Analysis

Analysis

AnalysisCoronavirus / COVID-19Demographic ResearchEducation ChoiceFeaturedSchool Choice

Poll shows support for school choice at record high a year into COVID-19 pandemic

Patrick R. Gibbons
Patrick R. Gibbons

According to a new poll conducted by Real Clear Opinion Research and sponsored by the American Federation for Children, 71% of American voters now support school choice, up from 64% a year ago.

This is the highest recorded support for school choice since the Federation began polling with sample sizes of more than 800 registered voters.

Researchers asked respondents:

School choice gives parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their child’s needs. Generally speaking, would you say you support or oppose the concept of school choice?

According to the poll, which received responses from 2,009 registered voters, 66% of Black participants and 68% of Hispanic participants said yes. Opinion among Black voters remained steady over last year’s results, but Hispanics saw a 4-point gain while support among white voters increased from 67% to 73% this year.

Democrats were less likely to support school choice than Republicans, but support was still strong, with 69% supporting the concept of school choice compared to 75% of Republicans.

This year’s poll also asked voters if they would support giving public funds to pay for private school, home school or virtual school if public schools did not open full time.

Researchers found 65% of voters supported the idea. Support was strongest among Asian voters at 69%, with 63% of Black voters and 60% of Hispanic voters agreeing.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedGardiner ScholarshipNewsParental ChoiceSchool Choice

How education savings accounts support education choice

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

Madelyn Carlisle, 10, of Orlando, benefits from curriculum materials her mother purchases using the family’s education savings account.

Editor’s note: Six states – Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Nevada and North Carolina – have crafted education savings account programs as a means for families to exercise choice in finding the best educational environment for their children. Here is how the program works in Florida.

THE BASICS

Q: What are education savings accounts?

A: Education savings accounts (ESAs) empower parents to customize education for their children. Traditional vouchers pay for private school tuition, but education savings accounts are more flexible. The state transfers a portion of a child’s funds from the state education formula to a state-approved nonprofit organization which puts these funds into an account for each child. Parents then apply to this nonprofit for permission to use their child’s ESA funds to buy state-authorized educational services and products. Florida currently has two ESAs: the Gardiner Scholarship for students with special needs, and the Reading Scholarship for public school students in grades 3-5 who struggle with reading.

Q: How can families use educations savings accounts?

A: Florida law authorizes Gardiner Scholarship families to use ESA funds to pay for private school tuition, tutoring services, books and other curricular materials. Additional uses include:

·       Educational therapies from a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider

·       A licensed or accredited paraprofessional or educational aide

·       Tuition for vocational and life skills education

·       Associated services that include educational and psychological evaluations, assistive technology rentals and braille translation services

·       Tutoring or teaching services provided by an individual or facility accredited by a state, regional or national accrediting organization

·       Tuition or fees for a nonpublic online learning program

·       Fees for a nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement test, an Advanced Placement examination or any exams related to college or university admission

·       Services provided by a public school, including individual classes and extracurricular programs

Reading Scholarship families can use their ESA funds to pay for tuition and fees related to part-time tutoring, summer and after-school literacy programs, instructional materials and curriculum related to reading or literacy.

Legislation pending in the Florida Legislature (Senate Bill 48) would combine the state’s two income-based scholarships – the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship – into one program and convert it to an ESA, with narrower uses than Gardiner.

Q: What is the difference between an education savings account and a school choice scholarship?

A: School choice scholarships only allow parents to use public funds to pay private school tuition. A state-approved organization issues a check, which is endorsed by a parent and turned over to a private school, or the check can be issued directly to a school under the parents’ names. With education savings accounts, families working with a state-approved organization can use student funds for many different expenses, including, but not limited to, private school tuition.

 

A DEEPER DIVE

Q: How are education savings accounts administered in Florida?

A: An eligible family’s ESA funds go directly from the Florida Department of Education to a state-approved scholarship funding organization. The vast majority of ESAs in Florida are administered by the nonprofit organization Step Up For Students (SUFS), with offices in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg. Families tell SUFS what services or products they want to purchase. SUFS determines if a requested service or product fits an eligible category and if it’s appropriate for the child. SUFS either purchases the service or product for the family or reimburses the family if the family makes the purchase with out-of-pocket funds.

Q: How does a family know what services and products have been approved for purchase with ESA funds?

A: SUFS has an online catalog with an inventory of more than 60,000 education products that meet the statutory categorical definitions for ESA families, including curriculum materials, iPads and education software from which families can select.

Q: What is the vetting process for approving a family’s request for purchase and/or reimbursement of purchases?

A: Each request is reviewed independently by two knowledgeable and skilled SUFS staff members. Additionally, a parent advisory committee reviews selected requests and provides SUFS staff with feedback on whether these requests should be approved.

Q: What additional guardrails are in place to ensure the integrity of ESAs?

A: There are several provisions in place:

·       SUFS’s online ESA purchasing and reimbursement platform is designed to prevent theft and fraud. The platform is not portable, which means it does not have the same vulnerabilities as a credit or debit card. A family can access and spend ESA funds only through a SUFS-controlled portal, which is located behind protected firewalls; is monitored by intrusion detection software; and requires user ID and password for access.

·       If a service provider, such as an eligible school, approved tutor or approved therapist, submits a request for payment for a service through SUFS’s direct-pay process, a secure platform routes this request to the parent for approval after staff determines the provider and the service meets state eligibility guidelines.

·       SUFS uses technology to track activity on its platform via IP addresses, looking for evidence of attempted fraud or theft. If a service provider’s reimbursement request is submitted from an IP address and the platform sees the parent approval came from the same IP address, anti-fraud staff is notified to investigate.

·       To minimize the possibility of families selling items purchased with ESA funds, SUFS limits the number of items families may purchase within defined timeframes. For example, a family purchasing an approved laptop must wait two years before purchasing a second approved laptop.

Q: Are future improvements in the works to further guard the integrity of the program and further serve ESA families?

A: Yes. SUFS is working with an Artificial Intelligence firm in Jacksonville, NLP Logix, to develop algorithms that look for unusual purchasing patterns that would require further investigation, similar to what credit card companies do. Additionally, SUFS will be enabling families to evaluate the effectiveness of the services and products they have purchased and to share this feedback with other ESA families through its secure online platform.

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisDemographic ResearchEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation ResearchFeaturedSchool Choice

Education freedom: The next generation

Matthew Ladner
Matthew Ladner

The Manhattan Institute published a study by Jay Greene in 2001 called the Education Freedom Index, which created a state-by-state comparison featuring measures of state charter school sectors, private choice, homeschooling and ease of transfer between districts. The study found a positive correlation between a state’s Education Freedom Index and academic performance.

Some 20 years later, I had the opportunity to work with Greene and his associates Patrick J. Wolf and James D. Paul to update the index. What we see are some big moves up and down the list, one consistent leader, and, once again, a positive correlation between the index and academic performance.

The rankings in both 2000 and 2021 are presented in this graphic:

A few things to note: A great deal has changed since 2000. Arizona ranked No. 1 in 2000 based on a liberal and growing charter school sector and the early stirrings of private choice. A state with the amount of choice exercised in the Arizona of 2001, however, probably would rank as middling in the 2021 rankings. While Arizona ranked first in 2001 and first in 2021, the amount of choice being exercised by Arizona families today is far greater than it was in 2001.

A recent release of data from the Stanford Opportunity project found Arizona students had the highest rate of academic growth both overall and for low-income students between 2007 and 2018. The predictions of doom which routinely accompanied each expansion of choice in Arizona are impossible to square with Arizona’s actual record of improvement.

Florida gained more than any other state in the rankings, moving from 35th in 2001 to 7th in 2021. We can’t firmly understand the relationship between education policy and outcomes, the lags such policies have before influencing outcomes, and associated mysteries. Life doesn’t often happen in a random assignment study, after all.

The two student populations with the most choice in Florida during the period between the studies – low-income students and students with disabilities – show the outsized progress on NAEP compared to the national average.

Check out the study, judge for yourself, live long and prosper.

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisDemographic ResearchEducation ChoiceEducation ResearchFeaturedNewsParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

Another study confirms school choice works

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

 

A new study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences has found that students participating in Indiana’s education choice program are more likely to enroll in college than their public-school peers.

The report, released this week by the Midwest Regional Education Lab, found that 61% of students utilizing the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program enroll in college within one year of graduating from high school compared with 52% of their peers in district public schools.

Of those who enroll in college, 78% of scholarship students graduate compared with 71% of public-school students.

“Add this new Indiana research to the litany of studies showing that when families are empowered with educational options, their children in K-12 schools of choice do better in the long-term,” said Tommy Schultz, vice president of the American Federation for Children. “The question is: When will the lawmakers opposed to educational options finally listen to the research and put children and families first?”

Report co-authors Megan J. Austin and Max Pardo controlled for a rich set of key characteristics of students and their schools, including family income, race, gender and eighth-grade test scores, as well as high school size and location.

While the study relied on observational data, its findings regarding the positive effects of private school choice on student outcomes are consistent with evaluations of such programs in Florida, the District of Columbia, Milwaukee and New York City.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation ResearchfactcheckEDFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipSchool Choice

Dispelling the ‘damaged goods’ myth about school choice scholarships

Ron Matus
Ron Matus

Students at all three locations of Academy Prep — Tampa, St. Petersburg and Lakeland — routinely matriculate to top high schools and go on to attend top colleges. All Academy Prep students attend on state scholarships.

There is no evidence that students who use Florida school choice scholarships return to public schools worse off academically.

But that doesn’t stop critics of education choice from repeating variations on that claim.

The Florida League of Women Voters is the latest to air this “damaged goods” myth. In a Feb. 21 newspaper op-ed criticizing Senate Bill 48, which would convert Florida’s school choice scholarships into education savings accounts, two of its officials wrote:

“Stories abound of children who return to their neighborhood public school after a private school closes, only to find they are far behind academically.”

But for the qualifier “after a private school closes,” the Florida League of Women Voters op-ed echoes a charge that choice opponents have been levelling for years (for example, here and here.)

We can’t say with certainty whether “stories abound.” But data to support such claims certainly does not.

The authoritative take on this issue comes from respected education researcher David Figlio, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern. For years, Figlio was tasked by the state of Florida with annually analyzing the standardized test scores of students using the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the biggest choice scholarship program in the nation. (The scholarship is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

In his 2011-12 report, Figlio addressed the academic performance of scholarship students who return to public schools. He wrote:

FTC participants who return to the public sector performed, after their first year back in the public schools, in the same ballpark but perhaps slightly better on the FCAT than they had before they left the Florida public schools. The most careful reading of this evidence indicates that participation in the FTC program appears to have neither advantaged nor disadvantaged the program participants who ultimately return to the public sector.

Figlio also wrote:

These pieces of evidence strongly point to an explanation that the poor apparent FCAT performance of FTC program returnees is actually a result of the fact that the returning students are generally particularly struggling students.

Subsequent analyses led to the same conclusion.

The best available evidence doesn’t point to shortcomings with choice scholarships. If anything, it underscores the need for even more options for the most fragile students.

Other evidence also turns the League of Women Voters claim on its head.

Thirteen years’ worth of test score analyses offer remarkably consistent findings about Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students. No. 1, they were typically the lowest-performing students in their prior public schools. And No. 2, they’re now, as a whole, making a year’s worth of progress in a year’s worth of time.

A 2019 Urban Institute study found even more encouraging results: The same students are up to 43 percent more likely than their public school peers to enroll in four-year colleges, and up to 20 percent more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees.

These outcomes don’t suggest damaged goods.

They suggest more students living up to their potential.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisCourse ChoiceCustomizationDemographic ResearchEducation ChoiceFeaturedNewsParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsPublic School ChoiceSchool Choice

New government report shows ongoing increase in Florida families participating in education choice

Patrick R. Gibbons
Patrick R. Gibbons

A research arm of the Florida Legislature on Wednesday presented to the state’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Education a detailed 132-page report showing how Florida families are participating in education choice programs.

The report from the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) expands upon the one-page summary produced for the past 12 years by Step Up For Students, the state-approved nonprofit funding organization that helps administer five scholarships for Florida schoolchildren.

OPPAGA reviewed 21 school choice programs, providing detailed descriptions of each program including the number and percentage of students participating. The report provides a county-by-county breakdown of students enrolled in choice programs throughout the state and provides demographic data for most of the choice programs.

According to OPPAGA, 86% of students attend public schools, 11% attend private schools, and 3% are educated at home. Of those public school students, 12% are enrolled in public charter schools.

Overall, 46% of all Florida K-12 students participated in a school choice option. Of the students exercising choice, 69% exercised a public school choice option.

Florida’s public schools, including choice schools, enroll nearly 2.8 million students. Public schools have “grown incrementally” according to the authors, increasing by about 62,000, or 2.2%, over the last five years. Of public school students, 63% are nonwhite; 55% are eligible for free or reduced-price meals; 14% are students with disabilities; and 10% are English language learners.

Charter schools grew 22%, with enrollment growing by more than 58,000 students over the last five years. Of charter school students, 70% are nonwhite; 43% are eligible for free or reduced-price meals; 10% are students with disabilities; and 10% are English language learners.

Home education grew the fastest of the three education sectors, increasing by 27% over the last five years by adding nearly 23,000 students.

Meanwhile, private school enrollment increased by about 52,000 students, or nearly 18% over the last five years. Private schools overall are 50% nonwhite.

Fifty-six percent of students who participate in the Family Empowerment Scholarship program for low-income and working-class families are nonwhite. Forty-seven percent of special needs students who participate in the Gardiner Scholarship program and 55% who participate in the McKay Scholarship program are nonwhite.

The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which serves low-income students, is Florida’s largest private K-12 scholarship program. That scholarship enrolled 113,120 students, up 41% over the last five years. About 73% of these scholarship students are nonwhite.

The public-school program enrolling the highest percentage of minorities is Jeb Bush’s Opportunity Scholarship program, with 74% of students being nonwhite. The Opportunity Scholarship allows students in the lowest performing public schools to enroll in higher performing public schools. Prior to being struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006, that program provided scholarships for students to attend private schools as well. At the time, 86% of the students were nonwhite.

The program with the fewest minorities is Florida Virtual School, with 42% of its students being nonwhite. FLVS is also one of the few choice programs that have been shrinking, with enrollment declining by 9% over the last five years.

Among the other interesting findings, OPPA noted that:

·       Charter schools are the most popular alternative public school enrolling 323,385 students

·       Specialized public school programs were the second most popular option with 208,644 students enrolled in magnet schools; 185,699 students enrolled in career and professional academies; and 178,162 students enrolled in admission selective programs for gifted children.

·       Accelerated programs such as Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment, Advanced International Certificate Education and International Baccalaureate have grown to a combined 366,101 students, up 22% from 300,224 students just five years ago.

·       Miami-Dade County Public Schools has three times as many students attending magnet schools as the next highest county, Orange.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationEducation Savings AccountsFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipHope ScholarshipMcKay ScholarshipParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsSchool Choice

What Senate Bill 48 does

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

Manny Diaz Jr., R, Hialeah, wants to simplify and clarify the state’s school scholarship program.

Florida Senate bill 48, filed by Senator Manny Diaz, Jr., will be heard in the Senate Education Committee tomorrow. The bill is over 155 pages and at times difficult to understand. Below is a list of the bill’s key features. Some of these features may get modified as the bill moves through committees. A similar bill has not yet been filed in the House. The bill does not materially change the eligibility criteria for any of the scholarship programs, and actually reduces the currently allowable statutory growth in some of the programs.

What SB 48 does:

·       Merges five different K-12 scholarship programs created over the past 22 years into two programs. The Florida Tax Credit (FTC) and Hope scholarship programs merge into the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) and will serve economically-disadvantaged and bullied students. The combined McKay-Gardiner Scholarship program will serve students with unique abilities/special needs. 

·       Eliminates the FTC and Hope growth potential and caps the McKay growth for the first time. [Currently in statute, any student with an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is eligible to receive a McKay Scholarship to pay for tuition to a private school. There are currently over 300,000 such children in the state.] Establishes the maximum number of McKay-Gardiner program awards at 50,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) students with an annual scholarship growth rate of 1 percent of the total exceptional student education student FTE, not including gifted. The FES enrollment will include all returning FTC, FES, and Hope students, and may grow at no more than 1 percent of total public-school enrollment, or about 28K students annually.

·       Eliminates the McKay and FES prior public school attendance eligibility requirement, makes economically-disadvantaged homeschool students eligible for FES, and makes children who meet a Gardiner diagnosis category and turn three after September 1 eligible for a McKay-Gardiner scholarship.

·       Returns about $910M in tax credit funding to state General Revenue, $828.9M of which is annual reoccurring revenue. The cost of funding the returning FTC and Hope students in the FES is about $562.5M.

·       Converts the merged scholarship programs into Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which gives families more flexibility in how they spend their scholarship funds. Families may purchase education services from providers such as district schools, private schools, charter schools, virtual schools, and tutors, and education products such as books and software from approved education vendors.

·       Makes FES and McKay-Gardiner students eligible for transportation scholarships not to exceed $750 to attend a public school other than their assigned zoned school.

·       Allows McKay-Gardiner students to spend ESA funds on music, art, and theatre programs, and mainstreamed summer and after-school programs.

·       Increases the FES scholarship award from 95% to 97.5% of the operational funding a public-school student receives (called the Florida Education Finance Program or FEFP). Scholarship students receive no portion of the non-operational funding, which accounts for about 25% of total state and local spending per public-school student. Also, the scholarships are paid solely through state taxes with no local taxes used.

·       Reduces the administrative funding for scholarship-funding organizations to an amount not to exceed 2.5% of the total amount of scholarships funded.

·       Ensures FES scholarship priority for renewal students, students under 185% of the federal poverty level, students in foster or out-of-home care, and bullied students.

·       Maintains the annual audit requirement of eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations and aligns the frequency of the additional audit by the state Auditor General to that of school districts, which is at least once every 3 years.

3 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
AnalysisCharter SchoolsCustomizationDemographic ResearchEducation ChoiceFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipHomeschoolingParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsPublic School ChoiceSchool Choice

Once again, charter schools dominate Florida’s education choice landscape

Patrick R. Gibbons
Patrick R. Gibbons

The 11th National School Choice Week celebration kicked off Monday as various organizations, schools, parents and students celebrate educational opportunities in their own unique way. RedefinED celebrates School Choice Week by releasing its 12th annual Florida Changing Landscapes document.

This most recent document, created from Florida Department of Education data, reveals that more than 1.5 million K-12 Florida students participated in school choice during the 2019-20 school year.

This year’s Changing Landscape is a little different than past years.  Last year, we saw nearly 1.7 million PK-12 students participating in some form of school choice in the Sunshine State. A detailed breakdown of Florida’s VPK program enrollment, the state’s largest voucher program with around 171,000 students, wasn’t available at the time of publication.

This year, we examined only K-12 school choice programs. Where applicable, such as with private school-private pay or the Gardiner Scholarship, pre-K students have been removed from the count.  Likewise, Gardiner Scholarship students who are enrolled in home education programs have been removed from the home education count.

As was the case last year, charter schools dominate the top spot with 329,216 students enrolled. Various public school options, such as magnet schools, career and professional academies and open enrollment continue to dominate the landscape. School choice programs offered by public school districts enrolled more than 717,000 students last year, which means there are more students enrolled in public school choice programs than there are public school students in 24 other states.

Overall, growth in school choice was modest in the 2019-20 school year, adding just 25,000 students for 0.9% growth over the prior year.

The Gardiner Scholarship program, administered by Step Up for Students, the nonprofit that hosts this blog, grew by 17%. Virtual education grew by 15% and Advanced International Certificate of Education programs grew by 14%.

Home education proved to be another popular option, exceeding 101,000 students, a growth of nearly 11% over the prior year. 

Career and Professional Academies and Choice and Magnet Programs saw enrollment decline by 6% and 5%, respectively. Private pay students attending private schools shrunk by 3.5%. But thanks in large measure to Florida’s scholarship programs, total K-12 enrollment in Florida’s private schools grew by 5%.

The 2019-20 school year ended amidst a global pandemic that shook public education well into the new year. Nationally, both charter school and private school enrollment grew by 3% while home education grew by 2%.

You can view last year’s Florida Changing Landscapes document here.

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail