Dear Friends,

 

Parents and children at a Tallahassee school were in the gallery on Friday when the House debated A++ bill (sponsored by Tampa's Rep. Traviesa) and article fails to mention they were all low income and on the tax credit scholarship program.

 

In (Bush's lofty goals meet wary Senate), The reading scholarship does indeed seem to be in serious trouble, though it is not completely dead as the article implies.  The scholarships are now a part of the entire education reform bill in both chambers.

We are now into the last week of session and as was the case last year we are going down to the wire on accountability legislation.

More misleading journalism by the Palm Beach Post in (More Oversight Urged For Slots Than Voucher). Again, the facts are not accurate in the Post.  The private schools do not support the Senate language related to background screening because they would not get the results- the DOE would decide if they can hire someone and there is no liability protection for the private schools for that hiring decision (public school contractors do not have to undergo background screening unless they have unsupervised contact).  The main problem private schools have with Level 2 background checks is that the results cannot be given to the schools, thus the state would only be able to tell the schools if an applicant is ineligible, but not why. The school might not want to hire someone who had an infraction that doesn't disqualify them under the Level 2 system.

"Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said she wants the tougher screening because of the death of Jessica Lunsford, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in March by a man who worked at her school through a private contractor." The man worked at a public school, which already has Level 2 screening. The Post knows this and yet fails to make it clear, letting the reader assume it was at a private school.

"The House says schools can test students on one of the nationally norm referenced tests and report the results to the parent and an independent third party, which would not have to publicize those results." This is inaccurate, the learning gains of the children overall would be publicized.  The private schools do not support the Senate language on testing because it limits the tests and research entity that would analyze the results and the results would be published by school for the scholarship students only.  The schools are adamantly opposed to this requirement. 

 

Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,

 

Michael A. Benjamin

Executive Director, F.A.C.E.

Florida Alliance for Choices in Education

ALERT

S A V E     O U R     S C H O L A R S H I P S

  

WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR YOUR STUDENTS’ EDUCATION?

 

IS IT WORTH TAKING A STEP?

 

IS IT WORTH SPEAKING OUT FOR?

 

WOULD YOU TRAVEL?

 

WOULD RALLY WITH OTHERS?

YOU MUST.

JOIN US

TALLAHASSEE RALLY 6/7/05

On June 7, the Florida Supreme Court could rule that Opportunity Scholarships 

violate the constitution. If they do, other scholarship programs like McKay and 

Bright Futures are in danger. To prevent that from happening, we need your 

presence at our rally in front of the Supreme Court building.  Don’t let them act 

without knowing how many families it will effect!

Tampa's Rep. Traviesa becomes a star quickly

But critics say the Republican, tapped by Bush to sponsor an expansion of school vouchers, is too ambitious for his constituents' good.

By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Published May 1, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - It was only 9 a.m., but the debate over Gov. Jeb Bush's sweeping education package already was heating up on the House floor.

It was up to three Republicans to answer pointed questions from Democrats Friday and push through the legislation. Two were veteran lawmakers, the chairmen of influential education committees.

The third was less familiar: freshman state Rep. Anthony "Trey" Traviesa.

Although he had been a legislator for just three months, the Tampa Republican was called on by the governor to sponsor a major expansion of school vouchers, the most controversial part of his education plan.

Friends say Traviesa's rapid rise is no surprise. He is a perennial overachiever whose drive got him elected student body president of Florida State University and has made him, at age 35, a successful banker and venture capitalist.

Before the 2005 Legislature convened March 8, Traviesa's name already was being floated as a future candidate for House speaker or chief financial officer.

But Traviesa's ambition leaves him open to criticism. While running for his District 56 seat, he was accused of caring more about resume-building than constituent service. His opponents said he was beholden to out-of-town special interests that funneled thousands into his campaign.

Traviesa said reports of his political ambition are overblown. For now, he said, he's focused on serving his district, which sprawls from South Tampa to suburban Brandon. And he said he can do more to help his constituents as a high-profile legislator than an unknown.

"My constituents have put me up here not to do small things, but do some big things and, perhaps, to prevent some big things from happening that they don't want," Traviesa said. "That's what I'm here to do."

* * *

Even among the well-dressed members of the Legislature, Traviesa stands out. He wears a Rolex watch, and he's rarely without a pocket square. His black hair is thick and glossy.

Traviesa's manner is calm and self-assured. While outlining the voucher proposal Thursday, he rarely consulted his notes.

At one point, Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, D-Miami, reprimanded him and asked him what he would say to the children left behind in the state's public schools. Traviesa remained unfazed.

"The students who are really left behind are the students who are being walked off the plank because they will not learn to read," Traviesa answered. "This bill says to them, they've got a choice. This bill says, we've got your back."

Later, when Traviesa introduced a group of children from a Tallahassee private school watching from the gallery, he couldn't resist a dig.

"Rep. Bendross-Mindingall," Traviesa said. "Those students you wanted to address a message to? They're right above your head."

Although he is a Florida native, Traviesa has lived all over the country: New York City, California and Texas. His wife, Nina, is from Venezuela. They met through a mutual friend in New York City. At home, they speak only Spanish with their two young daughters, Alexa and Amelia.

Traviesa took the unusual step of moving his family to Tallahassee to live with him in a rental house during the legislative session. Most lawmakers travel solo and commute home on weekends.

While other new legislators were still learning how to use the phones, Traviesa was penning a lengthy resolution commemorating the death of Pope John Paul II. He sponsored six bills, including a housekeeping bill for Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development arm chaired by Bush.

All six are scheduled to be heard on the House floor in the session's final days, a rare feat for a first-term legislator.

Traviesa is a fourth-generation Floridian who spent his childhood in South Tampa. His great-grandmother fled Spain during the Franco era in the 1920s and took a job as a cigar roller in an Ybor City factory. Traviesa recalled her stories about walking to work to save the nickel trolley trip.

Ware Boulevard, in the heart of Brandon, is named after his grandfather, Earl Ware, who developed a large tract in the 1970s.

His mother was a teacher at St. Petersburg High, while his father worked for a private company that ran juvenile justice facilities. Both were Democrats.

After graduating from St. Petersburg Catholic High, Traviesa got involved in student government at FSU. He was student body president in 1990-91, chaired a statewide student body presidents' group and graduated with a finance degree in 1992.

Sean Pittman, a longtime friend and lobbyist who was FSU student body president the year before him, said Traviesa spent hours walking the Capitol halls, lobbying for lower tuition and fewer fees.

Even then, Traviesa seemed destined for public office, Pittman said.

"He's a rock star," Pittman said. "All you have to do is pay attention to him and you can see that."

* * *

When term limits forced Sandy Murman to retire from the House in 2004, six Republicans jumped into the race to replace her.

Traviesa, a senior executive for EDS Corp., a technology management company created by Ross Perot, was the last to enter, filing just days before the deadline. He also lived outside the diverse district, which takes in parts of South Tampa, the port, suburban Brandon and the rural areas around FishHawk Ranch.

His opponents were well known in Hillsborough County political circles. Traviesa had returned to Tampa only three years before and had never run for public office.

But Traviesa raised almost $200,000, nearly twice as much as his five competitors combined.

Donors were from all over the state, including Tallahassee, Miami-Dade and Orlando.

Opponents accused him of being bought by special interests. At a meeting of the Tiger Bay Club in Tampa, Republican activist Ralph Hughes suggested the out-of-town organizations were financing his campaign in the hope he would one day be speaker.

He gave critics further ammunition after taking office by telling a reporter he considered the lobbyists who contributed to his campaign his friends.

Frank Shannon, a former president of Right to Life Hillsborough who was defeated by Traviesa, said he wasn't surprised by the comment.

"He's a political opportunist," Shannon said. "He's more concerned about his own well-being and the well-being of special interests than the people of his district."

Traviesa dismissed the criticism as sour grapes. If he was successful at raising money, it was because his message resonated with a lot of people, he said.

"I want to be clear that it wasn't that I had a lot of relationships or that particular elements of the community were on my side," Traviesa said. "It's that as a businessman, I know how to set a goal and work hard to achieve it."

* * *

Traviesa insists it was just good timing that led Bush to select him to sponsor the voucher bill. Students who fail the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test two out of three consecutive years would be eligible to get tax money for private schools.

As the son of a schoolteacher, Traviesa told the governor's staff that education was a top priority.

"I saw an opportunity, asked for the opportunity and was given the opportunity to carry the bill for the governor," Traviesa said. "I think they saw I had a lot of passion in this area, I'm sincere in my desire to do big things to help Florida's education system overall improve."

Not everyone sees the bill as an improvement, including educators from Traviesa's county.

"We're opposed to vouchers in general," said Connie Milito, a lobbyist for the Hillsborough County School Board. "We'd prefer to see the Legislature fund steps to help students before they qualify for vouchers, like intensive reading programs."

Traviesa views vouchers as a practical solution for children struggling in public school. It's a businessman's perspective of government, he said.

As for running for House speaker or another state office, Traviesa said he hasn't ruled it out. But he thinks it's too early to speculate.

"This is Tallahassee. Everyone's handicapping everyone. I'm not interested in that," Traviesa said. "I just got here."

Carrie Johnson can be reached at 850 224-7263 or cjohnson@sptimes.com

Bush's lofty goals meet wary Senate

By John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau

May 2, 2005

TALLAHASSEE -- Facing the sternest test of his seven years in office, Gov. Jeb Bush has just one more week to sell a sharply divided Legislature on what he calls his "big, hairy, audacious goals."

In his second-to-last regular session as the state's chief executive, Bush has asked state lawmakers to overhaul Medicaid, scale back the class-size amendment, expand school vouchers, finance new schools, roads and utilities sparked by runaway growth, and impose new limits on lawsuits.

But with the session scheduled to end Friday, virtually every Bush initiative is at best unresolved or hanging by a thread.

"None of those things are easy lifts, individually," said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, a former Senate president. "But collectively, they're darn tough. And I don't know how he's going to do it."

Bush's ambitious political agenda once seemed designed to defy lingering speculation that the governor's influence was waning as he passed the midpoint of his second and final term as governor.

Few are willing to suggest that Bush has become a lame duck. But the enormity of his ideas this spring has collided with a free-thinking Senate president, Tom Lee, who almost single-handedly has slowed Bush's agenda.

Lee, R-Brandon, who verbally rebuked Bush last week in a dispute over growth management and Medicaid, concedes that some of his differences with the governor can be characterized as a turf battle.

But Lee also said he's willing to kill every one of Bush's initiatives -- which would likely take down his own priorities -- if a stronger consensus cannot be reached.

"I'm prepared to shift this from a dysfunctional Legislature to a do-nothing Legislature, if it means that I have to leverage the members of my chamber to vote for things that defy their conscience," Lee said.

Lee said he's convinced Bush does not have the needed support of 24 senators in the 40-member Senate to put on next year's ballot the governor's plan to relax the state's class-size standard in exchange for setting a $35,000 minimum pay for state teachers.

Similarly, the Senate chief said the governor faces no chance of winning approval for his proposal expanding state-paid vouchers to pay for a private-school education for students who repeatedly fail the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Bush's Medicaid initiative -- designed to give managed-care organizations more control of health care for the poor -- is a "nonstarter" with senators in its current form, Lee added. The governor's sought-after lawsuit limits also are almost certain to pass only in a diluted form.

The governor's $9.5 billion proposal to build more roads, schools and utilities to cope with the state's unrelenting growth might fare better in the Senate, which supports a similar initiative. But the House's opposition to a key component -- giving local governments an easier path to raise taxes -- means that proposal, too, is in trouble.

Even lesser Bush proposals have proved a tough sell. With the state awash in $5 billion in higher-than-anticipated tax revenue, Bush called for abolishing the "intangibles tax" on wealthier investors that brings close to $300 million into the state treasury.

Instead, the Senate has agreed only to reduce the tax rate by half.

Despite the rough reception, Bush spokesman Russell Schweiss said the governor remains optimistic in the session's closing days.

"The governor introduced some very bold initiatives," Schweiss said. "This debate we fully expected. But with a week to go in the session, the dialogue remains open."

In his previous six years in office, Bush has sparred with a succession of Senate leaders, King included, and often has been forced to persuade a more independent-minded Senate to endorse his legislative agenda.

But with some end-of-session persuasion and political leverage, Bush has won support for a host of initiatives, including landmark education proposals and $10.7 billion in tax cuts.

Recent polls also show that the governor remains very popular with Floridians. Bush, though, has never before been faced with as much political heavy lifting, say even his closest allies.

"It's all because his ideas are so big this time," said John Thrasher, a lobbyist who, as House speaker in Bush's first year, helped usher through the governor's first-in-the-nation statewide school-voucher program, civil-justice changes and $1 billion in tax cuts.

"Any one of this year's initiatives could take a couple of years to develop. It's a tall order he's seeking," Thrasher said.

Most acknowledge that Bush's hold over the Legislature will only weaken by next year, when the campaign to become his successor will be in full swing.

By contrast to the increasingly hostile Senate, the House this spring has approved most of Bush's proposals. But without Senate support, these measures will crash by Friday night, when the two-month session is slated to end.

House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, refused to pass judgment on Bush's prospects in the final week. He said the governor is lobbying relentlessly -- perhaps even too hard, citing last week's rebuke from Lee.

"He's working me hard; he's working members hard. I think he was kicked out of the Senate yesterday because he was working members so hard," Bense said.

But he added that there still is time for the governor to claim at least a few victories.

"A lot of these things don't spring loose until the last week," he said.

Sean Mussenden of the Tallahassee bureau contributed to this report. John Kennedy can be reached at jkennedy@orlandosentinel.com or 850-222-5564.

Below are the AP stories on the two bills...

VOUCHERS

A bill that would give private school vouchers to thousands of struggling readers cleared the House on an 80-34 vote Monday.

The idea, a priority for Gov. Jeb Bush, has an uncertain future in the Senate, where lawmakers have pointed to a pending court case over the state's original voucher law.

Passed in 1999, that voucher law applied to students at persistently failing public schools. Opponents challenged it the day after Bush signed it six years ago and the state Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments next month.

The legislation (HCB 6007) would also change the state's class-size reduction law, anticipating that voters would soften the constitutional provision they approved in 2002.

The House voted 76-34 for that proposed ballot measure (HJR 1843), which is also struggling in the Senate.

The revised class-size proposal that the governor and House want to put before voters would keep the standard for class size measurement at a district-average level rather than imposing a hard cap for each and every classroom.

In exchange for easing off on the class-size standard, a $35,000 floor for teacher salaries would be put in the state constitution. ---

McKAY SCHOLARSHIPS

A bill to tighten some of the financial and academic requirements for vouchers given to poor and disabled children to attend private schools passed the Senate 31-8 Monday.

The measure (SB 2) sponsored by Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, makes students for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind eligible for the vouchers, called McKay Scholarships, and requires the program be reviewed periodically by the auditor general.

"These are good programs doing good things," King said. "It has become a model for other states to follow. It's offered hope and a hand up instead of a handout."

Nearly 15,000 students attend private schools on McKay vouchers and some 11,000 students attend private schools on vouchers backed by corporate tax credits to businesses that pay for the vouchers.

King's bill would also toughen penalties for scholarship funding organizations or schools who attempt to defraud the state in any manner.

Similar bills are also scheduled for a House vote before Friday's scheduled adjournment

More Oversight Urged For Slots Than Voucher Schools

By Kimberly Miller

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

TALLAHASSEE — Floridians could be safer among the state's slot machine workers than private school student who take vouchers will be with their own teachers under proposals discussed Monday by House lawmakers.

Bills winding through the Senate and House this week would require slot machine employees to receive an occupational license that includes a level two criminal background check, which means a check against Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation records.

But legislators in the House say private schools that accept tax dollars for tuition are required only to give their employees a level one screening, which entails just the FDLE check.

"I think level one is fine. It is adequate. It will do well," said House Speaker Alan Bense, R-Panama City, who added that both bills may change before they reach the governor's desk.

Lawmakers are trying this session to implement a voter-mandated plan to allow for slot machines in Broward County. At the same time, they're working on several bills that would provide more oversight to Florida's three voucher programs, which use tax dollars to pay for private and religious school tuition.

The House voted 91-24 Monday to approve its version of the slots bill (HB 1901). The "voucher accountability bill" (HB 1163) moved forward in the House Monday, but still faces a final vote. The Senate passed its voucher bill (SB 2) 31-8 on Monday, and that bill, sponsored by former Senate President Jim King, requires a level two screening for private school employees. That is the same screening required for public school employees.

But some private school advocates have fought that language, saying it requires too much paperwork and money, and will drive schools from the vouchers programs. The level one screening costs $23, while the level two costs $47. Both bills say the schools cannot pass the costs onto the state.

"You are crippling school choice with this legislation," said Patricia Hardman, director of the Dyslexic Research Institute, which takes vouchers. In general, the House's bill has weaker oversight provisions than the Senate's:

•The House would continue to allow home-school "consultants" to get vouchers, while the Senate requires a school to have a physical location.

•The House says schools can test students on one of the nationally norm referenced tests and report the results to the parent and an independent third party, which would not have to publicize those results. The Senate lists four tests the schools would have to give and have them reported to one of the state universities.

•The Senate would allow at least one random site visit to private schools each year. The House does not provide for any site visits.

•The Senate would prohibit schools from discriminating on the basis of religion in admissions. The House does not contain any similar language.

•The Senate requires teachers to have some teaching experience or to have obtained some college degree. The House allows teachers to simply have undefined "special skills."

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said she wants the tougher screening because of the death of Jessica Lunsford, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in March by a man who worked at her school through a private contractor.