F.A.C.E. to FACE
F.A.C.E. BULLETIN
9/23/05
Dear Friends,
A magnificent article that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel (Opportunity Scholarships: Chance for a better life), on why the Hispanic and Black Chambers back vouchers. We would like to thank HCREO for bringing Mr. Julio Fuentes and Mr. Ed Rodriguez into the school choice cause...
In (Bush: We'll rebuild), President Bush outlined a series of steps to aid flood victims: vouchers to let displaced students attend private or parochial schools at public expense is one of them. The school voucher plan is likely to be particularly controversial because Congress has blocked similar plans in the past. Political opponents accused Bush of trying to use the disaster to advance an ideological agenda.
Interesting numbers stated in the Associated Press (Katrina Kids Enrolled in Florida School Districts at a Glance). Various articles have estimated that 25% of children in the ravaged area were in private schools. That likely means that there are at least 1,500 refugee kids who left private schools. It would be good to know how many enrolled in private here.
If you have taken in refugee kids into your private school, President Bush’s proposed plan would provide up to $7,500 per child towards tuition at your school. Please contact us and let us know if you have taken in refugee students. We need to make your situation known!”
This article (Commission gives state schools a failing grade) describes a report by a “commission” formed by the public school board association to study whether the state has met its constitutional requirement to provide a system of “uniform, free, high quality public schools”. This is the same constitutional provision that school choice opponents argue prohibits the legislature from giving families vouchers.
Thank you for Stepping Up For Students,
Michael A. Benjamin
Executive Director, F.A.C.E.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education
Orlando Sentinel - September 15, 2005
Opportunity Scholarships: Chance for a better life
Why black, Hispanic chambers back vouchers
Ed Rodriguez and Julio Fuentes
Special to the Sentinel
September 15, 2005
The Florida Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on Opportunity Scholarships (Bush v. Holmes) in the coming months. Five hundred Orlando residents, along with 1,500 other parents, students and school administrators from around the state, who began the summer with a pro-school-choice 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 Opportunity Scholarships because they:
Empower traditionally underserved, low-income minority parents to provide a high-quality education for their children.
Promote improvements in public-school performance for all children, especially minority children.
In addition, we support wise and prudent increases in public-school funding -- increases that 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. According to a study by the Urban Institute, public high-school graduation rates for black and Hispanic students in Orange County were 43 percent and 52 percent respectively in 2002 compared with 64 percent for white students. Despite the odds, we refuse to give up on education, because we refuse to give up on our children.
We all know that graduating from high school, entering college and completing college tend to result in a better standard of living, and that is what we all want -- an opportunity to better our lives and those of our children. As the economy continues to shift from physical-labor needs to knowledge and expertise needs, our children's future is increasingly dependent on the quality of education they receive. Unfortunately, many minority and low-income parents underserved by public schools cannot afford to enroll their children in a school that better meets their needs. Their children are sentenced to limited opportunities for employment and little chance for a better life.
School choice in general and Opportunity Scholarships in particular provide effective solutions to some of the challenging problems facing minority and low-income families in Florida. 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.
Last year in the Orlando area, 3,993 students took advantage of the Corporate Tax Credit and McKay Scholarship programs. Among them were students like Toris Randolph, who was failing classes and had been suspended from his assigned public school. A Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship and the faculty at Better Way Christian Academy helped Toris cultivate his talent; he is now one grade ahead of his age group, and consistently on the honor roll.
School-choice programs are tools for the improvement of all forms of education -- public and private, religious and secular -- and have been proven to increase the performance of public education. School-choice programs improve student achievement, public-school performance and parent satisfaction with their children's education. Several studies have documented these positive outcomes, including a 2003 U.S. school-choice and school-competition study by Harvard University economist Caroline Hoxby, and a 2003 "Florida A-Plus" Opportunity Scholarship program study by Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jay Greene. Greene's study also found that most of Florida's voucher students were poor and minorities. It would be most unfortunate for our communities if the Florida Supreme Court rules against proven tools that will ultimately enable our children to achieve a higher standard of living and our state a more prosperous economy.
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 is the chairman of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce (www.floridabcc.com). Julio Fuentes is the president of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (www.fshcc.com ). They wrote this commentary for the Sentinel.
Bush: We'll rebuild
President says the cost of reconstruction will be enormous, and the U.S. will pay most of it
BY RON HUTCHESON AND ERIKA BOLSTAD
rhutcheson@krwashington.com
NEW ORLEANS - Speaking from the center of a deserted and devastated city, President Bush on Thursday outlined one of the biggest recovery efforts in history for Hurricane Katrina and promised to overhaul the government's disaster response plan.
''This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina,'' he said in a nationally televised speech from Jackson Square, in the symbolic heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. He assured Katrina's victims that they would get the help they needed to resume normal lives.
''The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen,'' he said. ``I know that when you sit on the steps of a porch where a home once stood or sleep on a cot in a crowded shelter, it is hard to imagine a bright future. But that future will come.''
Bush made his fourth trip to the stricken Gulf Coast on a day of hope for New Orleans. Hours before Bush's speech, Mayor Ray Nagin announced that nearly 200,000 residents and business owners would be allowed to return starting this weekend.
The mayor's optimistic mood contrasted with the finger-pointing and ill will that followed the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast. Bush's speech was the latest in a series of White House efforts to address concerns about the government's response and questions about the president's leadership.
RATINGS ARE DOWN
Bush -- whose job-approval ratings have fallen to around 40 percent in a series of recent polls, the lowest of his presidency -- went further than he ever had in acknowledging the missteps and in accepting responsibility.
''It was not a normal hurricane, and the normal disaster-relief system was not equal to it,'' he said. ``The system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days.
''Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency,'' he added.
The president also addressed concerns raised by televised images of suffering crowds of city residents, many of whom were low-income blacks. Polls indicate that most blacks believe that the slow government response was related to the race of the victims. Most whites reject that explanation.
Bush said Americans watching the disaster-relief efforts on television saw ''some deep persistent poverty'' that ''has roots in a history of racial discrimination.'' ''We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action,'' he said.
Bush didn't put a price on the recovery effort, but most estimates put the tab between $200 billion and $300 billion, roughly equal to the combined cost to date of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The government will borrow the money, driving up the national debt. This year's deficit is already $331 billion.
SERIES OF STEPS
The president outlined a series of steps to aid flood victims: vouchers to let displaced students attend private or parochial schools at public expense; federal reimbursements to help states deal with higher Medicaid costs for evacuees; up to $5,000 for some unemployed hurricane victims so that they can pay for training, child care or other services that might help them find work; the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone that would give tax breaks and loans in return for business investment, and new ''worker recovery accounts'' to expand unemployment benefits.
The school voucher plan is likely to be particularly controversial because Congress has blocked similar plans in the past. Democrats accused Bush of trying to use the disaster to advance an ideological agenda.
''The Gulf Coast region does not deserve to be treated as a laboratory for political opportunism or ideological experimentation,'' Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said in a joint statement.
In New Orleans, the first significant steps toward normalcy will come on Saturday, when business owners will be allowed to return to some sections of the city. Areas set to open in stages include the central business district, the French Quarter, the section known as Uptown, and Algiers, located across the Mississippi River. Residents will start returning on Monday, on a schedule devised by ZIP codes.
DEATH TOLL RISES
The death toll also continues to rise along the Gulf Coast. At least 794 bodies have been found so far, including 558 in Louisiana. On Thursday, government forecasters confirmed what had seemed clear for weeks: Katrina was the most destructive hurricane ever to strike the United States.
James and Lawrence Thomas, brothers who live on Willow Street in New Orleans, may have been among the few city residents who could watch the president's speech. Their block was one of the few with electricity.
Lawrence Thomas Sr. was watching, too, but he does not take kindly to strange reporters in the night. ''Hmmph,'' was all he said, when Survivor ended -- Jim was voted off -- and President Bush marched out from behind Andrew Jackson's statue.
NO JOBS
Lawrence Jr., 53, and James, 49, were more talkative because they've been living alone in an empty neighborhood with their dad for two weeks. There's been no demand for men in their trade, which is hanging sheetrock in new homes, so they've had nothing to do but clean their house.
They have lived in New Orleans their whole lives, first in the Magnolia Projects across town, then when the projects turned bad, over on Willow.
They saw their city grow sick long before Katrina.
Now they watch contractors from out of state taking money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reconstruction jobs in their hometown.
''Bush is promising all that money,'' said Lawrence Jr. ``He's got to, to save face. But that money -- that's not going to last. What we need is jobs. When I got out of high school, you could apprentice -- carpentry, brick masonry. I don't know what happened to all that. Now there's Popeye's.''
James nodded. He's the more skeptical of the two. ``What is this -- the fourth time he's been here? And now he's in Jackson Square? Boy, it looks like a hurricane never even came through there. I saw them cleaning that up for days. And you know what? There's nobody living down there in the business district. He's talking in an empty neighborhood.''
Ron Hutcheson reported from Washington. Herald staff writers Erika Bolstad and Nicholas Spangler reported from New Orleans. Gary Estwick, of the Akron Beacon-Journal, contributed to this article from New Orleans.
Katrina Kids Enrolled in Florida School Districts at a Glance
The Associated Press
Published: Sep 22, 2005
A county-by-county glance at evacuee students attending school in Florida as of Wednesday:
Alachua, 38; Baker, 3; Bay, 572; Bradford, 5; Brevard, 114; Broward, 143; Calhoun, 9; Charlotte, 14; Citrus, 18; Clay, 117; Collier, 38; Columbia, 27; DeSoto, 1; Dixie, 6; Duval, 388; Escambia, 721; Flagler, 21; Franklin, 4; Gadsden, 3; Gilchrist 4; Glades, 4; Gulf, 36; Hamilton, 0; Hardee, 0; Hendry, 0; Hernando, 36; Highlands, 6; Hillsborough, 298; Holmes, 7; Indian River, 19; Jackson, 37; Jefferson, 0; Lafayette, 0; Lake, 53; Lee, 63; Leon, 171; Levy, 6; Liberty, 5; Madison, 8; Manatee, 36; Marion, 44; Martin, 12; Miami-Dade, 247; Monroe, 12; Nassau, 32; Okaloosa, 723; Okeechobee, 4; Orange, 239; Osceola, 99; Palm Beach, 189; Pasco, 88; Pinellas, 136; Polk, 100; Putnam, 15; St. Johns, 52; St. Lucie, 23; Santa Rosa, 341; Sarasota, 54; Seminole, 68; Sumter, 6; Suwannee, 14; Taylor, 4; Union, 1; Volusia, 75; Wakulla, 14; Walton, 423; Washington, 19; state total, 6,071.
Commission gives state schools a failing grade
The state is not meeting a constitutional requirement, a bipartisan commission says.
LUCY MORGAN and RON MATUS
Published September 14, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - Florida is failing to meet a constitutional requirement to provide its children with "high quality" education, and the proof can be found in its poor rankings on graduation rates, teacher pay and per-pupil spending, a bipartisan commission said Tuesday.
The Constitutional Accountability Commission was created by the Florida School Boards Association to take a look at a 1998 amendment to the state Constitution that established the unique standard for public schools.
Former Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, and former Comptroller Bob Milligan, a Republican, chaired the commission and were on hand Tuesday to suggest that more money be spent on schools. They also urged creation of a system that compares Florida's performance to other states.
If Florida does nothing, it will remain vulnerable to a court challenge, the commission suggests.
"The last thing we want to have happen is for the educational system of this state to be put under court order or declared unconstitutional as it has in some other states," Butterworth said.
The response from Gov. Jeb Bush's office: "Florida's education system is on the right track," said Bush spokesman Russell Schweiss. "Under the governor, funding for public schools has increased by $6.1-billion and Florida students are reading and performing math at higher levels than ever before."
Bush has made the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test the centerpiece of his education agenda, but the FCAT does not measure Florida's achievement against other states. By other measures, Florida continues to rank in the lowest quartile of states on seven of 10 key performance indicators and in the lower half on three out of four funding factors, the commission concluded after a 14-month study.
"We applaud the efforts in Florida, but when you compare against yourself it doesn't tell you much," Milligan said.
Among other comparisons:
Florida ranks 48th on per-pupil spending, ahead of only Nevada and Mississippi, according to the latest analysis by Education Week magazine.
--It ranks 30th on teacher pay, at $40,604, more than $5,000 behind Georgia, $6,000 behind the national average and $17,000 behind the leader, California, according to the National Education Association.
--It ranks 48th on graduation rates, according to the most recent figures from the National Center for Education Statistics.
In lower grades, Florida students have made strides in recent years, judging by scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called "the nation's report card." In 2003 - the last year for which test scores have been reported - Florida was the only state in which fourth-graders were deemed to have made true progress in reading.
But even then, Florida ranked 33rd in the country and, in the South, behind Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky.
The rankings don't matter, said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, chair of the House Education Council.
"I want to do well, but I'm rejecting this whole idea of rankings as validating where we want to be," he said. "We don't need to have a beauty contest."
Florida is the only state in the nation where voters have approved a constitutional amendment that requires a "high quality system of free public schools," and makes education "a fundamental value of the state," the commission noted.
A 1998 change in the Constitution abandoned an old standard requiring "adequate provision" for a "uniform system of free public schools."
Florida should adopt a list of 14 indicators and measure its success against other states, the commission determined. The state should set a goal of reaching the top 25 on at least half of those indicators and make annual reports on its progress, the commission said.
Florida has some unique challenges, Butterworth and Milligan admit. It has 15 school districts with majority minority populations and gets more than 65,000 new students every year.
Butterworth and Milligan plan to present a report to Bush and lawmakers that pushes for adoption of new standards for monitoring school performance.
--The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Florida Alliance for Choices in Education (F.A.C.E)
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