student whose parents could not afford to pay the tuition. I helped his mother obtain scholarships for her son. Today, that young man has a Ph.D. from one of the finest universities. His mother's dream was achieved before she parted this life. I have opened doors for many other "poor" students by providing advice, direction and tutoring. I did not think these caring deeds need to be advertised but maybe that is where we Republicans are wrong. Because we don't tout our good deeds liberals think we don't care. My "Republican" heart bleeds for students who are trapped in situations where they cannot reach their potential and lead a successful life, not only for themselves but for the good of our entire country. So, don't you dare look down your arrogant nose at me or others who seek the best education for all our children whether rich or poor. Toni Parsons, retired educator Bradenton The Step Up For Students (Corporate Income Tax Credit) scholarship program provides K-12 scholarships that currently allows over 20,000 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. 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.   School Year 08 - 09 Income Eligibility Guidelines Persons in Household New & Add-Ons (185%) Renewals (200%) 2 $25,900 $28,000 3 $32,560 $35,200 4 $39,220 $42,400 5 $45,880 $49,600 6 $52,540 $56,800 7 $59,200 $64,000 8 $65,860 $71,200 9 $72,520 $78,400 10 $79,180 $85,600 11 $85,840 $92,800 12 $92,500 $100,000 13 $99,160 $107,200       For each additional person, add $6,660 $7,200       Effective from June 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009

 

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