The question of how to hold private schools academically accountable for publicly supported students remains contentious and, frankly, unclear. But to oppose tests out of fear the opposition will twist the results is simply untenable.

Bob Smith

In one of the latest venues where this debate played out, at the American Federation For Children policy summit this week on the banks of the Potomac River, part of the audience broke into applause when Bob Smith, the former president of Messmer Catholic Schools in Milwaukee, pushed back on testing. Smith and Messmer schools are both highly regarded, and he was not coy about his rationale.

“We have some enemies who have sworn they are going to destroy this program, beginning with two presidents of the United States, and a number of secretaries of education,” Smith said. “Until those people stand up, and with the same fervor, deny that they will use that data against private schools, I will not trust them.”

At least two of the panels during the two-day event revealed the ongoing split over how, or even whether, to test students on vouchers and tax credit scholarships.

Not surprisingly, Robert Enlow, president of the Friedman Foundation For Educational Choice, made an eloquent and principled case for why the marketplace itself is a powerful force for assuring quality. Parents whose students are on scholarships, just like parents whose students are on private tuition, can and do walk away from schools that aren’t serving their needs – in some case putting schools out of business in the process.

Adam Emerson, director of parental choice for the Fordham Institute, made the principled case for why public is different. Public schools are under enormous pressure to produce results on state tests, with sometimes severe consequences for failure. To expect private schools serving publicly supported students to be immune from that system is unrealistic. It also denies elected policymakers who are paying the bill a test that they view as an important report card.

One slice of the divide that was hard to ignore was the contributions of the only current school administrator to serve on either panel.

Khawla Asmar, assistant principal for the Salam School in Milwaukee, told the audience that “accountability is important.” When asked whether she felt the testing and financial requirements in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which are among the toughest in the nation, hindered her educational mission, she replied: “Not really.”

Asmar’s words only served to reinforce a point made earlier this year by a Fordham report, titled “Red Tape or Red Herring,” that found that only a fourth of the 241 private schools it surveyed in 11 states ranked state-required testing as a “very” or “extremely” important factor in scholarship participation. In other words, the private schools themselves seem less averse to testing than those who speak in their defense.

As for the concern that opponents will twist the results, the same is true of the tests for traditional public schools and it comes off sounding as though people can’t be trusted with the truth.

Bill Jackson

Few people are better positioned to bring dispassionate observations to this issue than Bill Jackson, the founder and CEO of GreatSchools.org. His web site is the nation’s leading consumer guide to schools, and it exists to empower parents with as many facts as possible about every single school, public and private. Jackson also moderated one of the panels, and used his final remarks to succinctly rebut.

“I think that personally,” Jackson said, “to be really honest, this thing about how we can’t really be transparent with our data because people might use it against us is really whiny.”

And pretty darned defensive.

Charter schools. Green light given for golfer Ernie Els’ $30 million charter school for children with autism, reports the Palm Beach Post. Students at a Duval charter get a moving lesson in bullying prevention, reports the Florida Times Union.

Career academies. Fort Meade High School gets four of them. Lakeland Ledger.

School spending. Florida’s per-pupil funding isn’t as bad as it looks. StateImpact Florida.

School security. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office says merging with the district police force wouldn’t be a good idea, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post. Heightened school security is part of the “State of the Schools” address from Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Flagler officials give the sheriff the go ahead to seek a grant to pay for deputies serving in elementary schools, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

School grades. A Volusia high school should have been awarded a C rather than a D last year, but missed a deadline for submitting data to the state. Daytona Beach News Journal.

Testing. First big round of FCAT results scheduled for release today. Gradebook.

Cat dissections. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

I have written an article about tax credit school scholarship plans that will be published in the Journal of Law and Education (Volume 43, Issue 1, Jan. 2014). You can read it here.

The article describes these scholarship plans, which have now been enacted in 12 states. Put simply, funded by state tax credits, these plans enable low- and modest-income families to send their children to private schools in grades K-12. The main purpose of the article is to discuss design parameters that those creating such plans must consider. I address the important issues and show how states have come up with a variety of answers to these questions. I also make some brief legal and economic comparisons between tax credit school scholarship plans and voucher plans, and I discuss Sen. Marco Rubio’s recently proposed federal tax credit school scholarship plan.

The key design questions for these plans (which I consider) are:

1.   What families are eligible for the scholarships (as measured by income and up to what level, and by whether their children are already in private schools)?

2.   How large must or may the scholarships be (and how large are they likely to be if there is discretion)? What do such limits mean for the obligation of the family whose child wins a scholarship to pay tuition in part out of its own pocket?

3.   To what extent are schools that accept scholarship students to be regulated and by whom (in terms of testing regimes, teacher qualifications, and control over admissions)?

4.   Are students who initially win scholarships reasonably assured of ongoing scholarship aid so long as their families remain eligible and they remain in private schools? And may their families switch private schools and retain their child’s scholarship?

5.   Against what taxes are the tax credits allowed (individual and/or corporate)? Is the amount of the tax credit 100 percent or less? Are there plan maxima? And, if so, are they applied at the taxpayer level and/or on an overall statewide basis?

6.   Who can be a scholarship granting organization and how are they regulated (in terms of to whom they grant scholarships, of what amount, and what conditions may they impose on schools that wish to accept the scholarships)?

7.   What are the likely financial consequences to state government and local school districts based on the parameters selected?

8.   Is the plan likely to be upheld against a legal challenge brought under state and/or federal law?

(Image from idsketching.com)

Tony Bennett. Interview with Alexander Russo.

School choice. Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning is forming a high-level task force to examine expansion of district options, reports Gradebook. Miami-Dade is planning to expand its partnership with the academically rigorous Cambridge program from 20 programs in 16 schools to 100 programs in 86, reports the Miami Herald.

Charter schools. Manatee district officials stress the downside to parents considering the conversion of a magnet school to a charter, reports the Bradenton Herald. More from the Sarasota Herald Tribune. A proposed Somerset Academy school, initially shot down by the Palmetto Bay Village Council, will be reconsidered. Miami Herald.

School spending. Florida ranks among the lowest per-pupil. StateImpact Florida. Associated Press.

School grading. Maine, don’t hide your problems. EdFly Blog. Here’s the message a second time, from former Board of Education Chairmen Phil Handy and T. Willard Fair in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News.

School security. Wellington High in Palm Beach County bans backpacks in the wake of an alleged bomb threat, reports the Palm Beach Post. Orange will begin screening students with metal detectors after a high school student is arrested with a loaded gun in his backpack, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

School partnerships. Churches are working with First Coast schools to provide mentors and volunteers. Florida Times Union.

School closings. The latest from Brevard. Florida Today.

PTA. For the second time in a week, a PTA school leader in Pasco is charged with stealing PTA funds. Tampa Bay Times.

Superintendents. Finally, Lori Romano is Hernando’s new super, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Kathryn LeRoy, the director of high schools in Duval, is selected as Polk’s new superintendent, reports the Lakeland Ledger. Two Lee County school board members want a national search to replace Joseph Burke, reports the Fort Myers News Press.

FCAT. Retakes results  from Palm Beach County. Palm Beach Post.

Early learning. Pinellas is set to open an early learning center named after late school board member Lew Williams. Tampa Bay Times.

Kiera Wilmot. The latest from the Orlando Sentinel.

Hage

Vouchers, here. Charters, there. Virtual, over there. Politically, school choice sectors have been islands. But there are signs the movement is building bridges to advance common goals.

Florida’s lead here surfaced at this week’s American Federation for Children summit, during a panel discussion on just that topic. In the Sunshine State, charter schools and supporters of vouchers and tax credit scholarships have teamed up to advance legislation, said panelist Jon Hage, founder and CEO of Florida-based Charter Schools USA.

“We realized it was time to join forces,” Hage said. “We felt we were sort of the Army, and they were the Navy … What we’re trying to do is have a common Department of Defense.”

The Florida coalition doesn’t stop at two sectors. Through a group formed in 2010 – the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education – it includes online providers, home-schoolers and district school choice options like magnet schools. In the middle of this year’s legislative session, the group held a rally that, for the first time, brought parents together from across the spectrum.

Panelists suggested the benefits of a united front included strength in numbers, a more focused message and crossover appeal.

In response to a question from moderator Nina Rees, CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Hage said some Democratic lawmakers in Florida were more willing to support charter bills this year because they had supported tax credit scholarships in the past. Plus, the coalition offered a tighter, more compelling argument – one that emphasized options even more and better deflected the usual criticisms.

“It became less partisan,” he said. “People realized this was less about business interests and was all about the children.”

Efforts to build similar coalitions are underway in other states, but not without some hitches. Shree Medlock, national advocacy director for BAEO and another panelist, said ties between voucher and charter supporters in Louisiana are strong. But at a recent rally, voucher supporters went it alone.

“It would have been great to have charter folks out there,” Medlock said. “We have a strong coalition but it was like, ‘Can’t touch that right now, because you know this has nothing to do with charters.’ “

In Georgia, tax credit scholarship and charter supporters did rally together this year, said panelist Tony Roberts, CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. But afterwards, an association board member asked him, “Don’t you think that’s sending a bad message … that we’re for vouchers?”

Roberts’ response: “The message I want to give is I want what’s best for children.”

There are some tensions between sectors. From the audience, Joe McTighe, executive director of the Council for American Private Education, noted trend lines that suggest charter growth is coming, to some extent, at the expense of private schools, particularly Catholic schools. Private schools, he said, are anxious about the possibility of choice sectors “cannibalizing each other.”

The sectors could work together to push for a “level playing field” and true competition, he said.

Roberts said the idea of a choice coalition may be less urgent once more parents learn about vouchers, charters and other alternatives. “When the public learns there are options, we’re going to have to bar the door,” he said. “We’re not going to talk about this anymore.”

Common Core. Tony Bennett promises the most aggressive deployment in the country. StateImpact Florida.

Teacher raises. Guidance from the governor’s office, reports Gradebook. Alachua teachers are getting a 2 percent raise., reports the Gainesville Sun.

Teacher conduct. Snoozing teacher, two day suspension. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Teacher evals. Needs tweaking, says a panel that includes Duval Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. Florida Times Union.

School spending. StateImpact Florida takes a closer look at the state ed budget. The Broward school board decides to outsource most of the facilities department, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. More from the Miami Herald. Pasco’s still looking for ways to fill a projected $26.4 million deficit, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Flagler’s decision to eliminate some paraprofessionals draws criticism, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Board of Education. BOE member Sally Bradshaw takes exception with a lenient final exam exemption policy in Leon. Tallahassee Democrat.

Arts. Don’t forget them amidst push for STEM. Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Superintendents. Lee could have a new one by next week, reports the Fort Myers News Press. The rush job is another sign of the school board’s dysfunction, the News Press editorializes. The principal of Naples High appears to be the frontrunner, reports the Naples Daily News.

McCurry

In an American political system ripped apart by partisanship, the school choice movement stands out as a rare example of centrism, former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Tuesday. But the movement can build even better bridges if it eases up on the name calling and finger pointing, he continued.

“We cannot demonize our opponents,” McCurry told several hundred people at the American Federation for Children summit in Washington D.C. “I hear too often, as I do the work I do at (the Children’s Scholarship Fund), hear people talk about teachers unions in a way that’s frankly ugly. Those people love our children just as much as anyone in this room. They happen to be particularly wrongheaded about the way … to improve their lives. But it’s not because they are ill motivated.”

“We need to recognize that, and have compassion for the people on the other side,” he continued. “Not everything needs to be mud wrestling on CNN with people calling each other names. … We’ve got to nurture the better angels on that side and understand where they’re coming from.”

McCurry worked for liberal Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (himself a strong choice supporter) early in his career and later for President Bill Clinton. He serves on the board of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which provides privately funded scholarships for low-income students in grades K-8.

The school choice movement’s appeal to all points on the political spectrum is a source of pride, McCurry said. The movement needs to continue doing the hard work of making the center hold, of putting aside differences on other issues to find common ground on kids and education. He suggested it might even model good behavior in other realms.

“We should be thinking of this movement as part of the antidote to the poison that’s now invaded our political system,” he said. “It makes everything you do more noble than it already is.”

McCurry also put a little pep talk into his speech, telling the audience it should keep the big picture in mind when there are short-term setbacks.

“Look back at the road we’ve travelled,” he said. “We’ve got the momentum on our side.”

Denisha Merriweather

Former Step Up For Students scholarship student Denisha Merriweather, now attending the University of West Florida, received a standing ovation last night after speaking at the American Federation for Children summit in Washington D.C. Here is the text of her prepared remarks. (Full disclosure: Step Up co-hosts this blog.)

Good evening! Thank you, Mr. Chavous, for your kind introduction.

My name is Denisha Merriweather, and I just finished my junior year at the University of West Florida in Pensacola right near the tip of Florida’s Panhandle. I am so proud to stand here before you today knowing that this time next year, I will be graduating college.

The truth is, when I was growing up, college was a dream that I didn’t even know I had. And if it weren’t for an educational option Florida gave me nine years ago, I wouldn’t be here today.

If you were to rewind my life back to my childhood, you would see someone very different. You would see someone who got in fights with her classmates. Someone destined to drop out before she made it through high school. Someone who didn’t even know what college was.

But thankfully, I did not become a statistic. Because of some help I received when I was 12 years old, my life has changed tremendously.

Growing up, I was not a student who picked up ideas and concepts quickly in class. School didn’t come easily to me and I struggled to keep up. When I was in elementary school in Jacksonville, Fla., my mother and I were moving around town constantly. That meant I kept changing schools, and I had a hard time re-adjusting to a new school, new teachers and new students every time we moved. Because we moved so much, I also missed several days of school, and when I got back into the classroom, it was hard to catch up.

Needless to say, my grades were bad, and I didn’t understand most of my schoolwork.

I got picked on by other kids because I was doing so poorly in school. And I kept getting into fights.

Maybe the easiest way to tell you how bad things were in elementary school is tell you what happened in third grade. I failed third grade. Not once, but twice. I went to two other schools and participated in a program designed to help students who were behind to get back to grade level. While my teachers really tried to boost my confidence and get me back on track, it just didn’t work for me.

Not long after that, I started living with my godmother and my life began to turn in an entirely different direction.

One of the first things she wanted to change was my school.

She heard through our church about a private school in Jacksonville called Esprit de Corps Center for Learning, and liked what she heard. But she had no way to pay for it. Thankfully, she heard about a scholarship that was offered through a nonprofit I now know as Step Up For Students, and the state program, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Let me tell you. That was just the change I needed.

Before I even set foot on my new school’s campus, I met my teacher. In fact, the summer before I started attending Esprit de Corps, she worked with me to get me up to speed on the things I had missed at my other school. I would go to her house almost every day over the summer to work on my multiplication tables and go over other subjects that I hadn’t grasped. It was so nice to have a teacher who truly cared.

The following August, I began the sixth grade at Esprit de Corps, and for the first time in my life, adjusting to a new school was a very positive experience for me!

The classes were very small – I had just eight other students in my sixth grade class. It really helped me because my teacher was able to go around to each of us and help us with any questions we had.

As the years at Esprit de Corps went on, my grades improved. I began to earn A’s and B’s consistently, and proudly made the honor roll.  I also grew very close to my classmates and it began to feel like a family. I bonded with much younger students and by the time I was a senior, they looked up to me.

I can say to all of you here, Esprit de Corps truly changed my life.

The school gave me a new perspective, and helped me prepare for my future. They helped me pay for the SAT, ACT and college applications, and pushed me to expect more from myself. The motto at Esprit de Corps Center for Learning is this: “Learning is a joy, excellence is the norm and superiority is our goal.”

And I think about that every day.

If I hadn’t had the opportunity to attend Esprit de Corps, I don’t think I would have ever learned what my potential is. No one in my family ever went to college, and the mindset was that if school gets too hard, you just quit. But since Esprit de Corps expects excellence, I rose to the challenge.

At the University of West Florida, I am studying interdisciplinary social sciences, and hope to one day be a social worker for children.

I’m also very involved on campus with the African American Student Association, the W.E.B. DuBois Honor Society, and Dance Marathon, which raises money for Children’s Miracle Network.

Now, I am just one year away from graduating college and sometimes I can’t believe I’ve made it this far.

But I want you all to know that I’m not stopping here. I plan to go to graduate school and one day earn my doctorate. So many doors have been opened for me, and I feel that I have to keep achieving.

Thanks to the work you are doing, I’m a college student and not a high school dropout. Thanks to Step Up and the organizations that are represented here today, there are hundreds of thousands of students across the nation whose lives are being changed for the better.

Just like mine was.

So I’d like to say thank you for giving my generation new options in school, new ways to achieve success and fulfill our potential.

Please continue the great work you’re doing. Please don’t stop until each and every child in America has access to the education that he or she may need at each stage of the learning process.

I have seen the power of a tailored education demonstrated in my own life, and I’d love to see it carried throughout future generations.

It is truly an honor to share my story with you all today. And I want to thank you for the opportunity you have given me, and promise you I will make the most of it.

Thank you, and enjoy your dinner!

Rick Scott. Vetoes about $400 million in spending and a proposed tuition hike, reports the Associated Press and South Florida Sun Sentinel. (Tampa Tribune columnist Joe Henderson gives him a thumbs up.) Vetoes other ed-related items, reports StateImpact Florida. Vetoes $1.5 million for a STEM project in Pasco, reports Gradebook. Vetoes $14 million for a new building at Gulf Coast State College, reports the Panama City News Herald. Vetoes a $7.5 million “innovation hub” at Florida Gulf Coast University, reports the Naples Daily News. Doesn’t veto a wind tunnel at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Dual enrollment. Gov. Scott signs into law a measure that requires districts to pick up the cost. Orlando Sentinel.

Teacher merit pay. Pinellas is about to roll out a pilot at seven schools. Gradebook.

Teachers unions. A glimpse at the financial picture for United Teachers of Dade. Intercepts.

Ed schools. The Hechinger Report uses the University of Central Florida as the lead for a story about more scrutiny and accountability coming to colleges of ed.

School spending. Projected layoffs reach 282 in Manatee, including 182 teachers, reports the Bradenton Herrald. About 100 rally to show support for the teachers, the Herald also reports. More from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Superintendents.  Lee starts looking for a new one today, reports the Fort Myers News Press.The Palm Beach County School Board can’t stop former Superintendent Art Johnson from working for the principals’ association, according to an attorney hired by the district, reports the Palm Beach Post.

Privatization. The Broward school board is set to vote on privatizing construction, reports the Miami Herald. Volusia considers doing the same with groundskeeping, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Testing. FCAT retakes results, reports the Tampa Tribune. New end-of-course exams are ready in Okaloosa, reports the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Common Core. Kindergarten and first-grade students are being taught the new standards. Daytona Beach News Journal.

Student feedback. Get more of it. Fort Myers News Press.

Parent trigger. Did Florida parent groups exaggerate the extent of opposition? Sunshine State News.

Gov. Pence

Speaking to school choice die-hards Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence took aim at a common criticism of expanded learning options and encouraged supporters to make teachers part of their case.

“Let’s be very clear in this debate … iron sharpens iron,” Pence told several hundred people gathered at the fourth annual American Federation for Children summit in Washington D.C. “When you empower parents to choose the public, the charter, the private school of their choice, all of education gets better because of competition.”

Pence, one of several keynote speakers for the two-day event, reeled off a suite of ed stats from Indiana. Since the introduction of that state’s voucher program two years ago, test scores and grad rates have continued to rise while achievement gaps have continued to narrow, he said. “The progress we’ve made recently doesn’t appear to be slowing down” because of more choice, he said.

Pence signed an expansion of the voucher program into law earlier this month. He told the AFC audience he’s going to continue to push for more choice and other reforms because, in part, “I believe in Indiana’s teachers.”

He noted his wife is a teacher, and said some of their best friends are public and private school teachers.

“America has some of the best teachers in the world. Some of the most courageous, decent, caring, selfless men and women in our society are in classrooms today. I submit to you that as we move forward in this debate, we need to speak (about) teachers,” he said. “We believe in giving parents choices because we want them to be able to choose the best school for their children, knowing the teachers will rise to the challenge, as they’ve certainly done in Indiana.”