F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
8/5/05
Dear Friends,
Ed Rodriquez, chairman, Florida Black Chamber of Commerce comments on the fact that the Florida Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on Opportunity Scholarships (Bush vs. Holmes) in the coming months (OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS: Quality of education is improved).
An editorial regarding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), by Joseph H. Brown (Needed: An Agenda For This Century).
It is exceptional to see an African American Democrat legislator out front pushing a bill for school choice (Missouri: Blunt, legislators support revival of tax credits for scholarships). It sure would help to have that type of leadership out front in Florida…
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
Last modified Wed., July 27, 2005 - 12:54 AM
Originally created Wednesday, July 27, 2005
OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS: Quality of education is improved
The Florida Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on Opportunity Scholarships (Bush vs. Holmes) in the coming months.
Over 2,000 parents, students and school administrators who began the summer with a pro-Opportunity Scholarships rally outside the court during oral arguments will end it with either a burst of renewed energy or dashed hopes about their prospects for high-quality education in Florida.
The Florida Black Chamber of Commerce and the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce support the Opportunity Scholarship program and school choice.
They empower traditionally under-served, low-income, minority parents to provide a high-quality education for their children. They promote improvements in public school performance for all children, especially minority children.
In addition, we support wise and prudent increases in public school funding. These increases should target proven approaches to improving the quality and performance of public education.
Though we have made much progress in recent years, public education is still in need of great improvement. Public high school graduation rates for black and Hispanic students in Florida were 49 percent and 50 percent, respectively, in 2002 compared to 67 percent for white students. Moreover, 21 percent of black students and 24 percent of Hispanic students graduated from public high school college-ready that same year compared to 40 percent of white students.
Despite the odds, we refuse to give up on education, because we refuse to give up on our children.
School choice is not about public vs. private or religious vs. secular. It is most fundamentally about empowering minority and low-income parents to provide a high quality education for their children, leveling the playing field for people of lesser financial means but high aspirations.
Our organizations have officially endorsed school choice because we want minority parents to be empowered and minority children to have opportunities for a better life. We want parents to have the power to choose the best school for their children, no matter who runs it.
Those with greater financial means already have this power. If it is taken away from minority and low-income parents, that would be a tragic loss for them and for all Floridians.
ED RODRIGUEZ, chairman, Florida
Black Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville
Jul 17, 2005
Needed: An Agenda For This Century
JOSEPH H. BROWN
Last month the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, chose a businessman, retired Verizon executive Bruce S. Gordon, as its new leader. Gordon is a departure from past directors who have all been civil rights figures, ministers or public officials. The board obviously believes he can infuse some new energy into the NAACP, which in four years will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
While a businessman's approach may help improve the day-to-day operation of the NAACP, a more important issue is whether the organization will change its agenda to meet needs of black America in the 21st century. If the remarks last Sunday by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond at the group's annual convention in Milwaukee are any indication, it will be business as usual.
Bond started out regurgitating the anti-Republican vitriol the supposedly nonpartisan NAACP has spewed in recent years. He then took off on blacks who favor school choice, calling them ``ventriloquist dummies.'' Black clergy who support conservative causes such as faith-based initiatives were criticized, and he called newly named federal appeals court judge Janice Rodgers Brown ``the female Clarence Thomas.''
After finding enemies everywhere, Bond had the nerve to say, ``We value tolerance, we value inclusion, we believe in equality, we celebrate the worth of every human being.''
Tolerance? Yeah, right.
A Crisis Of Agenda
I'm old enough to remember when the goal of the March of Dimes was developing a vaccine against polio. When a vaccine for the crippling disease developed, the foundation changed its agenda to conquering birth defects.
I'm still waiting for a similar agenda change from civil rights groups. The civil rights movement was a success; it removed the legal impediments to advancement, and millions of blacks have taken advantage of the opportunities. Unfortunately, these organizations have continued to try to fight the same war. As a result, the NAACP and other civil rights groups have for over three decades been removed from the greatest problems weighing upon the communities they purportedly represent.
Some years ago I was gruffly told by some NAACP members that they were a social justice, not social service, organization, they saw no need to revamp their civil rights agenda - even though the problems plaguing black America are mostly economic and moral.
Bond feels the same way, claiming the fight against discrimination is more important.
``We believe when our people have social justice they'll need less social service,'' he said, proving he and his organization are still in a time warp.
Even Noble Institutions Stagnate
If Bond were to honestly assess the situation, he would have to admit that all the civil rights legislation, litigation and compliance in the world will have little, if any, effect on out- of-wedlock births, crime, dropout rates, drug abuse or the AIDS epidemic. Racism still exists and discrimination still occurs, but social pathologies are more of a barrier.
Maybe someday civil rights groups will redefine their mission. I hope so, because institutions that fail to confront new challenges with new responses stagnate and eventually fade away.
Let's hope that when the NAACP turns 100 in a few years it won't still be stuck in the 20th century. Joseph H. Brown is a Tribune editorial writer.
This story can be found at: http://tampatrib.com/opinion/columns/MGB4ELNM8BE.html
Missouri
Blunt, legislators support revival of tax credits for scholarships
Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 3, 2005
Gov. Matt Blunt, flanked by several legislators and civic leaders, said Tuesday he supports resurrecting last session's failed legislation allowing state tax credits for a proposed scholarship program for students in struggling school districts.
Blunt pledged his support at a news conference at the University of Missouri-St. Louis following a luncheon meeting with state Reps. Robert Behnen, R-Kirksville, Ted Hoskins, D-Berkeley, and Rodney Hubbard, D-St. Louis, St. Louis Urban League President James Buford, and others.
Supporters said the mechanism would give children in failing schools a chance to succeed, while opponents say it amounts to a school voucher. The measure failed in the House last session. Hubbard and Behnen said they are building coalitions and looking at ways to generate enough support for passage next year.
"This is not a voucher, or a tuition tax credit," Blunt said. "It's a tax credit to contributors to the scholarship fund."
Blunt and other supporters said the fund would be distributed to poor students - kindergarten through grade 12 - in failing, or provisionally accredited schools. The money could be used for tuition to a private or religious school, or to supplement public school education through tutoring, after-school programs or other academic options.
"We can either pay on the front end, or pay to imprison them later," Hubbard said of students in failing districts.
Behnen added that a scholarship fund paid with private contributions will leave more money for the state's other pressing social needs, such as Medicaid and substance abuse counseling.
But bill opponents such as Rep. Cathy Jolly, D-Kansas City, said the measure "absolutely will take money" from public education. Tax credits will relieve individuals and corporations of their obligation to pay taxes that otherwise would have gone to fund education…
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)
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