F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
8/15/07
August 15, 2007
Dear Friends,
Thousands of New Scholarships Available for Low-Income K-12 Students
Black leaders rethink vouchers, St. Petersburg Times, Ron Matus' story on The Carrie Meek Foundation participating in the Step Up For Students Program as a Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO). The story speaks on the disconnect between Black Lawmakers and their constituents on the school choice issue. Matus interviewed former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, an icon in the black community, Senator Lawson and Representative Fields. Both Sen. Lawson and Rep. Fields are black Democrats that supported the scholarship bill in the House this year.
For some, no way out of F-rated campuses, OrlandoSentinel, Can students flee a failing high school? The state says yes; Orange says not all of them. How many kids in each public school district have asked for and been denied transfers? Why are the districts not telling the families about the scholarship program? Most if not all of the low-income families would qualify...
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
Black leaders rethink vouchers
A longtime politician has broken ranks, and others may follow.
By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
Published August 12, 2007
For years, teachers and others who opposed private school vouchers in Florida could count on black lawmakers to stand with them. But there are signs that support may be cracking.
The most recent example came last week. The foundation named for former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, an icon in the black community and a longtime voucher opponent, announced it would be awarding hundreds of vouchers to low-income kids in Miami.
"I spent a great part of my life trying to strengthen minority children and minority families," Meek, 81, said in a phone interview from her Miami home. "To get a scholarship like this would be very helpful to some of these children."
Some legislative observers say Meek's shift could give black lawmakers more political cover to support vouchers, which allow students to attend private school at public expense. In Florida, minority students make up a huge share of voucher recipients, yet black lawmakers have been among the most vocal critics.
Meek's support may be "the catalyst ... to start a dialogue," said state Rep. Terry Fields, a black Democrat from Jacksonville who consistently opposed vouchers until a few years ago.
"In Duval County there are 11 "F" schools, and all 11 of those "F" schools are in the African-American community," Fields continued. "We're at a place in time where we have to be creative and get out of our comfortable boxes and do what's best for our kids."
The response from critics: Vouchers are "always a bad idea," no matter who supports them, said Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the state teachers union. "I understand where their frustration is coming from. I understand folks are looking for a solution." But vouchers are "setting up false hopes."
United front weakens
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush and his Republican allies initiated vouchers in 1999, saying they would offer lifelines to students "trapped" in failing public schools and, by injecting market-style competition into the system, drive improvement throughout.
But critics countered that vouchers were a distraction, a financial drain and a right-wing plot to undermine public schools. Some opponents also argue that voucher proponents are using minorities as a Trojan horse to sneak in the idea of universal vouchers for all students, not just those who are poor, minority or disabled.
"I don't see how any African-American can support vouchers," state Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, once said. "Those who do are very misled and they are moving along a path that they don't understand."
Whether black lawmakers are warming up to vouchers is not an idle debate.
In 2006, the state Senate failed by a single vote to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot aimed at protecting vouchers from future legal challenges. Six of seven black senators voted no.
For now, most black lawmakers - all Democrats - continue to side with voucher opponents. "I don't think you're going to see a groundswell of support from African-American lawmakers," said state Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, who is black and a member of the House Education Council. Vouchers "hurt the schools we represent more so than the others."
But opposition is no longer universal. In the spring, several black lawmakers, including state Rep. Betty Reed of Tampa, voted in favor of a bill that proposed tweaks to existing voucher programs. The changes were backed by a wide array of pro-voucher groups.
Reed could not be reached for comment last week.
But state Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, said he expects more black lawmakers to cross over, especially newer members who don't have strong ties to old alliances and are "open to different ideas." He said they're frustrated by pathetic graduation rates among black students and feeling pressure from black ministers with ties to private schools.
"When you have a lot of poor kids in your area that need help, and you have people saying, 'We're willing to work with these kids,' ... it's hard to say no," he said.
Lawson himself voted against establishment of the tax-credit voucher in 2001. But in 2006 he was the lone black senator to vote for the voucher amendment and in the spring, he spoke in front of thousands of minority kids and parents at a pro-voucher rally in Tallahassee.
Source of money is factor
In some states, black politicians and vouchers haven't been consistently at odds. In Wisconsin, a black lawmaker sponsored the bill that created Milwaukee's voucher program. In New Jersey, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is a leading voucher supporter.
In Florida, the teachers union successfully challenged the state's first voucher program, Opportunity Scholarships, which the Florida Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional last year. But two other programs have gone unchallenged, including the tax-credit voucher now embraced by Meek.
Under that program, which included nearly 17,000 students this year, corporations can direct a portion of their state taxes to private tuition for low-income children. Both Meek and the executive director of her foundation, Anthony Williams, said that made the program fundamentally different and more acceptable than Opportunity Scholarships, which took money directly out of state coffers.
"Vouchers are state funded," Williams said. "These are privately funded."
Voucher critics scoff at that distinction.
But Meek did not deny that her take on vouchers has changed in recent years. "I was an opponent because I thought vouchers were taking away from public schools," she said. But "the way I see it now, they are not taking away."
Public schools and vouchers, she said, are "not mutually exclusive."
Ron Matus can be reached at (727) 893-8873 or matus@sptimes.com. <mailto:matus@sptimes.com.%3c/p%3e>
OrlandoSentinel.com
For some, no way out of F-rated campuses
Can students flee a failing high school? The state says yes; Orange says not all of them.
Leslie Postal
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 3, 2007
More than 700 students want to flee Orange County's two F-rated high schools. But school officials, in a move likely to anger parents, have decided only 400 can leave.
The district denied 330 transfer requests because many of its other high schools are too crowded to take more students or did not earn the necessary state grades, officials said.
Parents of Evans and Oak Ridge high-school students who applied for transfers should know by this weekend whether their requests were granted.
Notification letters were mailed Wednesday and Thursday.
Ionie Grant said she will be upset if her bid to move her children out of Evans is denied. "I don't want my child to go to that school," Grant said. "We should have the opportunity of changing."
Grant said she had tried unsuccessfully before to get her 17-year-old daughter out of Evans, which has received two F's and two D's from the state since 2004. Now, with her 14-year-old son starting high school, she wants them both to transfer.
The "atmosphere" at Evans bothers her, she said, as it is dominated by students "who don't care about the school" and seems harmful to boys.
Under state law, students at F-rated schools with a previous F in the past four years are eligible to transfer to higher-performing public schools -- those with a grade of at least C. The annual grades are based on scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Evans and Oak Ridge both got F's this year and have had a string of D's and F's since 2000.
Schools must have room
In offering transfers, the district looked for C-rated or better schools that had room, said Evelyn Chandler, director of school-choice services.
It also considered travel time, because the district provides transportation.
The district "keeps in mind the health and safety of all students" when deciding transfers, Chandler wrote in an e-mail.
In 2004, when Evans, Jones and Oak Ridge students were eligible for transfers, all 1,362 requests to leave were granted.
Since then, the district has granted far fewer transfers, though officials could not say Thursday whether that was because fewer students applied, there were fewer schools eligible to receive them, or both.
This year, 457 students, about 22 percent of Evans' enrollment, applied to leave. There were 273 who asked to leave Oak Ridge.
The 400 students granted transfers will go to Dr. Phillips, Edgewater, Olympia and Winter Park high schools. All got B's this year except Edgewater, which earned a C. Four other C-rated schools -- Colonial, Ocoee, Timber Creek and University highs -- were not offered as options because their enrollment already exceeds capacity.
The district decided who got transfers, officials said, by giving priority to older students and to those with below-grade-level FCAT scores.
At both Evans and Oak Ridge, less than 20 percent of students could read at grade level, based on the FCAT.
Transfers out of failing schools are part of the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a hallmark of former Gov. Jeb Bush's education plan.
Vouchers ruled out
Under the original law, students could transfer to better public schools or get a state tuition voucher to use at a private school.
Last year, however, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the voucher provision as unconstitutional.
The Florida Department of Education wants districts to offer students at F schools "as much choice as possible," spokesman Tom Butler said.
But, he said, state officials realize districts have to meet Florida's class-size-reduction mandates and face problems with crowded campuses.
The law says districts must offer choice, but it does not specify how many options parents should have or what districts should do if requests exceed space.
Leslie Postal can be reached at lpostal@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel <http://mail2.floridapride.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/>
5,000 New Scholarships Available
for Low-Income K-12 Students
The Step Up For Students scholarship program, administered through Florida P.R.I.D.E. and Children First Florida--Florida Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) scholarship funding organizations, will award approximately 5,000 new scholarships for the 2007-2008 school year to Kindergarten through 12th grade students who qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a public school, unless they are entering kindergarten or first grade. Those who qualify may receive up to a $3,750 scholarship for tuition at an eligible private school of their choice or a scholarship for up to $500 for travel expenses to an out-of-district public school. The scholarships provide a fresh start for students who are not succeeding in their current school setting.
This year, $70 million in scholarships will be awarded to qualifying Florida students until funding is exhausted so applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Income limits for scholarship recipients are determined by household size. For example, a family of four can earn no more than $38,203 to qualify. To apply, log on to www.floridapride.org or call (813) 258-2700 for Florida Pride and www.scholarshipfunding.org or call (904) 247-6033 or (407) 702-2607 for a Children First Florida application.
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.
Children First Florida - Serving Orlando, Central Florida, Jacksonville and Panhandle
P.O. Box 54367
Jacksonville, Florida 32216
(904) 247-6033 or (407) 702-2607
cforster@scholarshipfunding.orgAlachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Indian River, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, Seminole, St. Lucie, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington
School Year 07 - 08 Income Eligibility Guidelines
Persons in Household
New & Add-Ons
(185%)Renewals (200%)
2
$25,327
$27,380
3
$31,765
$34,340
4
$38,203
$41,300
5
$44,641
$48,260
6
$51,079
$55,220
7
$57,517
$62,140
8
$63,955
$69,140
9
$70,393
$76,100
10
$76,831
$83,060
11
$83,269
$90,020
12
$89,707
$96,980
13
$96,145
$103,940
For each additional person, add
$6,438
$6,960
Effective from June 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)
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