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    • Dan Lips
    • Chris Stewart
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Author

Ron Matus

Ron Matus
Ron Matus

Ron Matus is director for policy and public affairs at Step Up for Students and a former editor of redefinED. He joined Step Up in February 2012 after 20 years in journalism, including eight years as an education reporter with the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times). Ron can be reached at rmatus@stepupforstudents.org or (727) 451-9830. Follow him on Twitter @RonMatus1 and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/redefinedonline.

Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedHope ScholarshipNewsParent EmpowermentSchool Choice

School choice scholarship for bullying victims may get boost with reporting changes

Ron Matus June 11, 2020
Ron Matus

Florida education officials are considering changes that could lead to wider use of a school choice scholarship for bullying victims that has so far seen few takers despite tens of thousands of qualifying incidents each year.

The proposed rule changes to the Hope Scholarship, the first of its kind in America, would require that school districts routinely tell the state how many Hope notification forms they’ve given to parents.

Currently, there is no such requirement, even though districts are required by law to notify parents about the Hope Scholarship within 15 days of a reported incident, and to provide them the Hope form they need to start the application process. (The scholarship is administered by Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that hosts this blog.)

The Florida Department of Education will consider the changes at a June 19 workshop.

Lawmakers created the Hope Scholarship in 2018, led by then House Speaker and now Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. Students are eligible if they report being victims of bullying or similar incidents, including assault, battery, hazing, harassment, and sexual misconduct. They can use the scholarship to attend private schools, or to transfer to another public school.

At present, 429 students are using Hope at private schools, even though tens of thousands fall into the eligibility categories and state officials projected in 2018 that as many as 7,000 a year would use them. The scholarships are worth about $7,000 a year.

To date, the best available evidence suggests a leading reason for the gap is that districts are not telling parents they have this option.

Seventy-one percent of Hope parents surveyed by the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University said they learned of the scholarship through other means, such as private schools, internet searches and social media. Two-thirds disagreed or strongly disagreed that the incidents were investigated in a timely manner, and many expressed frustration with district officials who they said didn’t know the legal requirements or didn’t want to follow them.

Hope Scholarships are funded by individuals who contribute up to $105 in return for sales tax credits on motor vehicle purchases. So far this year, they’ve contributed $60.8 million. By law, unused Hope funds can be used for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students.

June 11, 2020 0 comment
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Coronavirus / COVID-19FeaturedGardiner ScholarshipNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool ChoiceSpecial Needs Education

Pandemic forces closure of Florida private school for students with autism

Ron Matus June 10, 2020
Ron Matus

The Paragon School in Orlando focused on developing individualized academic plans for its students, establishing social skills, and building self-confidence.

Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the number of Gardiner Scholarship students who attended the school in the 2019-20 school year. The number used in the original post, 106, was the sum total of annual scholarships used at the school.

 The coronavirus pandemic has forced the closure of another private school, a highly regarded Central Florida school that served students on the autism spectrum.

The Paragon School in Orlando announced its shutdown Tuesday, becoming the second school in Florida to fold in the wake of Covid-19 and one of more than 50 across the country.

“We are a school community that has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic, which has had a major effect on our enrollment and fundraising capabilities,” said the notice posted on the school’s web site. “We are now faced with the reality of being unable to create a workable budget with adequate staffing that will allow us to operate for the full 2020-2021 school year.”

“This was not a course of action that we came to lightly,” the statement continued. “We are aware of the important role that Paragon has played in the lives of our students and parents and we remain committed to helping support everyone in their search for the best educational setting for their child.”

The closing underscores the plight of private schools nationwide as enrollment drops, philanthropy dries up and uncertainty clouds what “school” will be in the fall. The recession is stripping away private school parents who can no longer afford tuition and/or no longer feel they’re getting the same sense of identity and community at schools that are now mostly or entirely online.

It’s unclear how many private schools may be vulnerable to closure, but thousands disappeared during the Great Recession. Last month, the National Catholic Education Association predicted more than 100 Catholic schools would shut down in coming months. In Florida, 58 percent of private schools responding to a survey from Step Up For Students said they worried about their viability in the fall. (Step Up is the nonprofit scholarship funding organization that hosts this blog.)

The Paragon School served students in K-12, including 20 last year who used Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs. (The program is administered by Step Up.) It was founded by a couple who could not find a public or private school that they felt could serve their son with both strong academics and strong programs in behavior intervention and social development.

 News of Paragon’s closing brought a flood of emotional comments to its Facebook page.

“We are extremely saddened by this news,” one parent wrote. “As parents we were hit with that awful fear of the ‘unknown’ all while losing a part of the family. Paragon is our family.”

“For years Paragon has been a beacon of hope for families. A North Star guiding us to a place of comfort and peace,” wrote another. “As a Christian it is my belief that we will all reap what we sow in this life. How mighty will be the bounty for every single person involved in the incredible miracle that has been Paragon.”

So far, no meaningful government relief has been targeted to private schools beyond the forgivable, short-term PPP loans that were made available to small businesses and nonprofits. A coalition of private school and school choice organizations made a pitch last month for several potential remedies, including emergency tuition tax credits.

With another relief package potentially coming in July, stay tuned.

June 10, 2020 0 comment
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Coronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceEducation EquityFaith-based EducationFeaturedNewsPrivate School ScholarshipsPrivate SchoolsSchool ChoiceSchool spotlightTechnology and InnovationVirtual Education

For this Christian school, pandemic is opportunity to shine

Ron Matus June 3, 2020
Ron Matus

Jim McKenzie, headmaster at The Rock School in North Central Florida, communicates with families in a virtual town hall meeting via Zoom.

Last week, the headmaster at The Rock School, a Christian school in Gainesville, Florida, led a Zoom town hall with hundreds of parents. All of them had re-enrolled their children for the fall back in February, before COVID-19 upended everything. But Jim McKenzie told them during the meeting that if they wanted out of their contracts, the school understood. Just let the school know by June 1, he said.

The result? The parents of 26 students, 6 percent of the total, reluctantly opted out, with most of them saying they wanted to homeschool a year.

The impact? With waiting lists for every grade, The Rock School should be at or near capacity in the fall, no matter what the pandemic has in store.

Even in these trying times, McKenzie and his PreK-12 school are holding their own. They’ve found creative ways to relentlessly emphasize all the things, beyond academics, that make The Rock distinctive and desired. Faith. Family. Identity. Community. To date, that has made the difference.

Transitioning to a virtual education reality “wasn’t necessarily easy for parents, but what they appreciated was they stayed connected,” McKenzie said. “Whether we’re on campus or we’re online, we are The Rock. That’s been our motto.”

“No matter the circumstance, you’re still our community,” McKenzie continued. “That community can still exist, even in the middle of COVID-19.”

The hopeful situation at The Rock School may appear to be at odds with dire concerns about private schools across America. It would be tragic to see it that way. Private schools face real challenges in the months ahead. Many are worried about bleeding enrollment. Dozens have already closed. Their plight, the prospect of equitable relief, the negative repercussions for public schools – none of that has received the attention it deserves.

But The Rock School still offers lessons, both to private schools struggling to maintain enrollment and to other audiences who may better see the value that private schools bring to families and communities – and by extension, to all of us.

“A lot of times Christian schools get caught up in what I call me-too branding,” McKenzie said. “Oh, you know, the big public school’s doing this. Oh, me too. Oh, you’re teaching Latin. Oh, me too. Oh, you’re starting a lacrosse program. Oh, me too. Oh, you’re giving every kid an iPad. Oh, me too. We copy in an effort to keep up.”

“The problem is, I don’t have the resources to copy what the large public school systems in our area can do. So instead I have to look for ways to differentiate myself. I have to look for things … that would be hard for my competitors to copy but are a meaningful difference for the people that we serve.”

“There’s a lot of people that can deliver reading and math academic content in an online format, as good or better than I did, right?” McKenzie continued. “So, the piece that differentiates my school … is this idea of community.”

About a third of the 435 K-12 student at The Rock School use state choice scholarships, including 108 who use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students and 15 who use Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs. (Both programs are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.) Having a high percentage of non-scholarship parents makes the school more vulnerable to economic turbulence. Being in Gainesville, a college town that is more recession-resistant than many places, makes it less so.

An example of a daily schedule to keep students at The Rock School connected with community activities

The Rock School had a good academic reputation long before the pandemic, and in the wake of school closures it quickly built a quality distance learning program. Its “TRS Online” was geared to flexibility with a personal touch. Core academic content was delivered via videos, so students and parents could work them into schedules that were best for them. Teachers could be reached by Zoom daily. Staff checked in with families at least once a week.

But that was just the basics.

What The Rock did beyond the basics endeared it even more to its students and parents. It didn’t shrink its events calendar. It expanded it. It made sure there was something to keep everyone in the school community engaged – and to pique the interest of prospective parents and others who might be on the outside looking in.

McKenzie joked that he felt like “the cruise director of the SS Rock School.”

On a field outside town, the school hosted a dance party for its high school students, complete with DJs and glow sticks to help make the social distancing tolerable. The school broadcast the event on facebook live. Ditto for chapel, book readings, lessons in art class. Ditto for a talent show, where McKenzie sported a red-and-black tux. Ditto for gym, where Coach Jones and Coach Ken became celebrities, with some of their classes getting 1,000 views. The Rock’s pet show reached 7,000 people. Its last-day-of-school parade made news.

An end-of-year parade kept members of The Rock School community connected.

“We felt like there was still a way to provide students this meaningful experience,” McKenzie said. “Where most people’s default was, ‘Well, because of Covid, I guess we’ll have to cancel everything,’ you know, we said, ‘Well, how can we do it differently? How can we translate what we have done to a virtual context that works in the midst of a pandemic?’ ”

McKenzie won’t fit snugly in anybody’s box. He started college as an engineering major, fell in love with teaching, ended up earning a master’s in education from the University of Florida. He’s partial to bow ties. He’s as comfortable quoting marketing gurus as he is as citing Bible scripture. Over the past 10 years, he helped triple The Rock’s enrollment and made it even more racially and economically diverse. (The school is 42 percent non-white.)

In a TEDx talk last year, he pitched a revolution for public education, suggesting lost relevance in an era where millions of current students will work in jobs that don’t yet exist. “Critics will say our education system needs to be reformed. No,” he said. “Our current educational system needs to be re-imagined. We need to stop doing things better. And start doing better things.”

It’s not hard to find folks who predict the pandemic will springboard big change. But in the meantime, thousands of little private schools need to survive it. McKenzie thinks they can better their odds by better telling their own stories, and better highlighting what makes them special. (Get McKenzie’s in-depth take on that subject in this webinar here.)

In that virtual town hall, McKenzie didn’t shy from telling The Rock’s parents about the uncertainty ahead. But he also asked them to compare their pandemic experience with the parents at other schools.

“I think we have proven to be a proven and trusted guide in the midst of a crisis,” McKenzie told them. “And so if the COVID-19 crisis isn’t going away any time soon … isn’t it worth knowing that if things escalate again in our community, that you have a school that you know can manage the crisis again?”

In front of hundreds of screens in the school’s orbit, heads nodded.

June 3, 2020 0 comment
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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipNewsReligious EducationSchool Choice

Catholic school closure an SOS for private schools in pandemic

Ron Matus May 26, 2020
Ron Matus

St. Joseph Academy families have launched an effort to save the school, where 78 of 162 K-8 students participated in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Family Empowerment Scholarship programs for lower-income students.

An 82-year-old Catholic school in Florida has abruptly announced its closure, another telling sign that COVID-19 is eroding the financial ground beneath private schools.

At the beginning of the school year, the Catholic Diocese of Orlando had been discussing the possibility of revamping the St. Joseph Academy in Lakeland, Florida, a half-hour east of Tampa. But in a letter to parents Friday, the Very Rev. Timothy LaBo, pastor of St. Joseph Church, said the financial devastation wrought by the pandemic quickly led to a “serious impact on our re-enrollment numbers.”

“What we could not have imagined was the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect upon our world in such a short time,” LaBo wrote in the letter obtained by Lakeland Now.

The closure of the K-8 school shocked St. Joseph parents, who immediately launched an effort to save the school. But it’s not a surprise to those watching private schools across America struggle as parents lose jobs, businesses close and charitable contributions evaporate.

A survey by Step Up For Students, the nonprofit scholarship funding organization that hosts this blog, found 73 percent of Florida private schools said they are experiencing declines in re-enrollment last year, and 58 percent said they’re worried about their viability for the coming school year. The research and advocacy group EdChoice got similar results when it surveyed private schools nationwide last month. More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April, including 893,000 in Florida.

The Sunshine State has one of the biggest private school sectors in the country, and some of the nation’s biggest school choice programs. But those programs are primarily for lower-income students and students with special needs. It remains to be seen how much they will help private schools trying to retain working-class and middle-class parents who may be forced, in coming months, to make agonizing decisions about their children’s educations.

Seventy-eight of St. Joseph Academy’s 162 K-8 students used the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Family Empowerment Scholarship for lower-income students, while 26 used the Gardiner Scholarship or McKay Scholarship for students with special needs. (The FTC, FES and Gardiner programs are administered by nonprofits like Step Up.)

To date, the most meaningful government relief for private schools has come from the Paycheck Protection Program, which offer a two-month respite for small businesses and nonprofits. Other federal relief streams for education are aimed primarily at public schools, and attempts to steer a more equitable share to private schools has met with relentless pushback.

Other potential remedies, including the possibility of temporary tuition tax credits, have so far generated little debate. Likewise for the potential negative impacts on public schools, which will likely have to absorb former private school students in the face of massive financial and logistical challenges.

May 26, 2020 2 comments
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Coronavirus / COVID-19Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

Private schools ask for equitable federal help

Ron Matus May 14, 2020
Ron Matus

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to exert economic pressure on private school families like those whose children attend Crestwell School in Fort Myers, where about 20 students use a state choice scholarship, four-dozen private school and choice organizations have reached out to Congressional leaders for relief.

Federal pandemic relief efforts must include help to private school families to stave off closure of an “alarming number” of private schools and mitigate the financial stress those closures will inflict on public schools, private school leaders told Congressional leaders Wednesday.

Providing “immediate and direct aid to families” in the form of tuition payment relief will help students remain in private schools, rather than flooding district schools that are facing their own massive financial challenges, 48 private school and school choice organizations said in this letter.

“Private school closures would be devastating for families, students and communities,” said the letter, which was also signed by Step Up For Students, the Florida nonprofit that hosts this blog. “It will be equally devastating, financially, for public school districts.”

“If private schools are shuttered because families aren’t paying tuition for an extended period of time, the increase of public education expenditures for millions of new students coming back into the district systems would be staggering,” the letter continued. “If 20 percent of private school students have to be reabsorbed into the public system, it would cost the public system roughly $15 billion.”

To date, little federal relief targeted to K-12 education has offered meaningful help to private schools. Some private schools have secured funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to help small businesses and nonprofits. But that help is a two-month respite. Growing numbers of parents are telling private schools they won’t be able to afford tuition in the fall, and surveys suggest many private schools fear the economic downturn and continued closure of brick-and-mortar operations could bring their demise.

Besides assurances that federal relief is equitably distributed, the private school groups offered a list of other potential long- and short-term remedies. Among the ideas (which you can read about in the letter): emergency education tax credits and a means-tested federal education savings account.

The groups suggested 10 percent of any new federal education relief be targeted toward private school parents, in line with the national proportion of private to public school students.

May 14, 2020 0 comment
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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFeaturedNewsPrivate School ScholarshipsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

As pandemic drags on, private school worries grow

Ron Matus May 8, 2020
Ron Matus

Ten families with 15 students enrolled at Crestwell School in Fort Myers have said they cannot afford to return in the fall amid the worsening economic fallout of COVID-19.

Christian Life Academy started six years ago with six students in a single room in a church, and it has been growing ever since. This year, the little school on Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast reached 74 students in grades K-8, with 15 staffers, including seven full-time teachers. The ribbon cutting on the 5,000-square-foot building last August reflected a justified confidence that even more middle-class and working-class families would appreciate what the school had to offer.

Then COVID-19 happened.

Since Florida shuttered brick-and-mortar schools in mid-March, five Christian Life families have un-enrolled their children.

Two experienced layoffs. One saw a parent’s job shrink to part time. One decided to home school to save money.

Another handful of parents made it clear that while they love the school, the economic uncertainty means they can’t commit to re-enrolling.

“They’re waiting to find out exactly how much this is going to impact them,” said Principal Aaron Quaintance, a former public school teacher.

What does that mean for the school?

“I have faith that no matter what happens, God will provide and we will make it work,” he said. But if schools don’t physically re-open in the fall, “there is concern about families being forced to explore other options.”

With every passing week, private schools across Florida and beyond grow more uneasy.

Through Thursday, 73 percent of 634 Florida private schools that have responded to a survey from Step Up For Students (which hosts this blog) said they are experiencing declines in re-enrollment compared to last year. Seventy-three percent also said many parents who are not using state school choice scholarship are saying they may not be able to pay tuition next year. All in all, 58 percent said what they’re hearing from parents has them worried about their viability for the coming school year.

EdChoice got similar results when it surveyed private schools nationwide. Sixty-five percent said they were “extremely” or “very” worried about their families struggling financially. Fifty-one percent said they were “extremely” or “very” worried about losing enrollment next year. The survey was conducted April 1-17, just as waves of unemployment began crashing towards the worst job loss since the Great Depression.

In the past few weeks, 10 families with 15 students enrolled at Crestwell School in Fort Myers said they couldn’t afford to return in the fall, said head of school Tina Parsons. The school serves 158 students in grades K-8, with about 20 who use a state choice scholarship. Most of the Crestwell families are middle-class. Many own their own businesses, Parsons said. And they’re getting hammered.

“I’m putting a smile on my face and rolling up my sleeves and trying to get through it,” she said. “My concern is, if we’re not able to go back to school, how many more kids are going to drop out?”

Parsons said some parents have asked if she can guarantee that students will be physically in the school in the fall.

“I’ve told parents that I have to abide by my governor’s mandates,” she said. “But some are saying if they can’t have a real teacher in a real classroom … why not just go to public school and get essentially the same thing for free?”

To date, federal relief for education has been aimed primarily at public schools. The Paycheck Protection Program is some help to private schools, but it’s a short-term fix. The other relief buckets – GEER, ESSER, the “micro-grants” program – aren’t likely to yield more than marginal support. And yet, public school groups pushed back hard this week against an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to lay out a broader definition of “equitable services” for some of that relief.

The particularly daunting challenge for private schools isn’t much of a blip on the media radar (exceptions here and here). Ditto for the potentially big repercussions for public schools (see here and here).

Schools like Christian Life Academy may be especially vulnerable. It’s small. And most of its parents do not get state help for tuition. Florida has the broadest array of choice scholarships in America, but they are mostly limited to low-income students and students with special needs. About 40 percent of Christian Life students use those scholarships.

The school’s PPP loan will tide it over for two months. But after that?

“My faith is in God,” Quaintance said, “so this is an opportunity to grow my faith.”

Schools that were vulnerable before the pandemic are in an even bigger bind.

Nationally, at least eight Catholic dioceses have announced the closure and/or consolidation of Catholic schools in the past two months, including the Institute of Notre Dame, a 170-year-old college prep school in Maryland. Thursday, the Archdiocese of Newark announced the consolidation and closure of 10 schools, including one that is part of the highly regarded Cristo Rey Network.

“The process to identify affected schools and pursue this plan began before the COVID-19 crisis, and the decision is not directly linked to the pandemic,” the archdiocese said in a press release. “Archdiocesan officials noted, however, that the crisis has further weakened the economic position of the schools and other ministries.”

In Florida, some private schools are on edge, even if they have significant numbers of students on choice scholarships.

Kings Christian School in Miami has about 100 students in K-8, with 60 to 70 percent on scholarship. Principal Katherine de la Fe said no parents have said they can’t pay tuition going forward, but many have said they must wait until summer to determine if they can re-enroll.

“There are moments where I can feel overwhelmed,” de la Fe said. “No one’s gone through this before. I can’t predict the future, so I don’t know what kind of impact this will have. I think all of us feel this way.”

Trying to predict fall enrollment is “like throwing a dart against the wall,” said Rod Jackson, superintendent of St. Luke’s Lutheran School in Central Florida. But as unemployment surges “we know people are hurting,” he said. “And that has us very concerned about what next year is going to look like.”

The school has 575 students in grades K-8, about 30 percent of them on choice scholarships. Jackson said St. Luke’s is big enough and established enough not to have to worry about possible closure. But how big a hit it takes, he said, will hinge on whether it can physically re-open in the fall.

If it can? Maybe a 10 to 15 percent drop in enrollment. That’s a lot, Jackson said, but “we’ll be all right.”

If it can’t? Then enrollment could drop by twice that, he said.

In the Tampa Bay area, Erin Ciulla said her K-12 school with 65 students, Odessa Christian, has already heard from the parents of 10 students who are unsure if they can enroll in the fall.

“These are people where this is their school home, their kids are thriving,” she said. The thought of leaving had them “broken up.”

Ciulla said most of her families will stick with Odessa Christian if their children can physically return to it. But closure that extends late into this calendar year could change the equation. At that point, she said, “they’d probably seek out something they don’t have to pay for.”

“We will continue to carry out our mission no matter what,” Ciulla added. “It could look significantly different than it did in February, but, even if we only have five students, we will continue.”

May 8, 2020 0 comment
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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFeaturedNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

For some Florida private schools, pandemic ‘may very well mean closure’

Ron Matus April 29, 2020
Ron Matus

The 43 Catholic schools serving 15,000 students in the Diocese of Orlando began making preparations for the Covid-19 pandemic in February. It knew then, said Superintendent Henry Fortier, that “this virus posed, in some instances, potential extinction for us.”

By mid-April, a handful of families at virtually every school – maybe 150 total – were saying they couldn’t pay tuition for the remainder of the school year, creating uncertainty for re-registration for the fall. Since then, the numbers have risen into the hundreds, as parents throughout Central Florida’s tourist-dependent economy have been laid off and furloughed.

“As the storm comes in, the waves are getting bigger and bigger,” Fortier said.

Private schools throughout Florida are feeling it.

Some 73 percent of the 327 private schools that immediately responded to a survey sent out Monday by Step Up For Students (which hosts this blog) said they were experiencing a decline in re-enrollment rates compared to this time last year, while 75 percent agreed many non-scholarship parents were telling them they couldn’t pay tuition next year. Sixty-two percent said the response from parents was enough to make them worry about the school’s viability for the 2020-21 school year. (The survey was sent to nearly 2,000 schools, so these results should be considered preliminary.)

Fortier’s hurricane metaphor is apt. It’s impossible to tell, this far out, how strong the economic storm unleashed by Covid-19 will be when it makes landfall. At the same time, it’s clear the threat is real, the damage could be extensive, and some structures are more vulnerable than others.

Schools with strong majorities of students using choice scholarships have more of a financial buffer. But those with more non-scholarship parents may be in for an especially rough spell.

“You pull 30 to 40 kids out of a school with 200 to 250 students, that can be dramatic,” Fortier said. “If I can’t reduce my staff … where does the money come from? Pennies from heaven? This may very well mean closure for many non-public schools around the state.”

“This is definitely a very serious issue. And I am confident that some schools will not survive this,” Michael Burroughs, executive director of the Florida League of Christian Schools, said in an email. “Personally, I think REALLY small schools that are accustomed to living on shoestring budgets will eke this out. I think larger schools have the savvy to leverage capital to manage this crisis. I think the greatest risk is the average school with 100 to 300 students. I think those have the potential to be the hardest hit. And you know as well as I do, that is the majority of religious schools in the state.”

Florida has one of the biggest private school sectors in America, with 2,700 schools serving 335,000 students in K-12. About 160,000 of those students use choice scholarships for students disadvantaged by poverty or disability.

Economic slumps are always tough for private schools. During the Great Recession, the number of private schools in Florida fell from 2,304 in 2005 to 2,064 in 2008, a 10 percent reduction. This, even though the number of students using the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income families grew by 14,322 during that span.

Fortier said about a dozen schools in the Orlando diocese fit that smaller-school profile that may put them at risk if enrollment declines significantly.

All 43 schools in the diocese applied for forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal relief stream for small businesses and nonprofits that appears to be the biggest source of federal help for private schools. The PPP is, at best, a Band-Aid that can help sustain a school for two months. And many private schools have yet to get that.

Three schools in the Orlando diocese were approved during the first round of the PPP, which got a second infusion of money, $310 billion, late last week.  According to the initial results from the Step Up survey, 82 percent of the 327 respondents said they applied to the PPP. Thirty-two percent said their applications had been approved; 64 percent said their applications were pending.

To be sure, all education sectors are facing the strain. The Council of the Great City Schools warned Tuesday that nearly 300,000 teachers could be laid off in the biggest urban districts without more federal relief. At the same time, there’s a strong case to be made that big hits to private school enrollment will have negative repercussions on school districts, which will have to teach more students with less money in unprecedented circumstances (see here, here, here, and here).

Some private schools are doing everything they can to keep that from happening.

Many private school parents whose children were not using choice scholarships may not realize such scholarships are available, Fortier said. Schools in the Orlando diocese are working hard to make sure parents now in a bind understand they may have options like the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship.

April 29, 2020 0 comment
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Coronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

Private schools in line, again, for a little more federal relief

Ron Matus April 23, 2020
Ron Matus

La Progresiva Presbyterian School in Miami has grown from 162 students to 700 during Melissa Rego’s tenure as principal. The school in working-class Little Havana has applied for a $450,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan and awaiting approval. Photo: 2018

Private schools across America will get another quick shot at short-term financial help, thanks to a new pandemic relief package that will funnel an additional $310 billion in forgivable loans to hundreds of thousands of small businesses and nonprofits.

The key piece for private schools, which appear unlikely to get much relief from other federal emergency measures, is more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.

The original PPP appropriation of $349 million dried up 13 days after banks began processing an avalanche of applications, leaving nearly one million small businesses and nonprofits, including private schools, in limbo. The second round of relief is expected to be doled out even faster, but it’s still a ray of hope for private schools facing dire straits.

“The small mom-and-pops are the ones that really need this,” said Ailynn Hernandez, director of Miami’s La Progresiva Presbyterian School, which applied for a $450,000 PPP loan but is still awaiting approval.

The school in working-class Little Havana serves 700 students in PreK-12, with nearly all in K-12 using the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students. (The program is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.) Steady enrollment growth led La Progresiva to begin construction on a new classroom building three months ago. But now, most of the funding for 80 pre-school students is gone, and it’s likely enrollment will dip as parents lose jobs and families move.

“A lot of our parents work in the hospitality industry … and they’re really going to get hurt,” Hernandez said.

In Gainesville, Fla., St. Patrick Interparish School serves 420 students in K-8. But due to economic uncertainty, 70 have yet to re-register for next year, said principal Frank Mackritis. Twenty of 60 employees have been furloughed, he said, so if the school gets a PPP loan, it can keep them paid another eight weeks.

“I pray for our employees that this funding is made available,” Mackritis wrote in an email. “Many of our single employees have had to move back in with their parents and others simply can’t make ends meet.”

The PPP loan is available to small businesses and nonprofits, with the loan amount limited to 250 percent of an employer’s average monthly payroll. The money is primarily for salaries, with up to 25 percent for rent, utilities and mortgage interest. If the business or nonprofit maintains its payroll for eight weeks, the loan is forgiven.

The second round of PPP funding includes changes designed to better ensure the money reaches its intended targets, and not bigger businesses that found ways to access the initial pot.

Private schools may still get some help from other pieces of federal relief.

The $2 trillion CARES Act directs $13.2 billion to states for K-12 schools, with another $2.95 billion to governors via block grants. It remains to be seen how much will trickle down to private schools and private school students, even with interesting possibilities being floated.

Florida’s share of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund is $173.6 million. Its share of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education, will top $770 million.

The state has one of the biggest private school sectors in America, with nearly 2,700 schools serving 335,000 students in K-12. About 120,000 of those students use choice scholarships for lower-income students; more than 40,000 use choice scholarships for students with special needs. Details have yet to emerge on how the education relief funds may help students in any sector, but Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said during Wednesday’s meeting of the Re-open Florida Task Force that ensuring every student can access online learning was a priority. “We want the safety net built out completely,” Corcoran said, according to Politico Florida.

In the meantime, awareness is growing that private schools in Florida and beyond are facing “unprecedented crises.” And that hard times for private schools will spill over to public schools (see here, here, here, and here.)

Against that backdrop, anxious private schools are grateful for any help that can keep their communities intact.

Mercy Nyman, founder and principal of The Key to Learning school in the Central Florida city of Clermont, said 89 percent of her 165 students use choice scholarships, including 59 who use the Gardiner Scholarship for students with special needs. But many of their parents work in the decimated tourism industry, she said, and can’t continue paying the gap between scholarship and tuition.

Nyman said she got “scared and emotional” this week thinking the end might be coming for her school. But thanks to a just-approved $145,000 PPP loan, she said she can, for now, continue paying all 29 employees, including teaching assistants, paraprofessionals, housekeeping staff and office staff.

“The PPP coming in helped me be able to dispel the scary thoughts,” she said.

April 23, 2020 0 comment
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