LWVeducation
by Carol Clark Hentschel, Broward County
Maybe not everything is decided by how much money is thrown at a problem. Maybe some people tell it like it is. This has happened in Broward County, Florida. Common sense ruled. Find out why Broward’s school board said no to over three million dollars. Here is a post from LWV Broward.
Voucher programs, funded directly by states for private school tuition, are yet another form of school choice. Vouchers are now unconstitutional in Florida which was the first state to implement them. They were replaced by corporate tax credit scholarships. In spite of the state supreme court decision, vouchers for students with disabilities have not been challenged in court.
North Carolina’s vouchers are under appeal. New York’s legislature is currently battling over whether to fund forms of vouchers and tax credits. The legal basis for vouchers varies due to differences in wording in state constitutions. Florida’s constitution Bush vs Holmes clearly specified that funds must go to public schools. A similar argument is being made in North Carolina.
The Center for Evaluation in Education Policy at Indiana University reports on private school vouchers in the four states that offer them for general education students. These are new, rapidly growing programs that now may be slowing. How they differ is instructive.
Action issues on testing, charter school management, common curriculum, and use of public funds for education were updated at the Florida League of Women Voters convention this past week.
Voices from local leagues were heard.
The implications of the changes are summarized. We can go to work in new ways! Take a look.
I can hear the sadness in this letter. It is about change in a town she loves.
A report from the Orlando Sentinel says tax credit revenue from Florida corporations is down this year. The money is used to fund scholarships for 70,000 children to private schools.
Florida voters rejected these scholarships but the legislature has a work around. They let corporations donate their taxes and bypass the state treasury. One of the alcoholic beverage companies that helps fund scholarships came up $9 million short this year. Step Up for Students, the private group that administers the scholarships will have to make up the difference.
Who are these companies?
There is a snake in the grass in the Florida legislature. We need to point it out to our local delegations before it bites us. This is the amendment to the House charter bill HB 7037. It was offered by Rep. Erik Fresen who is under investigation by the U.S. DOE for conflict of interest related to his real estate company and the Mater Charter Schools. We need to contact everyone we can; the legislative session is nearly over, and we do not want this to appear on the last day.
In 2012, Florida received an ‘F’ on Ethics Enforcement agencies from the Center for Public Integrity. On the overall corruption index, Florida received a C-.
Governor Scott issued an executive order to strengthen the process. The Florida Senate changed the conflict of interest rules for legislators in 2013-14. Bad things keep happening. Is there a legislative cabal, or are some simply insensitive to the public interest? There are stories to tell. Continue reading
horse trading
In a political move to pass immigration reform in New York, the Governor linked private school tax credit scholarships to Dream Act bills. The trade off would make undocumented students eligible for college scholarships in exchange for tax credit scholarships for poor and wealthy families.
A bipartisan coalition failed, and the Governor announced this week he would withdraw budget funding for both programs. Reading the article in Capital magazine is like reading a political case study.
by Sue Legg, Pat Drago, and Ruth Melton
Charter schools are public schools, right? Well yes, but they are owned and managed by private companies. Most of their facilities are privately owned. If they close, the private company retains the buildings.
Charter schools should receive the same amount of money as district schools, right? Seems fair until you think about it.
Let’s think about it. We need to, there is a bill in the legislature.
Divided Community
Now television is in the charter fray. In this review of the series “Togetherness”, Joshua Leibner in Salon magazine describes its charter school subplot. Are neighborhood schools the “bogeyman for all of society’s ills?, he asks. He wonders if for white people of their education and class, all the education reform nonsense might feel right for minority kids–but just not for their children? The setting for the series is in Eagle Rock in Los Angeles. This is a real place where both Leibner and the show’s producers actually live. Is the show fact or fiction? Continue reading