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  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Content
    • Analysis
    • Commentary and Opinion
    • News
    • Spotlights
    • Voices for Education Choice
    • factcheckED
  • Topics
    • Achievement Gap
    • Charter Schools
    • Customization
    • Education Equity
    • Education Politics
    • Education Research
    • Education Savings Accounts
    • Education Spending
    • Faith-based Education
    • Florida Schools Roundup
    • Homeschooling
    • Microschools
    • Parent Empowerment
    • Private Schools
    • Special Education
    • Testing and Accountability
    • Virtual Education
    • Vouchers
  • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
  • Guest Bloggers
    • Ashley Berner
    • Jonathan Butcher
    • Jack Coons
    • Dan Lips
    • Chris Stewart
    • Patrick J. Wolf
  • Education Facts
    • Research and Reports
    • Gardiner Scholarship Basic Program Facts
    • Hope Scholarship Program Facts
    • Reading Scholarship Program Facts
    • FES Basic Facts
  • Search

Advocate Voices

Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityEducation PoliticsFeaturedParent EmpowermentParent VoicesParental ChoiceSchool Choice

Dear Dr. Cardona: An open letter from a Connecticut mom

Special to redefinED January 7, 2021
Special to redefinED

Education choice advocate Gwen Samuel of Connecticut frequently speaks to parent groups, reminding them of their right to education options for their children.

Editor’s note: This commentary from Gwen Samuel, founder of the Connecticut Parents Union, a grassroots advocacy group that recruits and prepares parents to harness their collective voices to protect their children’s educational rights, appeared recently on the EdChoice blog.

Dear Dr. Cardona,

Congratulations on your nomination to become the next U.S. Secretary of Education.

It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were sitting in your office here in Meriden discussing a bullying issue regarding my child. You were so attentive, and while I might not have been happy with all the decisions made, I always appreciated that you took the time to actually listen and recommend some appropriate supports — in a timely manner.

Your willingness to listen is a huge asset, and it’s why I wasn’t always *that* thorn-in-your-side mom advocating for my child.

I must be honest, as a Black parent, I was very surprised when I heard you were going to be President-elect Biden’s pick for Secretary of Education. I can’t imagine how it feels going from leading a school district of almost 8,000 students — 10 percent Black and 55 percent Latino/Hispanic — to leading our state department of education to leading the federal education agency all within a couple years.

I don’t have to tell you that we face some big, serious challenges — for the students here in Meriden and the millions across our country.

As you embark on this next chapter of your life, I wanted to pull up a virtual chair in your office like old times and offer five pieces of advice:

Keep diverse voices front and center. 

Historically, my journey as a Black mom looks and feels different from what White, Latino, Asian and other parents and guardians encounter. Invite us all to the table, and make sure you hear and take into account our feedback. Listen to families, who are directly impacted by your choices, before you listen to anyone else. We’re the ones who know our kids best, and it’s easy to lose that perspective when you’re making big, blanket decisions from an office in Washington.

Ensure that all parents have options. 

There’s no delicate way to say this, but the traditional public school system doesn’t meet every child’s needs — that is a fact — and parents and our children don’t have time to sit around and wait for the system to recognize and respond to this fact. There are lots of schooling types out there, and they should all be part of the mix, especially during this unprecedented pandemic where so many kids’ educational needs are not being met due to mass school closures.

That conversation takes a political turn far too frequently, so I’d urge you to imagine you’re sitting face-to-face with a parent like me before you erect any barriers that make it harder for families to get what they need academically. The financially stable families have always had a choice in K-12 education; the rest of us are looking for leaders to help change the educational landscape so we can have that same kind of access, too.

Make space for innovation. 

If this pandemic has shown us parents anything, it’s that we are resilient and able to adapt, especially when it comes to schooling. It’s also painted a clear picture of the haves and have-nots when it comes to K-12 education in America. Tens of thousands of students — many low-income and from communities of color — have literally gone missing from the system; we have to find them and get them back on track.

In order to do that, we have to maintain our innovative spirit and meet them where they are instead of forcing them to fit into a system that’s been letting them down and leaving them behind for generations — well before the pandemic.

Keep states in the driver’s seat. 

Your background in our Meriden school district and running a state department of education is critical as you step into this federal role. You know how much things are different from one district to the next — and how much state policies and priorities shape the way parents, students, educators and schools interact.

A top-down approach to K-12 education is not what we need right now; rather, I hope you’ll survey the state-by-state terrain, see what’s working and hold up those examples for others to replicate. Highlight what works best for children!

Watch your back. 

I say this to you with my mom hat on. Washington is filled with special interests and people who are entrenched and committed to doing things the way they’ve always been done because that’s how they earn a paycheck. I’m not mad at them for that, but make no mistake: They don’t represent my interests as a Black mom from Connecticut who’s trying to do what’s right by my family and other families.

Parents don’t have a highly paid lobbyist. It’s just us, and that’s how millions of parents across America feel. Those who depend on a system to make a living will do anything to defend that system. Be wary. Be skeptical. Be there for us as we parents will be there for you — working side-by-side.

I’ve always believed that families need to be part of a student’s academic journey, and the research supports my belief. That’s why I founded the Connecticut Parents Union, and that’s why I’ll keep fighting for my kids, kids in our home state and kids across the nation.

If we’re not doing everything we can to put power in the hands of parents — you from Washington, me back here in Meriden — then we’re not doing our jobs. Our kids deserve the best we as adults have to offer them to ensure a self-governing, hopeful future.

January 7, 2021 2 comments
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Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19CustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedParent EmpowermentPodcast

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews American Federation for Children president, CEO Tommy Schultz

redefinED staff January 6, 2021
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill begins a conversation with Schultz, incoming leader of the American Federation for Children, a national advocacy organization focused on state-level systemic change that advocates for legislation to expand education choice opportunities, particularly for low-income families.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Tommy-SchultzPt1_EDIT.mp3

Schultz, who grew up on a farm in rural California and attended high school 60 miles from home, discusses how education choice impacted him and shares his belief that the COVID-19 pandemic has awakened many people to inequities in the modern public education system. These inequities, Schultz proposes, create an uneven playing field for many families that must be addressed by robust legislation to assist families in customizing their children’s education to best serve their needs.

“Hearing sentiments from students that we’ve been able to help, especially from lower-income communities where they’ve said their education changed the course of their family’s life … to me it gets to the fundamental core of our work.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

The mission of the American Federation for Children, Schultz’s background, and his start in the education choice movement

Schultz’s priorities as he takes the helm at AFC

Why Schultz made the decision to move AFC’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Dallas and the future of choice in Texas

How the COVID-19 pandemic will impact and shape education choice legislation

LINKS MENTIONED:

AFC’s Voices for Choice advocacy program

Be sure to return next week for Part 2 of Tuthill’s interview with Schultz.

January 6, 2021 0 comment
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Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedSchool Choice

redefinED’s best of 2020: It’s time to take a stand on educational equity

Keith Jacobs December 29, 2020
Keith Jacobs

Editor’s note: During the holiday season, redefinED is reprising the “best of the best” from our 2020 archives. This post originally published June 9.

The debate surrounding Black Lives Matter versus All Lives Matter has been at the forefront of our national conscience for more than a decade. Those who lament support for the former, who say we shouldn’t disregard the latter, miss the point.

The harsh reality is that all lives do matter, but those with privilege must recognize that black lives are negatively impacted at a disproportionate rate.    

This is true of many aspects of black lives – housing, employment, wealth, healthcare and most important, education.

Over the past week, outrage and civil unrest followed the video of George Floyd yelling, “Please, I can’t breathe,” while a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than 8 minutes, ultimately leading to Floyd’s death. This video shines a light on the experiences of millions of black Americans who have witnessed and experienced systemic oppression and racism for decades. 

The video is forcing our country to recognize that injustice is prevalent in our country with black people typically bearing the brunt of it.

As a black man, and father of two black boys, I deal with these consequences and challenges every day. Whether it is the fear of lights and sirens blaring behind our car or my boys being mistreated and miseducated in school, the mental anguish is a daily struggle.

My 10-year old, while watching these events unfold before our eyes, asked, “Daddy, if black people are killed on the street, does that mean there won’t be as many in school?”

He’s 10 years old.

Peaceful protests have attempted to address injustice, and now we are witnessing the overflow of emotion. 

Onlookers are dismayed by constant media coverage of burning and looting cities while ignoring another kind of looting.

The looting of the potential and potency of black students by a system that has failed them for decades.

Opponents of education choice: Your suppression of parental choice contributes to the oppression of students, especially those who are black and low income.

Those who value black lives must hold local leaders, board members and legislators accountable for lack of realistic solutions for inequity in education.

Approximately one in three black students are reading proficiently in Florida. Where is the protest against that?

Don’t rage against the immediate, unnecessary execution and/or incarceration of an unarmed black man while ignoring the pillar that empowers us as a society – education.

Don’t ignore innocent black and low-income children who, when given equitable options, have exceeded expectations and excelled.

The white moderate approach to education, racism and oppression of underserved populations, particularly blacks, reflects a satisfaction with the status quo.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr once said that the white moderate is more “devoted to order than to justice.” 

If you are silent about one area of injustice, you are complicit in all of it.

I have protested, fought, and advocated for the rights of all students, but in education, just like in society, black students are disproportionately suffering. If we do not wake up to that larger context, we are doomed to continue this trend. 

The murder of another unarmed black man is unnerving, vile, and inhumane. The lack of attention to educational equity is equally appalling.

You cannot depict this on a video or Facebook Live post, but if you are not at the forefront of this movement then you are an accessory to a crime that will continue long after these protests are over: educational inequity.

The revolution has begun – which side are you on?

December 29, 2020 0 comment
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Advocate VoicesEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipNewsParent EmpowermentParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsProgressives and ed reformSchool Choice

redefinED’s best of 2020: Two decades of dedication, focus result in new landmark for Step Up For Students

Lisa Buie December 23, 2020
Lisa Buie

Martin Luther King III led a rally in January 2016 that drew more than 10,000 people to Tallahassee in support of education choice in response to a lawsuit brought by the Florida Education Association demanding that the courts shut down scholarship programs in the state.

Editor’s note: During the holiday season, redefinED is reprising the “best of the best” from our 2020 archives. This post originally published Oct. 14.

Nearly two decades after Step Up For Students began awarding tax credit scholarships for lower-income students to fulfill their school choice dreams, the organization is marking another milestone: the funding of its 1-millionth scholarship.

Over the years, as the concept of education choice has evolved, the scholarship offerings managed by Step Up For Students have changed to fit families’ needs. Today, students can choose from a variety of offerings ranging from the original tax credit scholarship to a flexible spending account for students with special needs to scholarships for victims of bullying. There’s even a scholarship for public school students who need help with reading skills.

“I’ve said from the very beginning my goal was that someday every low-income and working-class family could choose the learning environment that is best for their children just like families with money already do,” said John F. Kirtley, founder of Step Up for Students, the state’s largest K-12 scholarship funding organization and host of this blog.

Kirtley started a private, nonprofit forerunner to Step Up For Students in 1998 and since then has experienced all the milestones and challenges leading up to the millionth scholarship.

At the beginning, “It was just me, and I had enough money to fund 350 scholarships,” recalled Kirtley, who can recite statistics about the scholarship program the way a baseball fan quotes facts and figures about a favorite player.

Soon after, he learned of a new national non-profit, the Children’s Scholarship Fund, started by John Walton of the famous retail family and Ted Forstmann, chairman and CEO of a Wall Street firm.  Kirtley connected with that group, which was seeking to match funds raised by partners in different states for economically disadvantaged families to send their children to private schools of their choice.

“We hardly did any advertising at all,” Kirtley said. “It was just me walking around to churches and housing projects talking about the program.”

Truth be told, he didn’t need glitzy marketing. The program drew 12,000 applications in just four months, confirming what Kirtley already suspected: Parents of modest means wanted the best education for their children just as much as people who could afford to pay private school tuition or buy homes in desirable neighborhoods.

In 2001, Kirtley took his pitch to Gov. Jeb Bush, House Speaker Tom Feeney and Senate President John McKay, all of whom strongly supported the creation of the Florida Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program. When the program, capped at $50 million, began awarding scholarships worth $3,500 in 2002, there were just 15,000 scholarship students. Joe Negron, who sponsored the bill while serving as a state representative and later supported scholarship expansion as a state senator, recalled the strategy he employed to get the bill passed.

“My best argument was that the liberal establishment also supported school choice – for their children, but not for families with modest means,” said Negron, who is now a business executive. “In addition, the personal stories from parents whose students were benefitting from the privately funded program were very powerful.”

High demand created wait lists, prompting lawmakers to raise the cap to $88 million in 2005. The next year, the award increased from $3,500 to $3,750. The state required students to take a nationally norm-referenced test to ensure accountability.

Families kept coming. By 2009, the cap stood at $118 million, with awards at $3,950. Despite the increases, the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reported that the program had saved taxpayers $38.9 million in 2007-08.

Shortly after the program was renamed the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the first state-commissioned evaluation report showed students on the program in 2007-08 experienced learning gains at the same pace as all students nationally. Then in 2010, with bipartisan support, the Legislature approved a major expansion of the program. The bill allowed tax credits for alcoholic beverage excise, direct pay sales and use, and oil and gas severance taxes. The program also could grow with demand.

The Legislature returned again in 2014 to provide another significant boost in response to growing demand, prompting the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, to bring a lawsuit demanding that the courts shut down the program.  Education choice supporters responded with a rally that drew more than 10,000 people to the steps of the state Capitol, including Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

King told the crowd, more than 1,000 of whom had ridden buses all night from Miami to attend: “Ultimately, if the courts have to decide, the courts will be on the side of justice. Because this is about justice, this is about freedom—the freedom to choose what’s best for your family, and your child.”

The lawsuit failed in two lower courts and ultimately was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court in 2017.

The Tax Credit Scholarship was joined in 2014 by an attempt to give educational flexibility to students with severe special needs. Florida became the second state in the nation after Arizona to offer educational savings accounts to such students. Named the Gardiner Scholarship program in 2016 in honor of state Sen. Andy Gardiner, a strong supporter who shepherded the bill through the legislative process, the accounts could be used to reimburse parents for therapies or other educational needs for their children.

The state set aside $18.4 million for the program, enough for an estimated 1,800 students. A scant three months later, 1,000 scholarships had been awarded, and parents had started another nearly 3,700 applications. By 2019, the program was serving more than 10,000 students, making it the largest program of its kind in the nation.

Understanding the need for expanding the program so more families could participate, Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2020 approved a $42 million increase to the program, bringing the total allocation to nearly $190 million. The program which served 14,000 students during the 2019-20 school year, expects to serve approximately 17,000 students during the 2020-21 school year.

Choice programs also expanded in 2018 to help two groups of students dealing with challenges. The Hope Scholarship program became the first of its kind in the nation to offer relief to victims of bullying by allowing them to leave their public school for a participating private school. Reading Scholarship Accounts were aimed at helping public elementary school students who were struggling with reading.

Meanwhile, growing demand among lower-income families for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships prompted the Legislature to create the Family Empowerment Scholarship program in 2019. The program operates similarly to the tax credit scholarship program but is funded through the state budget.

Today, the five scholarships serve approximately 150,000 Florida students. As the number of students in the programs has grown, so have educational options available to them.

Charter schools, magnet schools, homeschools and co-ops, learning pods and micro-schools all address different needs. About 40% of students in Florida now choose an option other than their traditional zoned schools. In the Miami Dade district, the state’s largest, that figure is more than 70%.

Step Up For Students founder Kirtley sees a vital need to keep pace with that evolution and to eliminate the inequities these new programs can create for those of modest means.

“I have changed my stated goal to ‘Every lower-income and working-class family can customize their children’s education so they reach their full potential,’ ” Kirtley said, “just like families with more money do.”

December 23, 2020 0 comment
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2020 Presidential ElectionAdvocate VoicesBipartisanshipCommentary and OpinionCommon GroundEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityEducation PoliticsFeatured

This Memphis mom has a Thanksgiving message for Joe Biden

Special to redefinED November 26, 2020
Special to redefinED

A recent initiative of the grassroots Powerful Parent Network was raising money to meet with all of the 2020 presidential nominees to lobby for parental empowerment and education choice.

Editor’s note: This post from former teacher, school board member and passionate education choice advocate Erika Sanzi features a powerful message from a fellow school choice advocate. The commentary appeared earlier this week on Education Post.

Sarah Carpenter, executive director of Memphis Lift, spent much of the 2020 primary season bringing her message—her plea—for liberation from failing schools to all who were in the fight to become the next president of the United States. Miss Sarah is a fierce advocate for children and parents—she doesn’t have any preferences when it comes to district schools, charter schools or private schools. She just wants the children of North Memphis—and all children—to have access to a good school.

Sarah appears in and narrates the video below on behalf of the Powerful Parent Movement and her message to president-elect Biden is clear.

She, and all the members of the Powerful Parent Movement, know that self-determination comes with having the freedom to choose the right school for your child. Let’s hope the president-elect is willing to listen.

https://educationpost.org/one-memphis-mom-and-grandma-has-a-thanksgiving-message-for-joe-biden/

November 26, 2020 0 comment
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Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceEducation EquityEducatorsFaith-based EducationFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipMcKay ScholarshipParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsSchool ChoiceVoices for Education Choice

Commentary: Now more than ever, families need choices in education

Special to redefinED October 28, 2020
Special to redefinED

Editor’s note: This column by Shannon Dolly, principal at Mount Moriah Christian Fundamental Academy in St. Petersburg, first appeared in the Tampa Bay Times. Thirty-eight students at Mount Moriah attend on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and eight attend on a Family Empowerment Scholarship.

As a single mother who raised a daughter with special needs, and as the principal of a private school in St. Petersburg with mostly low-income students, I understand the obstacles many families face finding the best learning environment for their children.

COVID-19 has only added to those struggles, for them and for many more families who suddenly have found their options limited. Now more than ever, they need choices in education.

Growing up, I never thought about alternatives to traditional public schools. My mother was a public school administrator, and I went through the public school system. But when I had my daughter, Taylor, I felt I had to do better for her.

I tried to get her into a district magnet school, but we were shut out of our top five picks. The only alternative was to send my 5-year-old on a 45-minute one-way bus ride from the southern part of Pinellas County to a school in the northern part.

That was out of the question.

That’s when I learned about the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students, which enabled me to afford tuition at a private school closer to home that best met Taylor’s needs. The scholarship carried her from kindergarten through eighth grade.

She then received a McKay Scholarship for students with special needs that allowed her to attend high school at LiFT Academy in Seminole. She graduated in 2018. Her academic success would not have been possible without the scholarships providing us with real choices.

I’ve also seen the value of choice from the other side.

Since 2015, I’ve been principal at Mount Moriah Christian Fundamental Academy, a middle school with 38 students on the tax credit scholarship and eight on the similar Family Empowerment Scholarship. Mount Moriah offers these children what they can’t find in other schools, and the scholarship provides them the means to attain it.

That has become especially important during the pandemic. When schools shut down because of the virus, in-person learning was denied to those who wanted — and needed — it. Many families struggled with online learning from home. Parents became frustrated with their lack of options.

At Mount Moriah, we have parents who want their kids in school, and others who don’t. So, we have offered them three preferences: Some students attend the brick-and-mortar classroom full time; some do online learning full time; and some do a combination of both.

Our parents love that they have a voice, that we listened to that voice, and that we accommodated that voice.

The pandemic has opened parents’ eyes to the virtue of choice and has made them understand they don’t have to settle for what is handed to them. Now they’re forced to think outside the box, to ask: What else can I do? In these unusual times, they are more willing to look for options beyond what has been considered normal. Recent polls show that parents increasingly want more choices in their children’s education.

The pandemic has demonstrated that families must have multiple options available because they never know when they might need them. It also has reaffirmed that education choice should not be a privilege only for those who can afford it. It’s a right — for everyone.

October 28, 2020 1 comment
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Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFamiliesFeaturedGardiner ScholarshipParent EmpowermentParental ChoiceSchool Choice

Commentary: 1 million Florida scholarships, 1 million opportunities for success

Donna Berman October 19, 2020
Donna Berman

Despite being told her son, Brandon, would never learn to read, Donna Berman persisted in her quest to find an appropriate educational setting for him where he could thrive. Brandon died Sept. 10, 2017, at the age of 19.

Editor’s note: This commentary from Donna Berman appeared Sunday in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. You can read additional commentary from Berman here. You can read more about Step Up For Students’ administration of its 1-millionth scholarship here.

My late son Brandon began experiencing seizures at age 3 and was diagnosed with autism by 6. He spent his youth growing up with muscular dystrophy, an auditory processing disorder, cortical atrophy, and a brain tumor. Brandon was also non-verbal and his teachers believed he might never learn how to read. 

No class setting – public or private, mainstream or hospital homebound – was adequately meeting Brandon’s needs. Brandon was a space-age kid living in a stone-age system. 

Thankfully, we live in Florida, where choice in education is increasingly mainstream, and more and more options that can help kids like Brandon are becoming a reality. 

This week, Step Up for Students, Florida’s largest nonprofit education scholarship administrator, announced it had awarded its 1 millionth scholarship since its founding in 2002. Brandon was one of those scholarship recipients, so I know how much of a difference they’ve made for families across this state. 

Before Brandon received a scholarship, I faced a constant battle to ensure he received an adequate education. I began to feel like his federal rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) weren’t worth the paper they were written on.   

Eventually, Brandon’s daily seizures at school required me to care for him at home, and it ultimately cost me my career as a registered nurse.  

I thought I was dreaming in 2014 when I learned about a new education scholarship program for students with special needs, now called the Gardiner Scholarship. Gardiner gives parents access to a flexible spending account, averaging about $10,000 a year, that can be used to pay for school tuition, fees, textbooks, school supplies, assistive technology, therapies and more. 

Applying for this scholarship was a no-brainer – I had already tried every other option. Once Brandon was awarded the scholarship, I was in full control of my son’s education. 

Gardiner paid for curriculum, class supplies, and helped make various projects possible. I could find a million unique ways to teach Brandon math, improve finger dexterity, learn how to plan projects, and even develop his social skills. Whether he was learning math by sewing, baking, or folding boxes at the local pizza shop, the Gardiner program ensured Brandon’s learning could happen anywhere.  

Brandon could learn in the car, on the way to the doctor, at the hospital. No longer bound to learn between brick walls, Brandon became the space age kid he was meant to be. 

Traditional paper books intimidated Brandon with the number of words per page. Instead of paper books, I downloaded books onto an e-reader and increased the font size. With fewer words on the screen Brandon found learning to read less frightening.  

Against the odds, Brandon learned to love reading; “The Box Car Children” became his favorite series. He also became self-sufficient, eventually learning how to use his tablet to download and read restaurant menus and order food for himself. 

That may not sound like a big deal, but when you have a child with special needs, little moments of progress like this can bring tears of joy to a parent’s eyes.  

Brandon and I were such enthusiastic members of the Gardiner family that we defended the scholarship in court when opponents sued to dissolve it. After we won, Brandon made tremendous progress in the first year alone. 

My son passed away in 2017, but I’m forever grateful Brandon finally got the chance to learn at his own pace. In his last years he discovered a love for learning, and he found self-worth. 

I look forward to seeing a million more scholarships awarded, and a million more children find success just as Brandon did. 

Berman lives in Port Orange, Florida. 

October 19, 2020 0 comment
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Advocate VoicesEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipNewsParent EmpowermentParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsProgressives and ed reformSchool Choice

20 years of dedication, focus result in new landmark for Step Up For Students

Lisa Buie October 14, 2020
Lisa Buie

Martin Luther King III led a rally in January 2016 that drew more than 10,000 people to Tallahassee in support of education choice in response to a lawsuit brought by the Florida Education Association demanding that the courts shut down scholarship programs in the state.

Editor’s note: You can view a timeline of Step Up For Students’ historical milestones at https://www.stepupforstudents.org/one-million/.

Nearly two decades after Step Up For Students began awarding tax credit scholarships for lower-income students to fulfill their school choice dreams, the organization is marking another milestone: the funding of its 1-millionth scholarship.

Over the years, as the concept of education choice has evolved, the scholarship offerings managed by Step Up For Students have changed to fit families’ needs. Today, students can choose from a variety of offerings ranging from the original tax credit scholarship to a flexible spending account for students with special needs to scholarships for victims of bullying. There’s even a scholarship for public school students who need help with reading skills.

“I’ve said from the very beginning my goal was that someday every low-income and working-class family could choose the learning environment that is best for their children just like families with money already do,” said John F. Kirtley, founder of Step Up for Students, the state’s largest K-12 scholarship funding organization and host of this blog.

Kirtley started a private, nonprofit forerunner to Step Up For Students in 1998 and since then has experienced all the milestones and challenges leading up to the millionth scholarship.

At the beginning, “It was just me, and I had enough money to fund 350 scholarships,” recalled Kirtley, who can recite statistics about the scholarship program the way a baseball fan quotes facts and figures about a favorite player.

Soon after, he learned of a new national non-profit, the Children’s Scholarship Fund, started by John Walton of the famous retail family and Ted Forstmann, chairman and CEO of a Wall Street firm.  Kirtley connected with that group, which was seeking to match funds raised by partners in different states for economically disadvantaged families to send their children to private schools of their choice.

“We hardly did any advertising at all,” Kirtley said. “It was just me walking around to churches and housing projects talking about the program.”

Truth be told, he didn’t need glitzy marketing. The program drew 12,000 applications in just four months, confirming what Kirtley already suspected: Parents of modest means wanted the best education for their children just as much as people who could afford to pay private school tuition or buy homes in desirable neighborhoods.

In 2001, Kirtley took his pitch to Gov. Jeb Bush, House Speaker Tom Feeney and Senate President John McKay, all of whom strongly supported the creation of the Florida Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program. When the program, capped at $50 million, began awarding scholarships worth $3,500 in 2002, there were just 15,000 scholarship students. Joe Negron, who sponsored the bill while serving as a state representative and later supported scholarship expansion as a state senator, recalled the strategy he employed to get the bill passed.

“My best argument was that the liberal establishment also supported school choice – for their children, but not for families with modest means,” said Negron, who is now a business executive. “In addition, the personal stories from parents whose students were benefitting from the privately funded program were very powerful.”

High demand created wait lists, prompting lawmakers to raise the cap to $88 million in 2005. The next year, the award increased from $3,500 to $3,750. The state required students to take a nationally norm-referenced test to ensure accountability.

Families kept coming. By 2009, the cap stood at $118 million, with awards at $3,950. Despite the increases, the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reported that the program had saved taxpayers $38.9 million in 2007-08.

Shortly after the program was renamed the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the first state-commissioned evaluation report showed students on the program in 2007-08 experienced learning gains at the same pace as all students nationally. Then in 2010, with bipartisan support, the Legislature approved a major expansion of the program. The bill allowed tax credits for alcoholic beverage excise, direct pay sales and use, and oil and gas severance taxes. The program also could grow with demand.

The Legislature returned again in 2014 to provide another significant boost in response to growing demand, prompting the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, to bring a lawsuit demanding that the courts shut down the program.  Education choice supporters responded with a rally that drew more than 10,000 people to the steps of the state Capitol, including Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

King told the crowd, more than 1,000 of whom had ridden buses all night from Miami to attend: “Ultimately, if the courts have to decide, the courts will be on the side of justice. Because this is about justice, this is about freedom—the freedom to choose what’s best for your family, and your child.”

The lawsuit failed in two lower courts and ultimately was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court in 2017.

The Tax Credit Scholarship was joined in 2014 by an attempt to give educational flexibility to students with severe special needs. Florida became the second state in the nation after Arizona to offer educational savings accounts to such students. Named the Gardiner Scholarship program in 2016 in honor of state Sen. Andy Gardiner, a strong supporter who shepherded the bill through the legislative process, the accounts could be used to reimburse parents for therapies or other educational needs for their children.

The state set aside $18.4 million for the program, enough for an estimated 1,800 students. A scant three months later, 1,000 scholarships had been awarded, and parents had started another nearly 3,700 applications. By 2019, the program was serving more than 10,000 students, making it the largest program of its kind in the nation.

Understanding the need for expanding the program so more families could participate, Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2020 approved a $42 million increase to the program, bringing the total allocation to nearly $190 million. The program which served 14,000 students during the 2019-20 school year, expects to serve approximately 17,000 students during the 2020-21 school year.

Choice programs also expanded in 2018 to help two groups of students dealing with challenges. The Hope Scholarship program became the first of its kind in the nation to offer relief to victims of bullying by allowing them to leave their public school for a participating private school. Reading Scholarship Accounts were aimed at helping public elementary school students who were struggling with reading.

Meanwhile, growing demand among lower-income families for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships prompted the Legislature to create the Family Empowerment Scholarship program in 2019. The program operates similarly to the tax credit scholarship program but is funded through the state budget.

Today, the five scholarships serve approximately 150,000 Florida students. As the number of students in the programs has grown, so have educational options available to them.

Charter schools, magnet schools, homeschools and co-ops, learning pods and micro-schools all address different needs. About 40% of students in Florida now choose an option other than their traditional zoned schools. In the Miami Dade district, the state’s largest, that figure is more than 70%.

Step Up For Students founder Kirtley sees a vital need to keep pace with that evolution and to eliminate the inequities these new programs can create for those of modest means.

“I have changed my stated goal to ‘Every lower-income and working-class family can customize their children’s education so they reach their full potential,’ ” Kirtley said, “just like families with more money do.”

October 14, 2020 0 comment
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