Family Empowerment Scholarship

Commentary: Flexibility in education will help families like mine

Special to redefinED March 10, 2021

Special to redefinED

Editor’s note: This commentary from Patrice Whitfield of Jacksonville explains how her three younger children have benefited from state scholarship programs – and how her three older children could have benefited had the scholarship been available sooner.

As a mother of six, I’ve seen my share of struggles, especially when it comes to raising and educating my children. Thankfully, I received help through several state scholarship programs for low-income students and children with special needs.

Having tried multiple scholarship programs, I can say without a doubt that the flexibility the Gardiner Scholarship offers makes it my favorite.

The Gardiner Scholarship program is an education savings account program. Florida provides funds that I’m able spend on school tuition, tutoring, therapies, books, curriculum and more.

My sons Laurence (12^th grade) and Christian (third grade) are both on the autism spectrum and qualify for the Gardiner Scholarship. My daughter Ghayda (fifth grade) is on the income-based Tax Credit Scholarship program. My oldest three have also used the income-based scholarship and gone on to graduate from high school.

Laurence and Christian each have unique needs. Though Laurence struggles with social settings, he performs better in the classroom than Christian. The Gardiner Scholarship has allowed me to afford tuition at Morning Star School in Jacksonville, where Laurence gets the help he needs.

Prior to Morning Star School, Laurence was a D-F student, but today he’s a senior on the A-honor roll. He wants to become a video game programmer when he grows up and he’s already off to a strong start. He even helped me pass my IT fundamentals certifications when I decided to start a new career path.

Christian is different. He is hyperactive and bounces around everywhere. I have to be more hands on with his education and that is why I decided to homeschool him for now.

Gardiner gives me flexibility to teach him things I want to him to learn, like focusing more on Black history as well as math and science. The funds help me afford curriculum and materials for science and math lessons where Christian is now excelling. He has mastered his multiplication tables and is learning division.

And next year we are looking to add ABA therapy, which can increase language and communication skills and improve attention, focus, social skills, memory and academic.

When I heard the Florida Legislature was going to merge the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship and give them the same spending flexibility as Gardiner, I thought that was a great idea.

With Ghayda’s income-based scholarship, we are restricted to only tuition and fees at Morning Star School. I don’t want to take away from anything Morning Star offers, I only want to add to it. I’d love to be able to use the scholarship to buy more books for Ghayda so we can focus more on her reading and spelling at home. The added flexibility would allow me to supplement and support my child’s already excellent education.

In fact, I wish I had the Gardiner Scholarship long ago for my oldest children.

One of my adult children still struggles with reading and writing today. Back when she was a student, she didn’t have the full support she needed. After seeing how Christian and Laurence have grown with the help of Gardiner, I know she would have done much better if I had the funds to supplement her learning at home.

I know that flexibility would have a big impact on many other families, too. I’d love to see the Legislature make all state scholarship programs as awesome as Gardiner.

March 10, 2021 0 comment

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Commentary: More parents should have the learning options we have

Special to redefinED February 8, 2021

Special to redefinED

Eli Conner, shown here with his mother, Stephanie Conner, and his sister, Madeline, benefits from the flexibility offered by the Gardner Scholarship, Florida’s education savings account for students with special needs.

Editor’s note: This piece from Stephanie Conner, who lives in LaBelle, Florida, first published in the Naples Daily News.

My 14-year-old son Eli has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and other development delays, and he communicates mostly through sign language. A few years ago, he was anxious and struggling in public school. But then he got a state scholarship that changed everything.

Florida’s Gardiner Scholarship for students with special needs is an education savings account. It gives parents the power to create a learning program that is just right for their child, covering tuition, tutors, therapists, technology, curriculum, etc., in whatever combination works best. My husband and I used it to educate Eli through both home education and private school.

Eli was once far behind his academic potential, but now he is gaining ground, especially in reading. The sensory integration therapy he gets through scholarship funding has made it possible for him to learn in more settings, from field trips to classrooms, including the private school he attends part time.

For Eli, the scholarship has been life changing. And it would be life changing for more children if more families had what we have.

In Florida, that might happen.

In coming months, lawmakers will consider a proposal to convert the state’s school choice scholarships into education savings accounts. That will give tens of thousands of other families the kind of control over their children’s educations that we have. Especially now, in the midst of the pandemic, that ability to create as many options as possible makes sense.

Families like mine are sometimes called education pioneers, but we didn’t set out to be. I’m a former teacher, my husband is a teacher, and he comes from a family of teachers, including his father, a former superintendent in Hendry County. All four of our children use choice scholarships.

Our 10-year-old, Madeline, has been diagnosed with bilateral congenital deafness and also uses a Gardiner Scholarship. Our 6-year-olds, Meizi and Gideon, use the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which is available to low- and middle-income families.

We are grateful for both scholarships, but the flexibility of education savings accounts makes them especially nice. Before the Gardiner Scholarship, we considered moving from Hendry County so we could be closer to the therapists Eli needed. We agonized over that possibility, given all the family we have here. But the Gardiner Scholarship spared us.

Instead of relocating, I take Eli to Orlando several times a year for intensive therapy. The rest of the time, I work with Eli and Madeline at home, using the specialized tools we purchased with scholarship funds.

The scholarship pays for private school tuition too. Being in school is excellent for Eli, but full time would be too much. So, Eli goes part time to a loving school near our home, which is happy to offer part-time services.

Meizi and Gideon attend the school full time, while Madeline goes for PE. Last year, Eli attended for PE, lunch and a science/social studies class. This year, he added a keyboarding class, and the school adjusted tuition accordingly. When education savings accounts become more common, more families and schools will be able to benefit from similar opportunities.

Knowing every child is different, I think it makes sense for every child to have a learning program that accounts for those differences. The scholarships available to my family allow us to create that unique learning program, but they shouldn’t be limited to a few families.

Florida would be an even more beautiful place if more families could do the same.

February 8, 2021 0 comment

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Florida Senate education choice bill clears first committee hurdle

Lisa Buie February 3, 2021

Lisa Buie

Marquavis Wilson, 16, who was bullied so badly at his district school that he wanted to end his life, spoke in favor of Senate Bill 48, which would assist families desiring education choice options for their children.

A bill that would simplify Florida’s education choice programs by merging five scholarships into two and add a flexible spending option cleared the Florida Senate Education Committee today.

By a vote of 6 to 4 along party lines, members approved SB48, which would transfer students receiving the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) to the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES), which was signed into law in 2019, and sunset the 20-year-old FTC.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah Gardens, explained that the bill’s purpose is to consolidate programs and simplify the process for families, as well as give parents greater control over their children’s education.

“A lot of what is in this bill is in current law,” Diaz said.

Donors would still be allowed to contribute to the program through a newly created state trust fund. However, donations would go to serve K-12 education generally in the state, rather than pay for scholarships. Both the FTC and the FES are income based and serve students whose families meet financial eligibility rules.

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.

The bill also would merge the McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities and the Gardiner Scholarship Program, creating a new program for students with unique abilities called the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program.

That program would allow families in all state scholarship programs to have flexible spending accounts, also known as education savings accounts, or ESAs. Currently, only students enrolled in the Gardiner program have such flexibility.

The accounts allow families to spend their money on pre-approved services and equipment in addition to private school tuition. Approved expenditures include electronic devices, curriculum, part-time tutoring programs, educational supplies, equipment, and therapies that insurance programs do not cover. The bill would expand eligible services for McKay-Gardiner students to include music, art, and theater programs, as well as summer education programs.

The scholarship programs are also available to homeschool students and those enrolled in eligible private schools.

In addition, victims of bullying at district schools who transfer to private schools as part of the Hope Scholarship Program would also be served by the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program and receive the same spending flexibility.

(See more details of the bill here.)

One student and five parents whose children have benefited from school choice scholarships spoke in support of the bill.

Lamisha Stephens, of Hallandale Beach, credited a scholarship with saving the life of her 16-year-old son, Marquavis Wilson, who was bullied so badly because of his sexual identity that in fifth grade he wanted to end his life. The transfer to a private school enabled him to escape the torment and thrive.

“That changed everything, she said. “Now, Marquavis is safe. And he can be himself. And he’s learning again like he’s supposed to.”

Marquavis also expressed his gratitude for the scholarship.

“At my old school, I was fighting all the time,” he said. “At my new school, everything was different,” he said. “I know they care about me. And I know I can be myself.”

Simone Arnold said her first-grade son, Ayden, who is on the autism spectrum and has trouble with his speech and comprehension, has made tremendous progress at his private school thanks to a Gardiner Scholarship.

“I want to thank Sen. Diaz for this bill that would benefit families by simplifying the scholarship programs, and by making them more flexible to meet each child’s individual needs,” Arnold said.

Also speaking in favor of the bill was Jon Arguello, a member of the Osceola County School Board, who said district schools do an outstanding job, but choice is necessary so that every student’s individualized needs can be met.

“As a policymaker I know this bill counts,” Arguello said. “As a father of five and a member of my community, I know this bill helps.”

He called education choice scholarships “a godsend” to parents and students with a need that cannot be met in a traditional environment.

“Public schools are not set up to address every single particular need of every student,” he said. “Every parent should be able to make the decision for their child whether we are serving them properly.”

After the meeting, Diaz thanked his colleagues who supported his efforts to help families.

“We look forward to our continued work streamlining Florida’s robust school choice options. Our aim is to make it easier for parents to navigate the process and assure that all students have the opportunity to access an educational option that works for them.”

The bill’s next stop is in the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

February 3, 2021 0 comment

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What Senate Bill 48 does

redefinED staff February 2, 2021

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.

February 2, 2021 3 comments

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SUFS president delivers remarks before Senate Education Committee

redefinED staff January 15, 2021

redefinED staff

Editor’s note: In a moving 20-minute presentation Tuesday at the Florida Senate Education Committee’s first meeting in advance of the 2021 legislative session, lifelong education choice advocate Doug Tuthill set the stage for continued expansion of school choice as a means of leveling persistent gaps and improving education outcomes for all students. Here are excerpts from that presentation.

“Helping public education fulfill the promise of equal opportunity – this is what gets us up every morning. This is what we think about before we go to bed every night … We know we have huge inequities in our system. We know that not every child has the opportunity to fulfill their potential, and so part of the process here is to make sure we create a public education system that’s flexible enough to make sure every child gets his or her needs met … And you want the parents to be engaged in that process.”

“We have to have a partnership with parents, work with them and collaborate with them to make sure they have the resources and the information they need to make the very best choices for their children. I know a lot of people don’t trust parents to make good decisions, but I think that’s wrong. I think parents are the best educators for their kids. They have to be partners in this process. What I’ve learned over 42 years of doing education reform is that you’ve got to engage the parents in a much deeper way than we have historically. That’s what these programs are designed to do.”

“The other thing I’ve learned over the past 42 years is the power of ownership … I think the sense of ownership is really important. People who own things have a greater commitment to them, they work harder to make those things a success. Too much of our system is designed to treat people as renters and not owners. Part of what the choice movement does is it tries to give that sense of empowerment. It tries to give people that sense of ownership.”

“What we’re seeing in these programs over the past 20, 30 years is that ownership is transformational. When people have a sense of ownership it really transforms them. It motivates them. They engage in ways they don’t if they don’t feel that sense of ownership. And that’s really I think the magic sauce.”

“Choice is now the norm in Florida. It’s not going away. You’re not going to put the genie back in the bottle. The question is equal opportunity. How do we make sure that some kids don’t get left behind? That’s what these programs are about, to make sure we don’t leave any children behind.”

“Oftentimes, we hear people say, ‘You’re giving money to private schools.’ That’s a false statement. None of the programs give money to private schools. What the programs do is give money to families, and families make a choice as to how they want to spend that money … This is a parent empowerment program. It’s not a private school subsidy program. No money goes to private schools. That’s the law. The money goes to the families, and the families make a decision how they want to spend that money.”

“You are going to hear a lot about ESAs over the next several years. Education savings accounts give families more flexibility on how to spend their money. One of the things we learned from the pandemic is in order to keep their children safe and well-educated, families want as much flexibility as possible. You’ve read about families creating homeschool co-ops, learning pods. There is a lot of innovation going on out there by trying to make sure their children are safe. We want to make sure low-income children don’t get left behind. If you’re committed to equal opportunity, you want to make sure that all these families have these options.”

“It’s kind of like missionary work. You do this because it’s a chance to make a difference in people’s lives … Parents fight to get through the application process because they’re fighting for their kids. You have to honor that and respect it. Low-income families in particular who are trying to break the cycle of generational poverty know that education is the key. It’s an honor to work with those families.”

“I’ve had grandmothers come up to me and say, ‘I dropped out of school in eighth or ninth grade because of financial situations, home situation. I had to work to take care of my family. My grandchild is now on a scholarship, my grandchild is doing amazingly well. I’m so moved by the transformation of my grandchild I’ve gone back to work on my GED.’ Those stories are just powerful. It’s really about hope, it’s really about empowerment, it’s really about ownership. Those things are the magic sauce in changing people’s lives.”

“We serve the highest poverty, lowest performing kids in the state, which makes sense. If you’re going to go through this process, it’s because you’re desperate. That’s what we see, families who are desperately advocating for their children.”

“What the programs do is they give people hope, meaningful hope, that leads to transformation in people’s behavior.”

“It’s impossible to be serious about equal opportunity if you only think about school as six hours a day, 180 days a year … We’ve got to figure out how to deal with all the learning that happens outside of school, and what an education savings account does is it allows families to spend money not just on the school day but on after-school activities and summer activities to begin leveling that playing field. It’s really important as we move forward that we talk about how we can provide families with the resources they need, not just during the school day, but after school and during the summer to begin to level the playing field, to be really serious about equal opportunity.”

To view the Senate Education Committee meeting in its entirety, click here.

January 15, 2021 0 comment

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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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Step Up For Students ranks 21st on Forbes’ list of top charities

Patrick R. Gibbons December 11, 2020

Patrick R. Gibbons

All students at each of three Academy Prep campuses — St. Petersburg, Tampa and Lakeland, Florida — attend on state scholarships administered by Step Up For Students.

Americans donated more than $450 billion to charities last year. Of that amount, $49.5 billion went to the top 100 charities, according to Forbes Magazine’s America’s Top Charities rankings.

Step Up for Students, a scholarship granting nonprofit that administers five school choice scholarship programs in Florida, ranked as the 21^st largest nonprofit in America. Step Up, which raised $618 million in private donations last year and hosts this blog.

Step Up’s scholarship programs include the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income and working-class students, the Gardiner Scholarship for students with unique abilities, the Hope Scholarship for victims of bullying and harassment, the Reading Scholarship for public school students struggling with reading and literacy, and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for lower- and middle-class students.

Step Up’s goal for the fiscal year 2021 is to raise $700 million to fund the Florida Tax Credit and Hope Scholarship programs. The Gardiner Scholarship, Reading Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship programs are funded by the Florida legislature, though Step Up advertises these scholarships, processes applications and helps manage accounts for Gardiner and Reading scholarship families.

Since offering the first scholarships during the 2002-03 school year, Step Up has awarded scholarships to more than 1 million students. The organization served more than 150,000 students during the 2020-21 school year.

December 11, 2020 0 comment

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Scholarships continue to be a lifeline for Catholic school families

Lisa Buie December 8, 2020

Lisa Buie

Eight-year-old Grace Peters, her sister, Stella, 5, and her brother, Colton, 6, attend San Jose Catholic School in Jacksonville on state scholarships.

While Catholic school enrollment in Florida declined for the second straight year, newly released figures showing an increase in the number of families using state scholarships to send their children to these schools may be the reason the schools escaped the precipitous declines plaguing Catholic schools nationwide.

Overall, scholarship use among Catholic school families increased by 2.1%. Preliminary figures on Catholic school enrollment released by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops shows the number of students receiving the Family Empowerment Scholarship soaring from 1,787 in 2019 to 5,040 in 2020.

Florida Catholic school enrollment yearly comparison and growth over time

Florida Catholic school state scholarship figures 2018-2020

“Families are looking for more flexibility and access to diverse schooling options to keep their children safe and well educated during this pandemic,” said Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students, Florida’s largest K-12 scholarship organization and host of this blog. “That’s why we are seeing a surge in demand for scholarships, such as the Family Empowerment Scholarship.”

Tuthill added: “Education choice programs will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Families like having access to more learning options for their children.”

A significant amount of the growth in scholarships, Tuthill speculated, is due to parents of kindergarteners seeking a safer environment for their children during the pandemic while trying to maintain a high-quality education. The pandemic’s impact on family finances also may have played a role in scholarship growth, he said.

“I suspect there has been a lot of pressure on families who were private pay,” he said.

Count Joe Peters and his wife, Sarah, among those who felt that pressure. Peters, a 36-year-old father of four children ranging in age from 8 years to 18 months, lost his income when the pandemic wiped out the event planning and management business he co-owns. Though the family was able to make ends meet for a few months with income from events held before pandemic-forced cancellations, the threat of having to take their children out of San Jose Catholic School in Jacksonville, which they knew and loved, caused many sleepless nights.

“That was a trying time,” said Peters, who attended San Jose and graduated from Bishop Kenney Catholic High School in Jacksonville. The situation became so dire that the family considered moving to his father-in-law’s Alabama hometown so the kids could attend district schools there and still be near relatives.

“Just the thought of telling our kids they wouldn’t be able to return to a place they loved so much was heartbreaking,” Sarah Peters said. The idea of her young children having to move to a new town, adjust to new teachers and make new friends while everyone’s faces were covered with masks was “frightening to me,” she said.

Then a family member told the family about the Family Empowerment Scholarship program. They applied, and their children were awarded full scholarships for the 2020-21 school year.

“It brought tears to our eyes,” Joe Peters recalled. “That was such a relief knowing that our kids would not be put through any kind of drastic change during this global pandemic.”

Catholic school leaders such as Michael Barrett, associate for education for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, credit state scholarship programs for allowing Catholic schools to remain open, providing a high-quality, faith-based education for families dealing with pandemic-induced anxiety.

“The Family Empowerment Scholarship is a program true to its name,” Barrett said. “Even pre-pandemic, the rising costs of private school tuition coupled with increased costs of living often made it difficult for middle-income families to provide a Catholic education for multiple children.”

Barrett said his organization hopes state lawmakers will expand the Family Empowerment Scholarship to more students by eliminating the requirement that students in first through 12^th grades first attend a district school to qualify for the program. (Because the Peters’ youngest child was entering kindergarten, the two older children were also eligible for Family Empowerment Scholarships, according to state rules.)

“Parents are the primary educators of their children and should have the opportunity to educate their children as they see fit,” he said.

Joe and Sarah Peters’ said they are relieved that at their three children to continue attending the school the family has always known and loved.

“We like the values that are being taught here,” Joe Peters said. “We know the community, and the community knows us.”

Peters also found his own lifeline at San Jose as a long-term substitute Spanish teacher and cross country/track coach.

“I am talking to you from my desk at school,” he said. “I am beyond grateful.”

December 8, 2020 0 comment