F.A.C.E. to FACE   F.A.C.E. BULLETIN 7/15/05   Dear Friends,   An “In Memoriam” piece on John Walton's quiet legacy in Fortune by Andy Serwer.   A remarkable article, Educators offended by state's award (Tallahassee Democrat).   In (Lawmaker seeks backing for education ballot initiative--the 65 Percent Solution), Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, deserves his “Props”.  Knowing the intellectual capacity of those who receive this email, you probably knew this, are you aware that school districts in Florida spend less than 65 cents of every dollar "inside" the classroom?    Florida Education Chancellor Jim Warford, resigned Tuesday (Florida education chancellor resigns).  Mr. Warford has been a true friend of school choice and we wish him well in his new endeavors.      Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,   Michael A. Benjamin Executive Director, F.A.C.E. Florida Alliance for Choices in Education Copyright 2005 Time Inc.   Fortune July 2005 SECTION: U.S. EDITION; FIRST/IN MEMORIAM; Pg. 33 LENGTH: 522 words HEADLINE: John Walton's quiet legacy BYLINE: Andy Serwer BODY: It's a paradox: John Walton's contributions to Wal-Mart would be difficult to calculate, but at the same time he will be almost impossible to replace. The 58-year-old son of Sam Walton died after an experimental aircraft he was piloting crashed near the Jackson Hole, Wyo., airport on June 27. John never held any title at Wal-Mart (except, at one time, company pilot). But when his father asked him in the early '90s to serve on the board, John jumped at the chance, telling me in an interview last year that he was "honored" by the opportunity. Board members say John was noted for his clearheadedness and moral compass. "He brought a different perspective to the board," says Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. "He wanted to increase our focus on the environment, education, and literacy. Our reputation too. 'We can't just brush that off,' John would say." That type of non-insular thinking by an insider is critically important to the retailing giant these days. In addition to his role as a board member, John also took the lead in his family's philanthropic efforts, pushing the Waltons to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to educational projects. John Walton was memorialized on June 30 at the small Presbyterian church he attended in Jackson Hole. The mourners included his three siblings and his mother, Helen, who constitute America's richest family, with a fortune of some $ 100 billion. (It's not known whether John's wife and son will sell any of his $ 19 billion of Wal-Mart stock or whether there'll be any change in the family's stake in the company.) Also attending the funeral were Wal-Mart CEO Scott and his predecessor David Glass, as well as business leaders such as Ted Turner. They remembered Walton as a hero for his harrowing missions as a Special Forces operative in Vietnam and for working tirelessly for education reform. Not everyone agreed with John's positions on school choice, but no one doubted his desire to help children receive a better education. John was also eulogized as a lover of nature, an entrepreneur (he ran a boat-building business and owned a solar-power company), and a man who was effortlessly genuine. Last fall I spent a day driving around the delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas with John, visiting schools he was funding. John was no extrovert--he was kind of the strong, silent type--and getting him to open up was challenging. He answered many of my questions with just a polite word or two, his face mostly expressionless. That all changed when we arrived at a school and John met the students. With them, he made small talk and shook hands, his face breaking into a wide grin. Later, near the end of an interview in an empty classroom, I asked what he would have done with his life if he hadn't been the son of Sam Walton and co-owner of 39% of Wal-Mart. "I have no idea," John said. "What is, is. I'm much more concerned about where I'm going tomorrow than what I would have done." Sadly, we are now left wondering where John Walton would have gone tomorrow, as well as what else he would have done. -- Andy Serwer Educators offended by state's award By Nancy Cook Lauer Tallahassee Democrat CAPITOL CORNER Florida just received another award, but not everybody's happy about it. In fact, the National Education Association - one of the sponsors of the conference where the award was presented - calls the award "offensive" to teachers and is asking the Education Commission of the States to take it back. The honor at issue is the Frank Newman Award for State Innovation, which was given to both Florida and Utah at the education commission's annual conference in Denver this week. ECS President Piedad F. Robertson cited the "courage, confidence and creativity" the two states showed in expanding educational opportunities and improving quality. Florida in particular was recognized for its restructured K-12 educational system, universal pre-kindergarten program, the McKay Scholarship Program for disabled students and the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which gives students in failing schools vouchers to pay for private schools. The state was also praised for its several hundred charter schools and the Florida Virtual School. "Over the past several years, Florida and Utah have demonstrated a strong, sustained commitment to education reform and improvement and made impressive progress on several fronts," Robertson said. The teachers' union blasted the award. NEA noted that the fate of Florida's voucher program remains in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court and that the McKay Scholarship program has been plagued with problems since it began. Among the problems, according to the NEA: Seven people associated with the Faith Christian Academy in Bartow were arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $200,000 of voucher money. The private Heritage Schools in Miami-Dade County cashed in vouchers for students who had returned to public school. A Tampa Islamic school named in a federal terrorism indictment received $350,000 in tax credit voucher money. A Boynton Beach home-school consultant received McKay voucher money despite the fact that she provided no direct services to special-needs children. An Ocala man collected more than $250,000 in voucher money but did not give out even one voucher. Another school in Jacksonville that accepted McKay vouchers received funds for 14 special-needs students who had returned to public schools. Florida lawmakers cut funding for the for-profit K-12 virtual school after it was discovered it was enrolling ineligible students. "This choice is offensive to the 2.7 million members of the National Education Association who toil tirelessly in America's public schools to ensure that every child receives a quality education," NEA President Reg Weaver said in a letter to the commission. Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who chairs an education subcommittee, was at the conference when the award was presented. Baxley dismissed the NEA's complaint as that of "naysayers." He said Florida was praised as an innovator, with officials from other states eager to emulate its successes. "I can tell you, I am proud to be a Floridian," Baxley said Thursday in a telephone interview from the conference. "We were quite the point of emphasis at a breakfast this morning." • Contact Capitol Bureau Chief Nancy Cook Lauer at nlauer@tallahassee.com or (850) 671-6547. Lawmaker seeks backing for education ballot initiative By RAY PARKER, brparker@naplesnews.com July 15, 2005 Proponents dub it the 65 Percent Solution. And Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, came to Collier County on Thursday to muster allies in his campaign to convince state lawmakers to put more money into classrooms. "Here's how you put over $1 billion in public classrooms without raising taxes," he told an audience of 34 county community leaders. In the upcoming 2006 legislative session, he wants Florida lawmakers to approve a ballot initiative that would go before the public. Voters would then decide if school districts would be forced to spend at least 65 cents of every dollar "inside" the classroom — pumping money into teachers' salaries, books and other supplies tied directly to teaching students. This has been the focus of Hasner's life for the past two weeks, and in the coming eight months, he'll crisscross the state seeking support. The 65 Percent Solution idea has been leapfrogging across the country. Four states recently passed the measure — New York, Tennessee, Utah and Maine — and Texas could become the fifth state this week. "We've got to do something new in education," said Tim Mooney of Scottsdale, Ariz., who's a spokesman for the group spearheading the 65 Percent Solution, called First Class Education. Inside the Collier Athletic Club conference room, Hasner and Mooney pitched the idea for more than an hour. They explained schools spend 61 cents of every dollar inside classrooms across the nation, according to figures they cited from the National Center for Education Statistics. "Four little pennies means over 14 billion without new taxes (nationwide)," Mooney said, while holding up his four fingers. Florida spends much less. Its 67 school districts on average spend just less than 59 cents on the dollar in classroom operations, according to NCES figures. AT A GLANCE Those interested in the 65 Percent Solution may call Rep. Adam Hasner's office at (561) 279-1616 or e-mail him at adam.hasner@myfloridahouse.gov. So, who would be against the 65 Percent Solution in Florida? Most likely school administrators who would have to make the cuts in other areas or come up with new ideas for running the district bureaucracy, Hasner said. Mooney of First Class Education has run 12 such ballot initiatives throughout the country. His polls tell him there's support for the 65 Percent Solution across the political spectrum: Republicans and Democrats, young and old, white and black. Collier schools Superintendent Ray Baker attended the meeting and noted his district spends 64.7 percent in the classroom, according to Florida Department of Education figures. "I think this is a movement we all need to get behind," Baker said. But Rep. Hasner criticized the state DOE, saying the agency has made it difficult to get figures to assess school spending. He also questioned the state's definition of "inside" classroom spending. He'll propose the state education agency use the definition of the federal National Center for Education Statistics. "That way we can compare apples to apples," Hasner said. Two of the five School Board members attended, Linda Abbott and Steve Donovan, who both favor the measure. Education activist Shawn Black asked how the 65 Percent Solution could affect the current class-size reductions. Florida remains the only state to have a voter-approved measure requiring reductions in class sizes, which, in coming years, state lawmakers have said, will cost billions to implement. Mooney answered the extra money naturally would go toward hiring more teachers, but he didn't know all the ramifications. Everyone praised education activist Dorene McShea, who organized the event. "It's about priorities. Are (school administrators') priorities in order?" Mooney asked. "The priority should be the students." Those interested in the 65 Percent Solution may call Rep. Hasner's office at (561) 279-1616 or e-mail him at adam.hasner@myfloridahouse.gov. Florida education chancellor resigns By J. TAYLOR RUSHING Capital Bureau Chief TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Education Chancellor Jim Warford, a one-time country music singer who rose to the second-most powerful position in the state Department of Education, resigned Tuesday and is being encouraged to apply for the Duval County schools superintendent's vacancy. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Warford, 56, supervised the state's K-12 public school system of 2.3 million students and will be on leave until his effective resignation date of Nov. 29. He was hired in 2003 and spent much of his time in Tallahassee reforming Florida's middle schools. Former state education commissioner Jim Horne said he has encouraged Warford to apply for the Duval County job. Warford wouldn't reveal his plans but said his resignation was his idea and that he wants to stay in the education field. "My first love is our schools, and I believe I'm going to have an opportunity to serve teachers and principals in another, more exciting way," Warford said. "I'm very proud of the time I spent at the department. There are some tremendously dedicated educators in Florida from the DOE to the classroom level, and to have a role in that is exciting." Duval County Superintendent Nancy Snyder, who has led the system on a temporary basis since John Fryer's resignation in March, said the search is ongoing and a new superintendent should be named this fall. Snyder and Duval school lobbyist Martin Miller said Warford was widely popular for respecting opinions from local levels and not staying cloistered in the capital. "He really lived school improvement because he'd been through it," Snyder said. "He also treated people in this district with dignity and respect, he understood the complexities of failure, and he was not one to blame but to encourage and provide strategies that definitely worked." While at the Department of Education, he supervised a system of more than 2,600 schools, 300,000 teachers and 2.3 million students. He spent much of his time on middle school reforms -- raising standards, curbing social promotions, toughening curriculums and encouraging teachers to improve their reading coaching skills. Warford was paid $140,000 a year. Horne recruited Warford from the Marion County superintendent's office and said he would make a fine fit for Duval County. "Jacksonville is a key laboratory for a lot of the things he wants to do and would be good at," Horne said. "He was one of the outstanding education leaders not only in Florida, but on the national level. He had great insight and creative ideas. He was a breath of fresh air." jt.rushingjacksonville.com, (850) 224-7515, extension 11

 

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

If you no longer want to receive this mailing or you wish to unsubscribe from
F.A.C.E mailings, please send an e-mail with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to mbenjamin@flace.org.