Family Empowerment Scholarship

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 0 comment

Analysis Education Choice Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Gardiner Scholarship McKay Scholarship Parental Choice Private School Scholarships School Choice

The proof is in the numbers: participation in education choice is soaring

Patrick R. Gibbons April 3, 2020

Patrick R. Gibbons

While Covid-19 likely will be responsible for the single largest increase in virtual education in Florida’s history, enrollment growth over time in another program that offers education choice, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, is nevertheless impressive. From academic year 2015-16 to 2016-17, the program grew by 20,000 students.

Meanwhile, the Family Empowerment Scholarship, in its first year, ramped up to 18,000 students in a matter of months. The previous first-year enrollment record holder, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, launched in 2002 with 15,585 students.

By comparison, the McKay Scholarship program for students with disabilities began in 2000 with 970 students. The Opportunity Scholarship program, created in 1999 and offered to students attending low-performing public schools, served just 57 students in its first year. (The Florida Supreme Court in 2006 declared that program unconstitutional after an epic legal battle.)

Enrollment in the Gardiner Scholarship program, created in 2014 for students with unique abilities, has shown steady, if less rapid growth, although that’s likely to change. The Florida Legislature appropriated an additional $23 million in funding for the program in 2019, pushing Gardiner funding to $147.9 million and allowing it to serve at least 2,000 more students. This year, the Legislature approved an additional $42 million increase for the program, which will make it available to still more families.

(Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, administers the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, Family Empowerment Scholarship and Gardiner Scholarship programs.)

Data indicate that while the percentage of students diagnosed with autism participating in the program has grown, the number of students with other diagnoses has declined as a percentage of the total population amid an expansion in the list of eligibilities.

The percentage of minority students participating in the Florida Tax Credit program has remained remarkably stable. In 2010, non-white students made up 75 percent of the program and today comprise 73 percent. While the percentage of black students dropped from 36 percent to 30 percent, the number of Hispanic students increased from 27 percent to 38 percent. The percentage of white students participating increased from 25 percent to 27 percent.

The Florida Tax Credit program’s income eligibility requirements also have changed over time. Today, students can remain in the program if their household income does not exceed 260 percent of poverty. That threshold has increased from 185 percent, the eligibility requirement for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program.

The average student lives in a household earning $27,298 a year, just 13 percent above the poverty level.

April 3, 2020 0 comment

Advocate Voices Education Choice Education Equity Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Podcast School Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill speaks with Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith

redefinED staff March 19, 2020

redefinED staff

Nadine Smith is executive director of Equality Florida, the state’s largest organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In today’s redefinED podcast, Step Up president Doug Tuthill and Equality Florida chief executive officer Nadine Smith talk about their ongoing efforts to ensure every child has access to a safe and healthy learning environment.

“We’ve been having this conversation, I think, for a couple of years now,” Smith says. “We’ve taken some time to really figure out the best possible way to pursue this. To us, the bottom line is every student should feel safe and in an environment where they can thrive and be themselves when they go to school. That should be true in private school. That should be true in public school. It should be true throughout our K-12 system.”

Two-thirds of the schools that participate in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship programs, which serve economically disadvantaged students, are faith-based. Smith, whose father is a church deacon and whose organization has worked with church congregations in the past, says she welcomes the opportunity to talk with faith-based leaders and educators across the state. A process that she and Tuthill have begun.

“In our years of doing this,” she says, “I think people are often pleasantly surprised when we get out of this idea of an us-and-them and friends-and-enemies, and we just talk as people who want the same things for our children and want to live in a community where we’re respected with dignity. And so I’ve had some of the best conversations with faith leaders all around the state.”

The influx of LGBTQ students into Step Up’s scholarship programs has led many schools to ask for training on how to better support these students. In response, Equality Florida has agreed to offer private schools who ask for it the same cultural awareness training program it currently provides public school districts.

“We’re hearing from a lot of the schools that they’re trying to serve these kids, but they often lack the expertise they need,” Tuthill says.

“In terms of the training that we do, what we really believe is that you meet people where they are, where their belief systems are,” Smith says. “We’re not telling someone that they have to change their faith beliefs, but what we are saying is there are ways that you interact with young people that can either make them safe and create a healthy learning environment or ways you can make them unsafe and push them away and push them down a path that can lead to depression, suicide, homelessness – a lot of negative outcomes.

“What we discover in talking to schools and parents and teachers who cross the spectrum in terms of belief – political beliefs, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs – is that they want to create the safest space for every student, they want to see them have the most support in becoming who they are. And we can be a great partner in making that happen.”

March 19, 2020 0 comment

Bipartisanship Education Choice Education Equity Education Legislation Education Politics Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship School Choice

Scholarship expansion bill headed to governor’s desk for signature

Lisa Buie March 13, 2020

Lisa Buie

A bill that expands and aligns two K-12 scholarship programs for economically disadvantaged students won final passage in the Florida Legislature today and will be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his expected signature.

With no debate and by a vote of 21 to 14, the Florida Senate gave final approval to HB 7067, which is aimed at aligning policies between the Family Empowerment Scholarship, adopted last year and serving 18,000 students, and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001 and serving 108,000 students.

“This session, revising the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program was our state’s priority, because no matter what economic challenges a student has, investing in the education of our children is always a win,” said Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, who as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, shepherded the bill through the legislative process. “I would like to thank my House and Senate colleagues for supporting a world of opportunity for all students that regardless of race, wealth, or beliefs should have access to an education that meets their needs.”

A Democratic House member expressed his satisfaction after the bill’s passage.

“It’s a good day in the state of Florida,” said Rep. James Bush III, D-Miami, who supported last year’s bill establishing the Family Empowerment Scholarship program and was one of eight Democrats who voted Monday in favor of the expansion in the House. “This bill is really going to further empower parents to be able to choose the educational environment that is best for their children.”

Both scholarship programs serve students from lower-income and working-class families.

The bill would increase the allowed enrollment growth in the Family Empowerment Scholarship. Under current law, the program can grow by up to 0.25 of total public school enrollment each year, which is roughly 7,000 students. The bill would increase that growth to 1 percent, or roughly 28,000.

The bill gives clear priority to renewal students in both programs and provides for a gradual increase in household income eligibility over time. That provision allows the eligible income level in the Family Empowerment Scholarship, currently 300 percent of federal poverty, to increase by 25 percentage points in the next year if more than 5 percent of the available scholarships remain unawarded.

The income limit for Tax Credit Scholarships would remain at 260 percent of poverty.

The bill also allows students who receive scholarships in either program to remain on the scholarship until they graduate or turn 21.

March 13, 2020 0 comment

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Legislation Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship School Choice

Florida Senate moves closer to expanding scholarship programs for low-income families

Lisa Buie March 12, 2020

Lisa Buie

family empowerment scholarship

The Florida Senate agreed today to vote on a House bill that expands and aligns two K-12 scholarship programs for economically disadvantaged students. The action sets up a floor vote for Friday on HB 7067, which, if approved, will be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

The bill is aimed at aligning policies between the new Family Empowerment Scholarship, adopted last year and serving 18,000 students, and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001 and serving 108,000 students.

Both scholarship programs serve students from lower-income and working-class families. The primary difference is that the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship is funded by corporations that receive a 100 percent tax credit, and the Family Empowerment Scholarship is funded directly from the state education budget.

The House bill and Senate version, SB 1220, were nearly identical. So with the House already having approved HB 7067 on Monday by a bipartisan 81 to 39 vote, the Senate switched to the House bill and rejected an amendment that would have changed it.

The income limit for Tax Credit Scholarships would remain at 260 percent of poverty.

The bill also allows students who receive scholarships to remain in the program until they graduate or turn 21.

March 12, 2020 0 comment

Bipartisanship Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Legislation Education Politics Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship School Choice

Word for word: Rep. Susan Valdes on HB7067

redefinED staff March 9, 2020

redefinED staff

Editor’s note: Susan Valdes, D-Tampa, was one of eight Democrats who joined a Republican majority Monday to approve HB 7067. A nearly two-hour emotional debate on the bill, which is aimed at aligning policies between the new Family Empowerment Scholarship and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and increasing allowed enrollment growth in the former, saw representatives on both sides of the issue sharing personal stories, including Valdes, who advocated for under-served students during her tenure on the Hillsborough County School Board. Her efforts led the district to allow students to take multiple competency tests to increase their chances of earning a diploma. Here is what Valdes had to say at Monday’s hearing.

The only thing I can share with you is being born first-generation of Cuban immigrants in New York City, we went to a public school. We moved to Miami shortly thereafter, and later on as an adult, I found out why. Things weren’t going very well in the public schools in New York City. Mom and Dad wanted something better for me. When we moved to Miami, I went to a small private school. My parents weren’t wealthy at all. I remember struggling. They didn’t talk about it.

My mom was widowed when I was 10 going on 11. My mom couldn’t afford any longer to provide the education that they thought would be fit for me and that was at that small private school. It was a community school. It was something that was a good thing for kids. We didn’t have this option when I was growing up. When we moved to Tampa shortly thereafter my dad’s passing, I did go into public school and I have to say I wear my high school alma mater lanyard for a reason. I want the students back home to know that they can do this, that they can reach whatever potential that they choose with the help of their teachers and their administration and of course with hard work.

I honor them. I honor our public school teachers. I honor the work they do. I love public schools. No doubt about that. And I also know that in my school district there are many students, that like my parents, needed and wanted a choice because things weren’t going right in their traditional public schools. And until we become open and friendlier in our schools, until we begin to understand some of the cultural challenges that our students face, whether they’re poor, whether they’re immigrants, whether they were born here, whatever their case may be, we have to be able to open our hearts to a single mom’s decision of where to put and place their child in a school.

Not everyone has a family that, we talked about that before on the parental rights bill, things of that nature, not everyone has a family with that foundation that most of grew up with. So, when I’m seeing how many single moms and single dads we have in today’s society …

My friends, we’re the party of choice. We’re the party of choice. How can we deny the single parent the choice of where to educate their child? This is extremely important for the successes of our children. And yes, we do have the majority of parents that do choose public schools, and that’s a great choice. It really is. There’s a lot of opportunity. But when you look at the data as Rep. Newton has so eloquently shared with us so many different times about that school to prison pipeline, after several of us are visiting prisons in our state and talking to our kids that are in there behind those bars, and one in specific told me, and it broke my heart, because he said to me, ‘I let you down, Ms. Valdes.’

I didn’t know I was going to see this kid. He actually put signs out when I was running for school board. He and his family. I had no idea. But I would go talk to my kids in my schools and share this same conversation. They have the opportunity with hard work and dedication to be able to reach these heights. And because of poverty, he made the wrong choice, got caught and was one that was incarcerated such as Rep. Newton … When he looked at me and he was desperately knocking on that little window in that cage, ‘Ms. V., Ms. V.,’ I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, who knows me in here?’ I looked at this young man and a tear came down and he said, ‘I’m sorry I let you down.’

It reminded me of what we’re doing here today. We have to give our children the opportunity that when things aren’t working out, find a way of being able to make it work for that child. I know that our guidance counsellors are overworked. I know the social workers, we need more of them, but by the same token, the system failed this young man. I can’t help him behind bars. All I can do is give him encouraging words in hopes that he behaves and does well so that maybe we can pass later on a 65 percent law that instead of having students or kids or prisoners meet their 85 percent mandatory that children like these who have been incarcerated since a very young age would have a chance at a second chance.

So, with that, thank you for the bill. I am supportive of this bill because every child matters. Our public schools do the best they can, and I know their hearts are in the right places, but we have to be really, really diligent in making sure that all of our students are served. If you look at the Department of Education’s website, there is an icon where you can go and see how much is invested in your public schools per student. You will be surprised at what you will see and how much of all the different funding sources, how much each student is invested in or worth in that particular school.

Colleagues, I get it. I understand. We may agree to disagree on this one. And it’s not an anti-teacher, it’s not an anti-union, it’s not an anti-anything. On the contrary. It’s a for and a pro children bill. So with that, thank you, and I will be voting up on this bill, and I hope that my colleagues, please, look deep into your heart and think about those kids in your community that take advantage of this. In Hillsborough County, in my voting district alone, there’s over 1,000 children who take advantage of this program that otherwise I don’t know where they would be. Maybe they’ll be like little Kaia. Or like that little 7-year-old that just got arrested in a Pinellas public school, and it wasn’t a charter school, it was a public school. So, with that, thank you, Madame Chair.

March 9, 2020 0 comment

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Legislation Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship School Choice Vouchers

Scholarship expansion for low-income students wins final approval in House

Lisa Buie March 9, 2020

Lisa Buie

school choice The Florida House passed a bill today that would expand and align two state scholarship programs that provide education choice to economically disadvantaged students. A similar Senate bill is scheduled to be heard Tuesday.

The House voted 81 to 39, with eight Democrats joining the Republican majority, to approve HB 7067. The bill is aimed at aligning policies between the new Family Empowerment Scholarship, adopted last year and serving 18,000 students, and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001 and serving 108,000 students.

Both the House and Senate bill, SB 1220, would increase the allowed enrollment growth in the Family Empowerment Scholarship. Under current law, the program can grow by up to 0.25 of total public school enrollment each year, which is roughly 7,000 students. SB 1220 and HB 7067 both increase that growth to 1 percent, or roughly 28,000.

The vote followed an hour and 45 minutes of emotional debate from representatives on both sides of the issue, as some told stories about their own lives.

“In New York City, I went to a public school,” said Rep. Susan Valdes, D-Tampa, whose family immigrated to the United States from Cuba. “We moved to Miami. Later I found out why. My mom and dad wanted something better for me.”

When her father died a few years later, her mother could no longer afford the small private school Valdes had been attending. The family later moved to Tampa, where Valdes graduated from a public high school. Valdes held up a lanyard from her public high school that she wears on the House floor with pride.

“I love the public schools,” said Valdes, who voted in favor of the bill today as well as for the Family Empowerment Scholarship bill passed last year. “I also know in my district … many like my parents needed and wanted a choice because things weren’t going right in their public schools. We have to be able to open our hearts to a single mom’s decision where to place their child in a school.”

Rep. Anika Tene Omphroy, D-Sunrise, reversed her previous position and joined the other Democrats this year in supporting the bill.

“I had voted against this, but I will be voting for it because I believe it’s the right thing for my community,” she said.

The bill’s sponsor, House Education Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, said the bill creates more opportunities for disadvantaged students.

“For those who cannot afford the good school districts, this creates a pathway,” she said. Sullivan also encouraged critics to visit “just one program” and “you will see how life changing and meaningful these opportunities have been.”

She said the root of the debate over education choice stems from a political philosophy: “Do you believe that government knows what’s best or that parents do? I will always side with parents.”

The House and Senate bills give clear priority to renewal students in both programs and provide for a gradual increase in household income eligibility over time. That provision allows the eligible income level in the Family Empowerment Scholarship, currently 300 percent of federal poverty, to increase by 25 percentage points in the next year if more than 5 percent of the available scholarships remain unawarded.

The income limit for Tax Credit Scholarships would remain at 260 percent of poverty.

Other parts of the bill approved today included:

· Allowing Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students to continue receiving the scholarship until they graduate from high school or turn 21, aligning it with the Family Empowerment Scholarship provision. Now, Florida Tax Credit students must reapply each year.

· Allowing Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students whose scholarships were not renewed due to a lack of funding to transfer to the Family Empowerment Scholarship.

March 9, 2020 2 comments

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Legislation Family Empowerment Scholarship Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship School Choice Vouchers

House amends K-12 scholarship expansion bill to track Senate version

Lisa Buie March 6, 2020

Lisa Buie

The Florida House approved changes to a bill that would bolster and align two state scholarship programs that provide education choice to economically disadvantaged students.

The changes, approved on a voice vote, line up HB 7067 to nearly match a Senate version, SB 1220, that won approval in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday and now awaits action on the Senate floor. The House version awaits a final reading and floor vote before being sent to the Senate.

The House and Senate bills include provisions aimed at aligning policies between the new Family Empowerment Scholarship, adopted last year and serving 18,000 students, and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001 and serving 108,000 students. Both scholarship programs serve students from lower-income and working-class families. The primary difference is that the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship is funded by corporations that receive a 100 percent tax credit, and the Family Empowerment Scholarship is funded directly from the state education budget.

Both bills would increase the allowed enrollment growth in the Family Empowerment Scholarship. Under current law, the program can grow by up to 0.25 of total public school enrollment each year, which is roughly 7,000 students. SB 1220 and HB 7067 both increase that growth to 1 percent, or roughly 28,000.

Both bills now give clear priority to renewal students in both programs and provide for a gradual increase in household income eligibility over time. That provision allows the eligible income level in the Family Empowerment Scholarship, currently 300 percent of federal poverty, to increase by 25 percentage points in the next year if more than 5 percent of the available scholarships remain unawarded.

The income limit for Tax Credit Scholarships would remain at 260 percent of poverty.

Other parts of the bill approved today included:

Allowing Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students to continue receiving the scholarship until they graduate from high school or turn 21, aligning it with the Family Empowerment Scholarship provision. Now, Florida Tax Credit students must reapply each year.
Allowing Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students whose scholarships were not renewed due to a lack of funding to transfer to the Family Empowerment Scholarship.
Allowing students in the Family Empowerment Scholarship program to take up to two state-supported virtual courses each year without cost. That provision already applies to Florida Tax Credit Scholarship students.

March 6, 2020 0 comment