LWVeducation
The Florida LWV legislative priorities are coming due. Please make your voices heard within your local leagues. In order to be able to advocate for our Education Team issues, we have to make it into the top priorities statewide.
Make education tops for your local league. Here is a list of topics we expect to come up in the legislative session. Remember that committee meetings start in September.
Vouchers for private school tuition were supposed to be for at risk children in poor neighborhoods. In Florida, that assumption was dropped when the legislature expanded eligibility for tax credit scholarships to include family incomes up to $62,000. Now, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is more concerned about the high cost of tuition for middle class families. They want to help.
Education Now reports that the Foundation for Florida’s Future has released its grades for legislators. They are based on their support for the Bush/ALEC school privatization agenda.
As you know, Jeb Bush made his mark in Florida with his advocacy for charter schools and vouchers. When the State Supreme Court declared vouchers unconstitutional, they were turned into corporate tax rebate scholarships. The Southern Legal Counsel’s lawsuit against school choice Citizens for Strong Schools comes to trial next spring.
Privatizing schools has turned into big business in Florida. To protect the business interests, legislators are pressured and cajoled. In this report you can see the grades your individual representatives and senators have received from the foundation Jeb Bush created. High grades mean that those legislators are failing our public schools and promoting privatization. Here’s the link to the report.
Remember the Personal Learning Accounts Florida enacted last year for K12 students with disabilities? They provide about $10,000 for private school tuition, services and other materials. Public school students are not eligible, but home schoolers are.
Nevada has outdone Florida. Almost everyone can receive some money. Will public education become a waste land?
Judge Reynolds disallowed the FEA lawsuit against the Florida tax credit scholarship program today. The ruling has been anticipated for months.
What is his rationale?
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.
Public funding of private schools takes many forms with variable results. Following practices in different states informs our thinking.
The Indiana Center for Tax and Budget Accountability argues that vouchers hurt, not help the education of children. Look at their arguments. What would improve education?
This is an interesting report.
I can hear the sadness in this letter. It is about change in a town she loves.
by Pat Drago
Some policies are all about money. When these come up, Fl. Representative Manny Diaz is often around. He is the Dean at Doral College, the non-accredited place that offers dual enrollment online courses to charter school students taught by their high school teachers. The credit doesn’t transfer, but maybe it saves money. Now, Rep. Diaz is in the news again. See how he wants to save money.
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?