F.A.C.E. to FACE

F.A.C.E. BULLETIN

6/24/05

Dear Friends,

A parent responds to the Orlando Sentinel with intelligence and dignity, (Oops! Musings about an apostrophe).

A St. Petersburg Times Editorial (The graduation rate crisis).

Some of Florida Today’s readers respond to the paper’s editorial against choice in (Choice in education).

George F. Will of Newsweek writes about school choice in Florida in (Choice Under Fire, Yet Again), http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8185329/site/newsweek/.

Two Letters to the Editors in St. Petersburg Times (Vouchers improve education with choice and competition) and (Private schools need standards).

In (Free pre-K off to bumpy start), organizers are concerned that there won't be enough schools yet a pending Florida Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of using tax money to send children to faith-based schools could conceivably eliminate the bulk of the private pre-K providers in the state.

Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,

Michael A. Benjamin

Executive Director, F.A.C.E.

Florida Alliance for Choices in Education

Oops! Musings about an apostrophe

June 9, 2005

Troubling issues

Unknowingly, the voucher advocates rallying outside the Florida Supreme Court are perhaps the best testimony against Opportunity Program's success rate, Gov. Jeb Bush's taxpayer support for private education.

These people don't even recognize the glaring grammar error in the signs they display, one on the level usually learned in elementary school: use of the apostrophe. Public education correctly spells it "guarantees," with no apostrophe.

More important -- and more serious -- is the statement of the Bush representative in the lawsuit for vouchers that legislators have the "quintessential power" to spend money as they want.

Where did I get the odd notion that legislators were to be voices of the people? Back in public education, I suppose.

Ona Barfield

St. Cloud

Unintentional, perhaps

In reference to the article on the front page of Wednesday's Local & State section, "High court hears voucher challenge": Are the private-school voucher supporters being ironic, or is the misplaced apostrophe (that appears on TWO of the signs) unintentional?

It is used correctly, as a possessive, in the term "Florida's constitution," but it is unnecessary when placed in the word "guarantees."

Where is Mr. Language Person, Dave Barry, when you need him?

He would truly appreciate this situation!

Janet Kane

Windermere

Approve vouchers

I couldn't help but think of Lynne Truss' book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation when I saw the picture of the student holding up the sign with the possessive (sic) form of "guarantee" on it.

I hope the vouchers are approved. Obviously, they could use the education.

Bill Sowell

Deland

High quality

Surely, surely, SURELY that cannot be an apostrophe in the word "guarantee's," as in "Florida's Constitution Guarantee's Me a High Quality Education"?! That's appalling.

Someone certainly needs a "high quality education" from somewhere, with an emphasis on intensive apostrophe remediation.

Sincerely your's (that's a joke, people)

Sally William's (that's also a joke)

Longwood

Response

Letters to the Editor, Orlando Sentinel, June 12

Stooping low

I was one of more than 2,000 parents and children who traveled Tuesday to Tallahassee from Orlando to show the Supreme Court how strongly I feel about school choice.

On Thursday the Sentinel chose to publish not just one, but four letters from readers ridiculing sign holders for a misplaced apostrophe. Almost every parent and student in that crowd was low-income and minority. Although traditionally denied a political voice, we worked tirelessly to attend this rally because nothing is more important to us than our children's futures.

Every day, CEOs, lawyers and, yes, even newspapers, make typographical errors. Harping on them is petty and a clear refusal to address the real issue at stake, which is the educational future of 200,000 Florida students.

I'm not surprised there are people who would write such letters, but I am surprised the Sentinel stooped so low as to print four of them. You should maintain your newspaper's "Reader Views" section as a public forum for serious dialogue of the issues at stake.

Elizabeth Walker

Altamonte Springs

The graduation rate crisis

A Times Editorial
Published June 20, 2005

The numbers are staggering: Black males were half as likely to graduate in four years as white Florida high school students in 2002, and just 38 percent of black males finished in that time. In 16 Southern states, just about half of black and Latino students who entered ninth grade in 2002 graduated four years later, compared to 70 percent of white students.

These are the sobering statistics contained in a recent study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University titled "Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis in the South." The study tabulates high school graduation rates for 16 states and the District of Columbia, using a methodology the authors say is more accurate than many states employ, concluding the low rates are an "educational and civil rights crisis."

According to the study, just 57.4 percent of Florida students graduated from high school in four years, with black students at 45 percent, Latinos at 52 percent, Native Americans at 54 percent, Asians at 80 percent and white students at 63 percent. Throughout the South, graduation rates are nearly 4 percent lower than the national average of 68 percent. And for Hillsborough County, the only Tampa Bay county highlighted in the study, the report lists minority and overall graduation rates at about 50 percent.

Like many education statistics, graduation rates vary depending on how they are calculated, which leads to disputes over their meaning. Florida tracks the progress of individual students closely, giving them a unique number to note how they move through the system. But the state reported a graduation rate of 65 percent in 2002, nearly 8 points higher than the Harvard study, possibly because state education officials include those who receive high school equivalency degrees through the General Educational Development tests.

Why care about graduation rates? The Civil Rights Project report notes those who drop out of high school are more likely to be jailed, unemployed, on welfare or dependent on public health care. They also will earn less on average than their counterparts who finish high school.

While the poverty of a school district is important, the Harvard report notes that highly segregated districts also are good predictors of high dropout rates. And the study notes the South is experiencing the most rapid increase in black segregation, with black youths four times as likely to live and attend school in communities with high levels of segregation.

Some conclusions in the study are in dispute, especially the suggestion that an emphasis on achievement tests can encourage educators to "push out" underperforming students to improve scores. But its larger message for Florida and beyond is clear: Better tracking methods for graduation rates and increased support of dropout prevention programs are among the steps needed to address an often-overlooked crisis.

June 12, 2005

Choice in education

Letters from FLORIDA TODAY Readers

Editorial on vouchers looked at only one side

Once again, FLORIDA TODAY's editorial "End the vouchers" supports the unions and big public education money when it comes to school choice.

When will this newspaper quit backing the education establishment and take a look at other viewpoints?

According to Florida Department of Education statistics, we a making a fuss about 700 children using school vouchers out of a population of 2.6 million students statewide.

Parents and guardians are asserting their free choice under law as currently interpreted and doing so with courage. They are improving the common good by seeking an education for their children.

What's wrong with that?

The one-sided arguments on regulation, fraud and regulatory oversight just smack of calling for Big Brother to watch over us.

What the paper needs is an honest look at alternative education and its results.

For example, we already support a voucher-like system for post-secondary education in our universities and colleges with total freedom of choice for public vs. private school.

This freedom of choice should extend to primary and secondary schools.

One-sided tirades are not useful for advancing our society.

Vinnie Ferrando

Merritt Island

Charter school succeeds with merit-pay plan

A June 6 article headlined "Merit pay plan fails; teachers vote no, find program too inflexible," noted that Hoover Middle School in Indialantic chose not to continue its participation in the Teacher Advancement Program.

I'm principal of Renaissance Elementary Charter School in Miami-Dade County, a participant in TAP that was highlighted in the article.

I want to elaborate on the reasons why TAP has transformed our school to raise our achievement level from a "C" to an "A" on the FCAT, and to help us achieve Adequte Yearly Progress under federal No Child Left Behind standards for two consecutive years.

At our school, our teachers have always been encouraged to share ideas that work and embark upon new learning from our "mentor" and "lead" teachers.

Because of TAP, first-year teachers have received crucial mentoring to improve their classroom performance, collegiality and student achievement.

Our teachers with years of experience have also benefited from TAP. We have been told by our veteran teachers that TAP's cluster meetings were the key to achieving student success this year.

It is clear that our teachers greatly appreciate the career advancement and professional development opportunities, as well as performance pay benefits TAP provides.

Renaissance has had the wonderful opportunity to work diligently with TAP for over three years, and is looking forward to continuing this program next year.

Ana Cordal

Miami

School choice foes ignore the status quo

FLORIDA TODAY editorials and other apologists for the teacher's unions argue that "vouchers divert money from the government public school system to private schools, and break down the wall of separation between church and state."

They reach this conclusion based on the fact that "half of Florida's 700 voucher users attend religious schools." But it's an argument without logical foundation or merit.

There are hundreds of thousands of parents who send children to private schools or home school their children, yet also pay property taxes to support government schools.

It seems the government is the one ending up with free "diverted money," from all these parents whose children do not attend public schools.

As for the separation argument, since the end of World War II, tens of millions of former military service men and women have been free to decide, without objection, which school or college, government or private, they wish to attend using federal government vouchers. It's known as the GI Bill.

Alberto E.P. Lee

Viera

Coming together on school vouchers

By JOE FOLLICK AND LLOYD DUNKELBERGER

Filling up the esplanade between the Capitol and the Supreme Court, the crowd of more than a thousand was rocking Tuesday morning.

They came to protest during the court's deliberations over the constitutionality of taxpayer-funded vouchers that allow students in failing schools to attend religious schools. But a quick glance at the mostly African-American crowd would have led to the logical assumption that it was a civil rights rally of some sort.

Led by the booming, cadenced voice of Howard Fuller, an African-American who formerly led the Milwaukee public school system, the crowd whooped and hollered with the fervor of a tent revival. They chanted against a court system, claiming it was denying their children an opportunity for a better life. The primary chorus was familiar to rallies: Fuller: What do we want?? Crowd: School choice! Fuller: When do we want it?? Crowd: Now!

Into this classic civil rights atmosphere came an unlikely speaker: Former Senate President John McKay, a well-off, white developer from Bradenton whose rhetorical style in the Legislature was a businessman's dry drawl rather than a motivational speaker's fiery sermonizing.

Shortly before he stood up from his seat on the riser to speak, he quietly chanted along with the crowd. He then muted some of the crowd's fervor, praising the public school system that was indirectly the target of the pro-voucher crowd's ire. Still, he passionately defended the McKay Scholarships, his prime legislative legacy that allows more than 10,000 disabled students to attend private schools.

He then stepped down, his suit jacket folded over his arm and appeared unusually kempt after speaking in the 90-degree morning heat.

He smiled with obvious pleasure at the seeming oxymoron of his presence in a sea of minorities.

"That's one of the unique things about our political system. People who you wouldn't expect to come together come together on various issues," he said. "There's strength in diversity, I think it's good for society."

He then stared at the 22-story Capitol where he reigned from in 2001 and 2002 as a man with virtual veto power over state government. He laughed, saying it was hard to come back to Tallahassee after being at the top.

"I get the hives just being here," he said.

Choice Under Fire, Yet Again

By George F. Will

Newsweek

June 20 issue - Florida's Supreme Court last week was the latest venue for the movable feast of meretricious arguments by which public-school teachers unions wage war in any city or state where families of poor children try to escape from failing public schools. The attack on Florida's school-choice program relied on 19th-century bigotry and 21st-century obscurantism.

Florida's Opportunity Scholarships, the nation's first statewide school-choice program, was enacted in 1999 to ameliorate a gross civil-rights injustice-the fact that poor families whose children are trapped in terrible schools are helpless to prevent their children's life chances from being blighted. The program empowers students to transfer from failing schools, as defined by set criteria, to the public or private school of their choice.

Teachers unions immediately filed suit to block this escape route-this underground railroad, if you will-from the public-school plantation. The suit cited two provisions of Florida's constitution.

One is its Blaine amendment, which says no public money shall go "directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." The other says the state must make "adequate provision" for "a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools."

Blaine amendments are named after Maine Sen. James G. Blaine, who sought the Republicans' 1876 presidential nomination, when fear and loathing of Catholic immigrants was pervasive. As early as 1855, Massachusetts's governor, every member of the state Senate and all but four members of the state House were members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing Party, and the legislature established a Nunnery Investigating Committee to search for underground dungeons in convents.

Many states such as Florida adopted Blaine amendments to their constitutions-and Congress required them in the constitutions of new states joining the union. That these amendments were anti-Catholic is indisputable: they proliferated at a time when Protestantism was the established religion in America's public schools. Education reformer Horace Mann said the public school should be a "nursery of piety" dispensing "judicious religious instruction." Judicious meant using the King James Version of the Bible and combating "the superstitious inheritance of priestcraft."

Opponents of Opportunity Scholarships say they violate Florida's Blaine amendment by being usable at religious schools. But this argument has three flaws.

First, the scholarships are not "in aid of" any religious institution. Rather, they are intended to promote the general public welfare by improving, through accountability and competition, Florida's public schools. Although the program permits the use of scholarships at religious schools, it neither favors nor encourages such use, and any benefit such schools receive is merely incidental to the purpose of improving public schools.

Second, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that school-choice programs similar to Florida's "have a valid secular purpose" and involve "true private choice" because government scholarship aid goes directly to parents, who use it at their discretion. It "reaches religious schools only as a result of the genuine and independent choices of private individuals," so any "incidental" benefit to religious institutions involves "no imprimatur of state approval."

Third, although the sort of people who fight against poor children are not very susceptible to shame, even they may be ashamed to rely on the Blaine amendment, that residue of 19th-century bigotry. Hence their reliance on the "uniformity" clause. But that reliance has two problems.

First, a "uniform" public-school system cannot mean that all schools must be identical. Neither does it mean that the state legislature must concern itself exclusively with providing access to public schools. Rather, the term "uniform" means merely that no child shall be denied access to the public system. As long as the legislature fulfills that constitutional duty, it can additionally promote the general welfare by using ingredients of private education. Indeed, the teachers unions say that the state, consistent with its duty to provide "uniform" education, can send children with special needs to private schools.

Second, the Institute for Justice, the merry band of libertarian litigators who are defending Floridians desperate for school choice, says: There is nothing "uniform" about a state school system in which many schools-mostly attended by minority children from poor families-are consistently assigned an F grade by the state, while many other schools, particularly in affluent areas, consistently receive high state grades for delivering the "high quality" education to which Florida's constitution says all the state's children are entitled.

Why do the teachers unions fighting poor families focus only on the word "uniform"? What about the other adjectives in Florida's constitution? Does anyone think Florida is providing all students with public schools that are "efficient, safe, secure, and high quality"? Can the unions assert that without blushing? Probably.

Vouchers improve education with choice and competition

Letters to the Editor
Published June 15, 2005

Since 1999, the Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided parents of students in failing public schools with another option for their child's education. The resulting gains in Florida education are unprecedented nationally especially among disadvantaged students, proving once again that competition improves services.

School choice programs like OSP focus on improving educational outcomes for children and in the process necessarily improve public schools seeking student placements. The cost of ensuring this competition to educate a few hundred students is trivial by comparison to the public education budget. But the impact of the competition is dramatic especially for financially disadvantaged parents and students.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments as to the constitutionality of OSP. The crux of the dispute is whether the scholarship program, by providing vouchers to parents who may choose to use them at a religious or nonreligious school, violates the state Constitution. In the past, courts have consistently upheld such programs on the principle that a neutral program with a secular purpose is not unconstitutional, even if religious institutions may ultimately benefit.

The purpose of OSP is not to "aid any sectarian institution." The program simply provides funding to parents of eligible students who may choose any private school. To allow choice, but prohibit parents from choosing a religious school, would involve interpreting the state Constitution to require discrimination against persons solely on the basis of what they believe. Such an interpretation conflicts with the federal free exercise clause as well as prior cases interpreting the state Constitution, yet it is precisely what opponents of the program demand.

School choice and the competition and incentives that it provides for public schools are radically helping to improve education. We owe it to our children to continue to implement these values in education as elsewhere in our society and to reject discrimination on the basis of personal belief.

-- F. Philip Handy, chairman, Florida State Board of Education, Tallahassee

Private schools need standards

Re: Vouchers.

It's interesting to note the recent news about the constitutionality of vouchers. It is amazing to me how today's leaders are not as concerned about the state Constitution and want to bend it to their will and principles.

If the court upholds vouchers, I believe the only way to do this fairly would be to have all private schools administer the FCAT and be subject to the same school grading system that all public schools are. How can we justify putting people's hard-earned tax dollars into these private schools if there is no proof that the money is being well used?

-- Matthew Goldrick, Spring Hill

Education Week

Published: June 15, 2005

Justices Query Lawyers in Fla. Court Showdown Over Voucher Program

By Alan Richard

Florida’s Opportunity Scholarships faced their most crucial test last week, as the state supreme court heard arguments in a case about the constitutionality of the voucher program.

In more than an hour of oral arguments in Bush v. Holmes, held June 7 in Tallahassee and shown live on the Internet, lawyers sparred over the implications for school vouchers of language in the Florida Constitution that bars religious institutions from receiving state money.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer John M. West said that religious schools using the vouchers are involved in “the religious indoctrination of young children,” suggesting there is no way to square the program with the state constitution.

But the state’s lawyers asked the court to keep the vouchers, which they argued are no different from other common forms of public aid that go to religious colleges, hospitals, and other entities. They also stressed that the vouchers primarily help poor and minority students.

“The Opportunity Scholarship program is in aid of Florida’s children—period,” Florida Solicitor General Christopher M. Kise said. “It’s not a clandestine way to fund religious or sectarian schools. … This program is constitutional.”

A decision in the 4-year-old lawsuit challenging the vouchers, which about 720 students statewide used to pay school tuition in 2004-05, could determine the future of vouchers in the state, and slow or fuel the growth of private school choice nationwide.

Two lower courts have ruled the Opportunity Scholarships unconstitutional, citing the state’s so-called Blaine amendment on funding for religious institutions.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Cleveland voucher program, which includes religious schools, passes muster under the federal constitution, other state constitutions also include Blaine-style language that voucher opponents argue prohibits state tuition aid for such schooling.

Courtroom Drama

Justice Kenneth B. Bell wanted to know last week why the U.S. high court’s 2002 decision in the Cleveland case, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, didn’t trump the Florida Constitution. He also suggested that overturning the Florida program might show hostility toward religious institutions, which federal law prohibits.

Mr. West, a private lawyer hired to represent the plaintiffs by the Florida Education Association, responded that the state constitution’s Blaine amendment contains “a far more specific restriction on the use of public funds than does the federal establishment clause [of the First Amendment].”

The Florida justices weighed other factors, including whether the Opportunity Scholarships affect the state constitution’s pledge to provide a uniform public education system for all students.

Justice Harry Lee Anstead asked why the court should leave the vouchers in place. “Wouldn’t that basically, completely, undermine the system that has been provided in the [state] constitution, for the free system of public schools?” he said.

Mr. Kise argued for the state that the vouchers are designed only to help students leave the lowest-rated public schools. “That is very, very different than a wholesale abdication of the public education system,” he said.

The court hearing also focused on whether the vouchers have improved education in Florida. “In 1999, there were 78 failing schools, and last year there were 14,” Justice Bell pointed out.

“That may be, sir, but … their assertion that that result was linked to the Opportunity Scholarship program is not supported,” Mr. West replied.

Lawyers defending the Opportunity Scholarships said last week that if the Florida Supreme Court rules the program unconstitutional under the Blaine amendment, they will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bush v. Holmes, which takes its name from Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican who first proposed the Opportunity Scholarships, and retired educator and teachers’ union official Ruth D. Holmes, could affect more than 25,000 Florida students’ ability to leave public schools through a variety of state-sponsored tuition programs.

Ripple Effect

The 700-plus students who used the Opportunity Scholarships in the past school year were eligible to leave public schools that had received F’s on their state report cards in two of the previous four years. Judges in the lower courts have allowed students to keep using the vouchers until the court case is settled.

If the state supreme court rules the Opportunity Scholarships unconstitutional, the state’s McKay Scholarships, which allowed 14,300 students with disabilities to attend religious or other private schools in the 2004-05 school year, likely would face an immediate legal challenge. Other Florida school choice programs also could be at legal risk. ("Court Showdown Over Fla. Vouchers Nears," May 25, 2005.)

Florida’s Blaine amendment—a reference to James G. Blaine, the nationally prominent Maine Republican who pushed for such constitutional language in the late 1800s—says in part that “no revenue of the state … shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination.”

Such amendments were seen as a way to keep public money from going to non-Protestant religious institutions.

A State Issue

The Blaine amendments or similar provisions in 37 state constitutions have been challenged before.

In 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that its state constitution did not prohibit the Milwaukee voucher program. ("Court Allows Vouchers in Milwaukee," June 17, 1998.)

And in 1999, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the state’s individual-tax-credit scholarships, which rely on private donations to help finance tuition at secular and religious private schools, did not violate the state constitution. ("Tax Credits Pass Muster In Arizona," February 3, 1999.)

But in 2004, the Colorado Supreme Court overturned that state’s vouchers, which were aimed at helping low-income students in urban areas. The suit against Colorado’s vouchers was a Blaine-related challenge, but the ruling avoided the church-state issue, citing local-control provisions instead. ("Colo. Vouchers Now Back In Political Arena," July 14, 2004.)

Then the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2004 Locke v. Davey decision from Washington state, allowed state aid to religious colleges—except for scholarships to students majoring in theology. ("High Court Upholds State's Bar On Aid to Theology Majors," March 3, 2004.)

Outside the Florida court last week, an estimated 2,500 marchers braved the Tallahassee heat and humidity to show their support for the Opportunity Scholarships and other forms of school choice in the state, voucher supporters said.

Taking Sides

Among them was Howard L. Fuller, the national board president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Mr. Fuller, a former superintendent of the Milwaukee schools, said after the march that the court should allow the voucher program to continue.

“After 15 years [in Milwaukee], we can clearly say that people have not been indoctrinated, people have not been intimidated” if they use vouchers to attend religious schools, he said.

John McKay, a Republican and former Florida Senate president who helped enact the McKay Scholarships for students with disabilities, said if the state high court rules against the Opportunity Scholarships, he hopes state legislators will move to protect the McKay program from litigation.

“I fortunately was able to pay for private school for my daughter after a public school didn’t meet her needs,” added Mr. McKay, the father of a grown daughter who was diagnosed with learning disabilities, in an interview after the march. “We have developed an education system where only those of means have choices.”

National opponents of school vouchers also monitored last week’s arguments.

“A decision to end this voucher program and presumably other programs would be a major blow to groups who want to promote the use of public dollars in private schools across the country,” said Marc Egan, the director of the voucher strategy center for the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Va.

The court could issue a decision before most Florida schools reopen in August.

Vol. 24, Issue 40, Pages 1,20

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“School Choice Loses Legislative Momentum,” June 8, 2005.

“Students Use Vouchers to Leave School With ‘F’ Grade,” May 28, 2005.

“Court Showdown Over Fla. Vouchers Nears,” May 25, 2005.

“Gov. Bush’s Voucher, Class-Size Proposals Fail in 2005 Session,” May 18, 2005.

“Florida Vouchers Dealt Another Legal Blow,” November 24, 2004.

“Florida Weighs Impact of Ruling Against Voucher Program,” September 1, 2004.

“Appeals Court Strikes Down Florida Voucher Program,” August 16, 2004.

“Colo. Vouchers Now Back In Political Arena,” July 14, 2004.

“High Court Upholds State's Bar On Aid to Theology Majors,” March 3, 2004.

“Tax Credits Pass Muster In Arizona,” February 3, 1999.

“Court Allows Vouchers in Milwaukee,” June 17, 1998.

See other stories on education issues in Florida. See data on Florida's public school system.

For background, previous stories, and Web links, read Vouchers.

The Florida Department of Education provides information about the state's Opportunity Scholarship program.

The National School Boards Association provides summaries of recent court decisions on school choice. See also the organization's Voucher Strategy Center.

The Black Alliance for Educational Opportunities highlights voucher programs across the country.

Letters to the Editor: Opportunity scholarships have improved schools; uphold law

Friday, June 17, 2005

A case to be decided in the Florida Supreme Court has Florida parents and schoolchildren standing at a crossroads. A neutral program implemented by elected leaders for the secular purpose of improving all Florida's schools and providing real educational opportunities for all may be thrown out because some parents are empowered by the program to choose to send their child to a religious or non-religious school ("Justices question legislators' authority," June 8).

If the court abandons precedent and strikes down the Opportunity Scholarship Program, it will abolish a critical tool for improving education.

With the reforms implemented under Gov. Bush and the Legislature, including as a cornerstone the Opportunity Scholarship Program, we for the first time have measurable evidence of success in the effort to improve public schools. For example:

•For African-American students, fourth-grade reading scores have increased from 23 percent reading at or above grade level in 1999 to 56 percent in 2005.

•For Hispanic students, fourth-grade reading scores have increased from 37 percent in 1999 to 66 percent in 2005. Furthermore, the gap between whites and minorities is closing at a faster rate than elsewhere in the country. In 2005, 46 percent of all Hispanic and 35 percent of all African-American third- through 10th-graders are reading at grade level, up from 35 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in 2001.

•Sixty-eight percent of Florida's third-graders are now calculating math at or above grade level, compared with 52 percent in 2001.

The results are clear. In Florida, choice in education spurs improvement. Depending on the state Supreme Court's ruling, we either will continue these historic efforts to hold public schools accountable and put children's needs first or be forced to abandon years of reform that finally are showing results. Let's hope that the court decides not to turn back the clock and frustrate thousands of Florida parents who simply want the opportunity to provide the best education possible for their children.

PHOEBE RAULERSON, member

Florida Board of Education

Tallahassee

Article published Jun 20, 2005
Free pre-K off to bumpy start
Organizers are predicting there won't be enough schools

By Laura Green

Hundreds of Southwest Florida 4-year-olds are signed up to take advantage of the state's free prekindergarten program set to begin in six weeks, but there won't be enough preschools to teach them all, local organizers predict.

Some of the schools that have signed up for the state program, which reimburses them $2,500 for the cost of three hours of teaching daily, are using their slots for students who were already enrolled at their centers.

Other students will have to wait until the summer, when public schools are required to offer pre-K education.

Florida's universal prekindergarten, as it's called, was designed to ensure that every 4-year-old whose parents wanted it would have a free, quality educational program to prepare their child for kindergarten. The reality may be far from that goal.

Deborah Whitham, director of Shamrock Preschool in Venice, registered with the state to take one class of 18 4-year-olds. But when parents call her school after seeing it on the list of eligible programs, Whitham has to turn them away.

The 3-year-olds who attended her school last year are filling most of her slots.

"By the time I call our waiting list, we aren't going to have any," she said of open slots. Parents "were expecting this great free program in August, and we just don't have room."

Statewide, more than 48,000 4-year-olds are registered to take part in the program. Only 633 pre-K providers have been approved by the state so far, though 1,473 more await approval.

Registration for parents and providers is handled by coalitions in each county under the oversight of the state Agency for Workforce Innovation, or AWI.

As of Friday, there were 900 pre-K slots in Sarasota County and 802 students enrolled. Manatee County listed about 1,300 available seats and 873 students registered. But hundreds more students are expected to enroll.

The state has anticipated that 170,000 children would participate.

Though voters in 2002 ordered lawmakers to start a pre-K system by this year, the framework establishing three hours of daily class time, student-teacher ratios and needs for accreditation of providers were only set up by lawmakers in December.

And it was just last month when lawmakers approved a budget that provides the money needed to fund the efforts of the coalitions to recruit providers and students.

That timeframe doomed the pre-K startup to a chaotic birth.

"It's almost, but not quite, impossible to put together a program from scratch in five months," said Warren May, a spokesman for AWI.

Simple things take a while in state government, May said, and the process couldn't fully start until the money was approved in May. For example, all of the rules and regulations relating to the contracts the providers will sign with the state have to be published in a state publication and then allowed time for comment before they can become official.

The Florida Catholic Conference is typical of the response private providers have had to the last-minute arrangements. Most of the 200-plus Catholic preschools in the state have taken a pass at participating, citing the lack of money and the fuzzy requirements for curriculum.

"The very good child-care centers are saying, 'This is not enough money to promise quality education. I'm not willing to take a loss or change my program,'" said Suzanne Gellens, the executive director of the Early Childhood Association of Florida.

Linda Mason, director of Child Care Connections, the local program running Sarasota's state-sponsored pre-K, warns when parents register that some of them are bound to be disappointed.

"We know there are not going to be enough spaces for every parent who registers now to get in," she said of participation during the school year.

But all children will get a slot in the summer.

Just a couple of months ago, Ann Petty, director of Christ Methodist Child Development Center, said she was planning to pass on joining the state pre-K even though it meant she could offer her parents a savings on their children's tuition.

She wasn't sure about the reimbursement procedures and wondered if it was worth the red tape to join a government program when she was already running a successful prekindergarten.

"There's still a lot of stuff up in the air," she said. "I thought I'd try it for a year and see if it worked out."

Some centers have decided to let other day-care providers be the guinea pigs for a year, said Mary Wolf, program manager for the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County.

She bets more will sign up next year, though.

If current registration figures hold steady, many public school districts could be forced to find hundreds of teachers willing to forsake their summers off in exchange for eight-hour days teaching tots.

Some parents also have been slow to warm to the state's program, which offers just three hours of instruction instead of a full-day program.

"It's a different program from what I think most persons who voted for it really thought it would be," said Carol Hunt, executive director of Resource Connection For Kids, the agency coordinating Manatee County's pre-K program. "That was part of the problem."

Legislators mandated all school districts to participate in summer pre-K as a "safety net" for children who could not find a space during the school year, May said.

Other states set up their pre-K programs so most 4-year-olds would attend public schools during the school year. But Florida lawmakers, citing the fiscal demands from the voter mandate to reduce class sizes, said private schools would have to handle the brunt of the enrollees.

Now, if private school spaces fall short, 4-year-olds will instead be allowed to attend public schools next summer for full-day instruction.

The first year of the state's pre-kindergarten program seems likely to be far different from what voters envisioned when they approved the plan in 2002.

And looming yet is a pending Florida Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of using tax money to send children to faith-based schools. The court's ruling could conceivably eliminate the bulk of the private pre-K providers in the state.

Many people predicted a "train wreck" when lawmakers agreed to spend only $2,500 per student for only three hours per day of education, a formula that's driven many private and faith-based preschools away, said Linda Alexionik, pre-kindergarten director for the Children's Campaign, a child advocacy group in Tallahassee.

"We're not at the wreck yet, but you can sure start to feel the screeching," Alexionik said.

Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)

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