F.A.C.E. to FACE   F.A.C.E. BULLETIN     May 29, 2008 Dear Friends, Wall Street Journal, Review & Outlook, Democrats for School Choice. New York Times, Op-Ed Columnist, Hope in the Unseen. A good rebuttal to those who say low-income parents don't know enough or care enough to find the right school for their kids. Project Ignition, a grant program that uses service-learning to help address teen driver safety issues. Thank you for Stepping Up For Students, Michael A. Benjamin Executive Director, F.A.C.E. Florida Alliance for Choices in Education ________________________________ WALL STREET JOURNAL REVIEW & OUTLOOK Democrats for School Choice May 19, 2008; Page A14 When Florida passed a law in 2001 creating the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program for underprivileged students, all but one Democrat in the state legislature voted against it. Earlier this month, lawmakers extended the program - this time with the help of a full third of Democrats in the Legislature, including 13 of 25 members of the state's black caucus and every member of the Hispanic caucus. What changed? Our guess is that low-income parents in Florida have gotten a taste of the same school choice privileges that middle- and upper-income families have always enjoyed. And they've found they like this new educational freedom. Under the scholarship program, which is means-tested, companies get a 100% tax credit for donations to state-approved nonprofits that provide private-school vouchers for low-income families. The program already serves some 20,000 students. The expansion will allow it to assist an additional 6,000. It's no surprise that poor families would embrace educational options, given that their government-assigned schools are clearly failing their children. The high school graduation rate for black students in Florida is 45% overall, 38% for black males. The 52% graduation rate for Hispanics is also nothing to brag about. What's encouraging is that these parents have managed to convey their pro-choice sentiments to their representatives, who are responding even though voucher programs infuriate powerful liberal special interest groups like the teachers unions. Given that 70% of the program participants are black or Hispanic, you'd think Democrats would be taking the lead on a measure that mostly benefits their traditional constituency. Apparently they needed a little prodding, but we're glad to see they did the right thing. May 25, 2008 NY Times Op-Ed Columnist Hope in the Unseen By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Every once in a while as a journalist you see a scene that grips you and will not let go, a scene that is at once so uplifting and so cruel it's difficult to even convey in words. I saw such a scene last weekend at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore. It was actually a lottery, but no ordinary lottery. The winners didn't win cash, but a ticket to a better life. The losers left with their hopes and lottery tickets crumpled. The event was a lottery to choose the first 80 students who will attend a new public boarding school - the SEED School of Maryland - based in Baltimore. I went along because my wife is on the SEED Foundation board. The foundation opened its first school 10 years ago in Washington, D.C., as the nation's first college-prep, public, urban boarding school. Baltimore is its second campus. The vast majority of students are African-American, drawn from the most disadvantaged and violent school districts. SEED Maryland was admitting boys and girls beginning in sixth grade. They will live in a dormitory - insulated from the turmoil of their neighborhoods. In Washington, nearly all SEED graduates have gone on to four-year colleges, including Princeton and Georgetown. Because its schools are financed by both private and public funds, SEED can offer this once-in-a-lifetime, small-class-size, prep-school education for free, but it can't cherry-pick its students. It has to be open to anyone who applies. The problem is that too many people apply, so it has to choose them by public lottery. SEED Maryland got more than 300 applications for 80 places. The families all crowded into the Notre Dame auditorium, clutching their lottery numbers like rosaries. On stage, there were two of those cages they use in church-sponsored bingo games. Each ping-pong ball bore the lottery number of a student applicant. One by one, a lottery volunteer would crank the bingo cage, a ping-pong ball would roll out, the number would be read and someone in the audience would shriek with joy, while everyone else slumped just a little bit lower. One fewer place left ... It was impossible to watch all those balls tumbling around inside the cage and not see them as the people in that room tumbling around inside, waiting to see who would be the lucky one to slide out and be blessed. No wonder a portrait of hope and anxiety was on every face. "I am so hopeful about the school and just so overwhelmingly anxious about what happens to the students who don't get in," said Dawn Lewis, the head of the SEED Maryland school. "During the six or seven months of recruiting, we heard all the stories of all the problems these kids are confronting in their schools, and each time [parents] would tell us, 'This kind of school is the answer - the thing this child needs to be successful.' When we were completing the applications, we received so many letters from guidance counselors and teachers and principals and even pastors saying, 'Please, just exempt this kid from the lottery - because without this, there is no chance for this kid, there may not be another opportunity.' " If you think that parents from the worst inner-city neighborhoods don't aspire for something better for their kids, a lottery like this will dispel that illusion real fast. Ms. Lewis said she's seen people on crack walking their kids to school. "We had parents who came into our office who were clearly strung out," she added. "They could not read or write, but they got themselves there and said, 'I need help on this application' for their son or daughter. Families do want the best for their children. If they have a chance, they don't want their kids to inherit their problems. ... These aspirations are so underserved." Ms. Lewis said that she and her colleagues would meet with parents begging to get their kids in, help them fill out the applications and then, after the parents left, go into their offices, shut the door and cry. Tony Cherry's son Noah, an 11-year-old from Baltimore County, was one of the lucky ones whose number got pulled. "His teacher said if he got picked they're going to have a party for him," said Mr. Cherry. "This is a good opportunity. It's going to give him a chance. ... Wish they could take all of them." Not everyone selected was in attendance, said Carol Beck, SEED's director of new schools development. So, on Monday SEED notified those who had won. "We called one school counselor the next day and told her that so-and-so was chosen," said Ms. Beck, "and she said: 'Thank you. You have just saved this child's life.' " There are so many good reasons to finish our nation-building in Iraq and resume our nation-building in America, but none more than this: There's something wrong when so much of an American child's future is riding on the bounce of a ping-pong ball. Car Crashes are the No. 1 Killer of Teens Sponsored by State Farm® and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council® (NYLC <http://www.nylc.org/> ) Project Ignition returns for another exciting year! What is Project Ignition? It's a grant program that uses service-learning to help address teen driver safety issues. Here's our challenge to students in grades 9 through 12 and their teachers or advisors: Work together to develop a campaign to address the issue of teen driver safety in your community. How you choose to do that is completely up to you! With any service-learning project, the goal is to make an impact in your community in the most creative way possible. The only limit is your imagination. Each year, schools whose campaigns are judged to be among the top 10 in the nation receive $5,000 to help cover expenses to come to The National Service-Learning Conference . There, they showcase their great work, one campaign is named the Best of the Best and that team presented with a $10,000 grant to continue its teen driver safety efforts. Come on - put your school in the driver's seat for Project Ignition 2008-09. Help prove that what young leaders are learning in school can improve the world and even save lives! Applications are being accepted for the 2008-09 school year. They must be submitted online by July 3, 2008. For additional details, please visit http://www.sfprojectignition.com/ <http://www.sfprojectignition.com/>   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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