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Florida Department of Education

Charter SchoolsEducation and Public PolicyFeaturedNewsSchool BoardsSchool Choice

Charter school network prepares to return formerly struggling North Florida schools to local control

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Somerset Academy, Florida’s largest charter school network, operates schools throughout the state, including Somerset Academy K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 in Jefferson County.

Nearly five years after taking over operations of Jefferson County’s struggling school system, Somerset Academy, Inc. is preparing to return control to the local school board.

“I’m super proud of how far we’ve come,” said Cory Oliver, who has served as principal of the combined K-12 campus since two district schools were turned over to the South Florida based charter school network. “It’s a completely different school.”

Oliver, whose office sports a Superman theme, has a lot to feel good about.

The percentage of students receiving passing scores on state standardized tests, which once were in single digits, are now between 35 and 45% in most subjects. Disciplinary referrals are down by 80% since the start of the 2020-21 school year. The district, which earned D’s in the two years prior to Somerset’s arrival, has improved a letter grade.

The high school graduation rate rose by almost 20 percentage points this year, though state officials caution that may not be accurate as many students were not required to retake graduation tests due to the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, enrollment, which was a little less than 700 in 2017 and represented only about half of all eligible students who lived in the district, has increased to about 779.

The improvements go beyond academics. Somerset installed a new kitchen and added a culinary arts program and built a recording studio. It renovated the gym and refurbished the weight room. Band members got new instruments and football players no longer had to share shoulder pads.

The JROTC program, impressive before Somerset took over, continues to be a shining star. Trophies hidden away in closets are now displayed in trophy cases. Classrooms got technology upgrades. Students got new uniforms.

“It’s like night and day. These kids have been in poverty and living without for so long,” Oliver said. “We want them to see what’s possible and feel like this is home and that they deserve to be here.”

Oliver’s philosophy was reflected in the school’s motto for 2019-20: “Whatever It Takes!” to Somerset officials, it took everything they had to improve what had been the lowest performing schools in the state.

“When we got here, the staff was exhausted and overwhelmed,” Oliver said. “The staff is still exhausted and overwhelmed, but they’re seeing results. They’re seeing what’s possible when they work as a team and know they are going to be supported.”

Residents of Jefferson County, a 637-square-mile area with a population of about 15,000, once were proud of their schools, which were a model for other districts, according to comments Jefferson County School Board member Shirley Washington made at a State Board of Education meeting in 2016.

“We used to be the flying Tigers,” Washington said, referring to the school’s Tiger mascot. “We had other schools come to our county and see what we were doing. We’re going to get it back there. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

But to state officials, the Jefferson County schools looked more like the crash-and-burn Tigers. Florida Department of Education officials came to visit and did not like what they saw.

More than half of the students at Jefferson Middle-High School had been held back two or more times. Just 7% of middle schoolers scored at grade level on 2016 state math assessment. To put that in perspective, 26% of students were performing at grade level in the state’s second-lowest performing district. Enrollment had dwindled for years as more families sent their students to private schools or district schools in neighboring counties. Finances also were a mess.  

After rejecting the three turnaround plans that district officials submitted, the Board of Education took an historic vote to make Jefferson County schools the state’s first district run by a charter school provider. The solution mirrored education reform in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina decimated the schools.

Somerset Academy, Inc. won the bid to assume control.

Somerset staff arrived to discover complete disarray: crumbling buildings, graffiti-covered walls, old equipment stacked against classroom walls and no enforcement of discipline.

“It was way worse than we ever imagined,” said Todd German, chairman and treasure of Somerset’s board of directors. “These did not look like places anyone would want to come to learn or come to work.”

School board members pledged to cooperate with Somerset but later said they were “coerced” into accepting the arrangement. The superintendent at the time told WLRN Public Radio that the Department of Education “played in places they shouldn’t have.”  Education Commissioner Pam Stewart countered, stating it was “very clear that the Department acted within their authority.”

The charter network fired about half the staff and recruited new teachers. Teacher salaries were raised to $43,800, compared to $36,160 teachers in neighboring Leon County earned. The network hired additional security officers at the schools, where fights had broken out almost daily. One brawl, which occurred just a few months after Somerset came on board, resulted in 15 arrests.

“It was like the wild West,” German recalled, while acknowledging the problems were caused by a small percentage of students. “Cory improved security and put in some zero tolerance policies.”

Oliver said staff from Somerset arrived to find a culture of apathy. Students were allowed to loiter in the halls or outside when they should have been in class.

After the takeover, he said, even the maintenance staff pitched in, alerting administrators when they saw anyone who didn’t belong on campus. Custodians engaged students who looked stressed to make sure they were okay.

“We were de-escalators, not enforcers,” said Oliver, who also hired mental health specialists and started a mentoring program for younger students.

Slowly, the culture began to change. Community members, including the Rev. Pedro McKelvin of Welaunee Missionary Baptist Church, began to support the new leadership. Before the takeover, he said, the district “was on the brink of collapse.”

Christian Steen, a senior, credited Oliver with boosting morale and observed that things had improved significantly.

“The students are more focused in class and now there’s not much skipping,” said Steen when he spoke before a House Education Committee three months after the takeover.

As they enter the last year of their contract, Somerset officials want to prepare to hand the district back to local officials. They already have begun working with a newly elected superintendent to meet that goal. Somerset has offered to let a new principal hired by the school district shadow Oliver before he leaves.

“I have a lot of feelings about leaving Jefferson,” said German, Somerset’s chairman. “I hope we can set (the schools) up to succeed.”

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Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation ReportingFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsPrivate School ScholarshipsSchool Choice

Florida DOE releases numbers for state scholarship program

Patrick R. Gibbons
Patrick R. Gibbons

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship enrollment by grade level, 2020-21


Official enrollment figures for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship are in. According to the September 2020 quarterly report, released this week by the Florida Department of Education, 100,008 students enrolled in the program for the 2020-21 school year.

The program, which relies on private corporate donations that receive 100 percent state tax credits, is available to low-income and working-class students in Florida. Approximately 74% of scholarship students are non-white, and 55% live in single-parent households. The average annual family income of scholarship students is about $33,000.

As with past years, the majority of students (58,535) are enrolled in grades K-5, where tuition costs are often the lowest.

This year, 1,899 private schools across 64 Florida counties enrolled students in the FTC program. Of those schools, 66% identified as a religious school. Miami-Dade County enrolled the most students – 23,344. Calhoun, Holmes and Union counties had no participating private schools, while Calhoun and Liberty counties had no participating students.

This year’s September enrollment figure is 22 students fewer than the September 2019 report (which was 100,030). At the same time, enrollment in a similar program, the Florida Empowerment Scholarship, has doubled. According to a Florida Department of Education spokesperson, the FES program increased from fewer than 18,000 students at the end of 2019-20, its first year, to 36,161 students this year. 

Like the FTC, the FES is geared toward low-income and working-class students. The FES is funded directly by the state and the household income threshold is roughly $10,000 higher. This year, a family of four could qualify for the FES program if its household income was lower than $78,600, whereas the FTC program caps eligibility at $68,120 for a family of four.

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AnalysisCoronavirus / COVID-19Demographic ResearchEducation ResearchFeaturedNews

Florida Council of 100 releases study showing “rigor gap” in Florida classrooms

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

A detailed study released today by the Florida Council of 100 in cooperation with the Florida Department of Education includes data indicating the state can do more to align efforts on student growth by helping students and families in real time.

Coming on the heels of last year’s dismal National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, the study shows a substantial “rigor gap” between the grades Florida high school students receive and their mastery of content required to pass end-of-course exams in Algebra I and Grade 10 English Language Arts.

Among the findings:

·       Seventy-two percent of English 2 students and 55% of Algebra I students who did not pass the corresponding end-of-course exam received a course grade of C or higher.

·       Thirty-seven percent of 10th-grade English students and 12% of Algebra I students who did not pass the corresponding end-of-course exam received a course grade of B or higher.

While the study, which relied on three years of data from the Florida Department of Education, does not include student data from the COVID–19 pandemic, the researchers hypothesize that the pandemic has increased the identified rigor gap due in part to more lenient grading practices and issues related to delivering high-quality distance learning.  

“Our analysis concludes that if teachers, leaders, and administrators hold students accountable throughout the school year for the standards they’ll be evaluated on at the end of the year, their grades and test scores will be closely aligned,” said Chris Corr, Council of 100 chairperson. “The rigor gap we see instead indicates the contrary, the result being that students are less prepared for success at the postsecondary level or in the workplace.”

Corr noted that while the responsibility for closing the rigor gap falls upon the system as a whole, he referenced a 2010 study that indicated students tend to study 50% less when they expect teachers to award relatively higher grades, leaving them surprised by less favorable end-of-course exam scores.

Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran warned in comments included in a Council of 100 news release about the study that “we can love someone into mediocrity,” and observed that challenges brought about by the pandemic have made it more important than ever to deliver a quality education driven by high expectations.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has likely exacerbated gaps in student achievement, so it is imperative that all students, especially low-income students, students with special needs, English Language Learners, and other struggling students are given the supports and honest learning feedback to achieve their individualized educational dreams,” Corcoran wrote.

Among the tactics for implementing those supports, Corcoran said, are the “record investments” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made in teacher compensation, aligning education to curriculum tied to Florida’s new B.E.S.T. standards, and ensuring that parents have increasingly robust learning options from which to choose.

For more details, a question-and-answer document on the study can be accessed here. 

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Coronavirus / COVID-19Education and Public PolicyFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsPrivate Schools

Florida school reopening guidelines focus on safety, closing learning gaps

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a plan Thursday that would open K-12 schools in August “at full capacity,” a critical step he says is necessary to stabilize the economy and close an achievement gap widened during the pandemic.

“We have a great opportunity to get back on good footing,” he said during a noon news conference in Melbourne held just after the release of the Florida Department of Education’s 143-page guide. “I know our kids have been in difficult circumstances for the past couple of months.”

While returning to brick-and-mortar schools will be “really important for the well-being of our kids and of our parents who have had to juggle a lot,”

DeSantis said reopening plans should be determined by district school boards.

“We believe those are locally-driven decisions and may look different in Brevard and Miami-Dade than it does in Baker County,” he said.

The plan includes suggestions on how to best use space to maximize social distancing, how to clean and disinfect campuses, how to transport students on buses when social distancing is not possible, best practices for hygiene, and how to handle extracurricular activities.

While the recommendations don’t mandate the use of masks, they call for districts to be supportive of students and staff who choose to wear them and say districts should explore requiring them on school buses. Students who have conditions that make them medically vulnerable should be in segregated classrooms with teachers who wear cloth masks.

DeSantis also outlined during the news conference that Florida private schools and low-income families who use state school choice scholarships will receive $45 million in federal relief funding. The money is part of $173.6 million the state is receiving through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. DeSantis said he will set aside $30 million to help lower-income students who receive Florida Tax Credit Scholarships, which are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

Accompanying DeSantis at the event was Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, who said opening campuses represents an opportunity to help students who fell behind this spring during distance learning.

“There is no better way to educate our children than to have that teacher in front of that child,” he said.

He also cited the need for early intervention to make sure students reach required reading levels in third grade.

“We’re going to start all the way in Pre-K” Corcoran said.

Pinellas County Superintendent Michael Grego and Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning also attended the news conference. Grego is the incoming chairman of the Florida Association of District Superintendents, while Browning is the current chairman. The association provided its own recommendations to the state Board of Education last month.

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Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedHope ScholarshipNewsParent EmpowermentSchool Choice

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

Ron Matus
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.

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Commentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19CustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFeaturedPodcastPublic School ChoiceSchool ChoiceVirtual Education

PodcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews DOE senior chancellor Eric Hall

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

In this episode, Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill talks with Eric Hall, who joined the Florida Department of Education in February 2019 to deal with some of the state’s most high-profile initiatives, including the expansion of school choice.

A little more than a year into Hall’s tenure as head of innovation, COVID-19 began roiling education, and it looks like those disruptions will continue into the fall. A firm believer in the power of Florida Virtual School, he is convinced the state’s investment in online learning leaves the Sunshine State well-positioned to educate students. He discusses with Tuthill FLVS’ capacity to ramp up to serve nearly 4 million children, how to prevent rising achievement gaps in a distance-learning environment and his belief that great teachers drive technology.

“We have conditions in place that have empowered parents to make the best decisions for their children … we’ve got to double down and hold ourselves accountable as a state.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       The agility of Florida Virtual School as both a COVID-19 safety net and an expanded resource for a shift to blended learning for families who want it

·       How distance learning and blended education extends the classroom beyond the school day while creating greater equity for less resourced families

·       How to realign resources to get increased technology to more families

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CustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedPodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Florida’s Teacher of the Year Dre Graham

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

In this episode, Step Up For Students President Doug Tuthill and Florida’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Dre Graham discuss Graham’s new role as executive director of the Department of Education’s Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice.

How does a music teacher from a Title I district school in Tampa come to oversee the office responsible for managing Florida’s vast choice programs? After a year touring every Florida school district, how will Graham operationalize the opportunity he has to rewrite narratives and bring people together?

“We’re not just educating students. We are educating families … because education is freedom.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Teaching at a Title I school and the everyday experience of working with society’s most at-risk children

·       Florida Virtual School and how it will continue to be a part of public education on a much broader scale

·       COVID-19, the new landscape of public education, and how we can leverage this experience for positive change

·       The opportunity to use this “bully pulpit” to end longstanding feuds between proponents of education choice and traditional schooling

LINKS MENTIONED:

Florida’s Teacher of the Year joins education choice office

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Coronavirus / COVID-19Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

CORONAVIRUS COULD HIT PRIVATE SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Special to redefinED
Special to redefinED

Ana Ceballos, News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Private schools and Florida universities might see drops in enrollment as the coronavirus continues to hammer the economy, members of a panel focused on reopening the state’s education system said Wednesday.

School-choice advocates said in a conference call they worry families might no longer be able to afford private school tuition for their children and that struggling companies could decide to cut back on donations to Florida’s school voucher programs.

“The private schools, particularly the scholarship schools, are going to be facing some unprecedented crises,” said Mimi Jankovits, the executive director of Teach Florida, an advocacy group for Florida Jewish day schools.

Syd Kitson, chairman of the state university system’s Board of Governors, also said there could be a drop in enrollment in Florida universities. 

“Fall semester enrollment may be reduced, as returning students, particularly from at-risk populations, decide to stop or postpone work on their degree due to personal hardships or other concerns,” Kitson said.

School enrollment concerns surfaced during the first conference call held by an education working group that is part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Re-Open Florida Task Force.

Jankovits, a member of the working group, urged it to look into the issue, worrying that some public schools may not have the immediate capacity to handle an influx of students leaving private schools.

“I am not sure at all that if thousands of kids show up at various public schools, if the schools would have the capacity or the staff to handle all these new children,” she said.

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran reassured Jankovits that the state will monitor the available scholarship dollars and demand for scholarships over the next three months, adding that the revenue for the programs has not “seen a decline as of yet.”

Florida has a series of voucher-type scholarship programs, including the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which has helped send more than 100,000 students a year to private schools. Under that program, businesses receive tax credits for contributions they make toward scholarships.

During Wednesday’s conference call, the working group also floated a number of ideas that could show what may be in store for children when they return to classrooms. Campuses are shuttered for the rest of this school year to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, with DeSantis ordering students to continue distance learning.

“Our main focus is to get schools open,” Corcoran said. “We know that by opening schools it has a tremendous emotional impact and a tremendous physical impact, an economic impact on our citizens and our businesses.”

The panel said that it would be a good idea to use the summer months to help students who may have fallen behind while learning online.

John Hage, the chief executive officer for Charter Schools USA, said charter schools are planning on doing summer camps — virtual and in person — to prepare some students who struggled with distance learning for the fall semester.

If children come back to classrooms in the fall, Hage said charter schools plan on having robust cleaning scheduled and maintaining social-distancing measures.

Social distancing protocols could include having some students learn at school and others at home as well as “utilizing open spaces differently,” Hage said.

“We are also experimenting with camera technology that allows us to tell the temperature of students to alert us” to anybody who might have a fever, he added.

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