Efforts to defend Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, the largest private school choice program in the country, have gained a powerful new ally: Miami Bishop Victor T. Curry. One of Florida’s most influential ministers, Curry used his radio program Nov. 11 to rally supporters against the lawsuit filed in August by the Florida teachers unions, Florida School Boards Association and other groups. You can read excerpts below.

Until the suit was filed, Curry had been a quiet supporter of the 13-year-old scholarship program; the school he heads, Dr. John A McKinney Christian Academy, serves about 120 scholarship students. But it’s clear from the remarks he made during the radio program that he is now all in.

It's also clear the lawsuit is getting more attention in the press and beyond. A number of media outlets have noted exit polls that show Republican Gov. Rick Scott gained ground among reliably Democratic black voters (see here, here and here). The latest: This Nov. 22 op-ed in the Miami Herald by Christopher Norwood, a member of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida. Scott's gains among black voters, he wrote, are "remarkable for a candidate who had no urban agenda, except for corporate scholarships for low-income students, an issue that's overlooked by Democratic strategists ... "

Curry's comments have been edited slightly for length and clarity. (You can hear some of them by clicking on the audio box below.) As always, we note the scholarship program is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

We can’t keep talking out of both sides of our mouths. Some of the very people that vote against this, and those who are a part of this lawsuit, parade themselves in our churches and in our communities and they tout that they want the best of education for our children. Well, we have to be holistic in our approach. We never said that private is the only tool. Or public is the only tool. For some children, private is the best fit. I am hoping and praying that there will be a change of minds and a change of hearts and hoping that someone will have the sense to just drop this suit …

I believe, fervently, in public education. I was just given a major award (by the Florida Education Association) … I have always supported United Teachers of Dade and I’ve always supported the Broward Teachers Union. Listen, I worked as a teacher’s assistant at South Area Alternative School right across from Hallandale High. I was a teacher’s assistant at MacArthur Senior High School. Yes I was. And I also spent a few years in Miami-Dade County in a classroom at Civil Bluff Elementary and part of a year at Madison Middle School.

I am not, and I will never, ever be, anti-public education. I am able to walk and chew gum at the same time. … These scholarships that we’ve been talking about are very much a part of our collective moral commitment to provide equal educational opportunities for our children. They strengthen public education, not diminish it.

We named (the Dr. John A. McKinney Christian Academy) after a man who spent 35 years in public education. Dr. John A. McKinney was the first principal who opened Turner Tech. His wife spent over 25 years in public education as a principal, as a school teacher. Ronda C. McKinney. Our whole education wing is the Dr. John and Ronda McKinney Educational Wing.

So we support public education but at the same time there has always been private education as well as public education. This is not a competition. It is not about public or private. It is about matching each child with a school that works best for him or her. It’s about giving children, and their parents, options so they can find the one that works best for them.

I have a question. Why would the school boards association wait 13 years to file a lawsuit against this program? If it claims the constitution restricts children to attending only schools that are operated by the district, why not challenge the charter schools, or McKay scholarships for disabled students, or vouchers for 4-year-olds. Why single out poor children? (more…)

Florida school boards are questioning the constitutionality of standard charter school contracts as the state Board of Education gets set to vote on rules creating them.

Their objections appear in hundreds of pages of recent comments and letters to the state Department of Education. The Florida School Boards Association wrote in July: "We view this as an unconstitutional encroachment on the school board's authority to operate, supervise, and control all public schools within the school district.”

The comments and letters were obtained by redefinED through a public records request. They reflect more  than a year of public pushing and behind-the-scenes wrangling over standardized charter school contracts. The rules creating them are set to come before the state board at its November meeting.

The proposed contracts were set in motion by a 2013 law. Backed by charter school advocates, the law required the Department of Education to develop a standard contract that would serve as a starting point for agreements between charter schools and every district in the state. The stated goal: To streamline the contract process, set a baseline for expectations and create an opportunity for more meaningful negotiations.

In a state with nearly 650 charter schools, and dozens more opening each year, charter advocates have also raised concerns that districts were trying to constrain charter schools with troublesome contract provisions that went beyond requirements in the law.

DOE officials started drawing up the draft contract in the summer of 2013. They started with a draft that combined provisions from existing charter contracts used by several school districts, then spent more than a year revising the proposal based on feedback from half a dozen public hearings and written suggestions from districts and charters alike.

But even as they suggested changes, school boards, superintendents and their Tallahassee associations began raising constitutional objections. (more…)

Switching to a different school didn’t just make dreams come true, “it allowed me to have dreams I didn’t know I could have,” writes a former school choice scholarship student in an op-ed published today in the Wall Street Journal.

Denisha Merriweather of Jacksonville, Fla., says by fourth grade, she disliked school so much she thought she’d eventually drop out. But at the urging of her godmother, and help from a tax credit scholarship for low-income students, she enrolled in a private school, graduated with honors and became the first member of her family to attend college. A few months ago, she earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary social science and is now headed to graduate school.

“This didn’t happen by chance, or by hard work alone,” she writes. “It happened because I was given an opportunity.”

Merriweather’s piece notes the lawsuit that the Florida teachers union, Florida School Boards Association and other groups filed Aug. 28 to end the 13-year-old scholarship program, which is administered by non-profits like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog. The program serves nearly 70,000 students this fall, more than two thirds of them black or Hispanic.

Merriweather is also featured in a new TV ad, paid for the Black Alliance for Educational Options, which encourages the teachers union and school boards association to drop the lawsuit. In the Wall Street Journal, she said she hopes people who care about disadvantaged children pause to hear stories like hers. Read the full op-ed on the Wall Street Journal here.

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Last month, Rev. H.K. Matthews, a civil rights leader in Florida who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma, pleaded with Charlie Crist to publicly denounce the lawsuit against the tax credit scholarship program for low-income students. Crist would not do so, but Matthews has not given up his fight against the suit.

In an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat, Matthews called the lawsuit filed Aug. 28 by the Florida teachers union, Florida School Boards Association, Florida NAACP and other groups “hard to stomach.”

“The truth is that wealthy children have always had choices, whether to neighborhoods with favored public schools or private schools that only money can buy,” Matthews wrote. “The union cries foul when that privilege is extended to those of meager financial means.”

Matthews is part of a politically diverse coalition opposed to the lawsuit that includes a number of prominent black ministers like himself. Nearly 70,000 students are being served by the program this year, more than two-thirds of them black and Hispanic. The program is administered by nonprofits like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

In the op-ed, Matthew said he and other school choice supporters are not knocking public schools, calling them “the lifeblood of education.” “But the world is changing, and education needs to change as well,” he continued, noting the proliferation of other school choice options, including magnet schools, charter schools, virtual courses and career academies.

“The scholarship is not an educational miracle,” he concluded. “It’s simply an option that can work for some students but not all. The fact that it grants opportunities to economically disadvantaged students and those of color is something that gives hope to an old civil rights warrior like me.” Read the full post here.

The Republican leadership in one of Florida’s biggest counties passed a resolution Monday night condemning the Florida School Boards Association and other groups for filing suit against the state’s tax credit scholarship program and potentially snuffing out academic options for nearly 70,000 low-income students.

The strongly-worded resolution by the Republican Executive Committee in Duval County, a conservative stronghold that includes the city of Jacksonville, calls on all registered Republicans to stand in opposition to the suit. It also urges those elected to serve on school boards to “take all appropriate measures to force the Florida School Boards Association to remove itself as a litigant.”

“They’re denying children an opportunity to get a good education and they’re doing it strictly for dollars,” Rick Hartley, chairman of the Republican Party of Duval County, told redefinED. “They’re fighting over dollars and they don’t care about the kids. That’s not appropriate.”

The move in Duval is the latest example of pushback following the suit’s filing on Aug. 28. Florida’s 13-year-old tax credit scholarship program is the largest private school choice program in the nation, with 67,000 students enrolled this fall, nearly 70 percent of them black or Hispanic. Evidence shows the students tended to be the lowest performers in the public schools they left behind.

In the suit’s aftermath, state Sen. John Legg, R-Trinity, a key education leader with a reputation for listening to all sides, declined to accept the FSBA’s “Legislator of the Year” award; state Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, a moderate with close ties to teachers unions, expressed concern about the potential displacement of low-income students; and a handful of local school board members around the state penned newspaper op-eds denouncing it.

Duval isn’t the only county where Republican leaders are taking action. Last week, the executive board of the REC in neighboring, suburban Clay County passed a similar resolution, which will go before the full membership next week. Leslie Dougher, who heads the Clay REC, is also chairwoman of the Republican Party of Florida. (more…)

Add Florida Senate President Don Gaetz to the list of legislative leaders who are stepping up criticism of the Florida School Boards Association for filing suit against the state's tax credit scholarship program, and potentially forcing 60,000-plus low-income students back into public schools.

During last spring's legislative session, Gaetz was among the program's toughest critics, initially pushing for scholarship students to take the same standardized tests as their public school peers and insisting on more oversight for scholarship funding organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

But in an op-ed over the weekend for the Northwest Florida Daily News, his hometown newspaper, Gaetz takes even stronger aim at the FSBA for attacking a "a national model  of voluntary school choice" that "gives lower-income children what we all want for our children - a chance to learn and succeed."

"This is what angers the plaintiffs in this lawsuit the most," he wrote, "that families are in charge of their own children, that caring parents willing to make sacrifices can choose their children's schools and, most troublesome of all, that resources follow not the needs of educrats but the interests of children."

Florida's 13-year-old tax credit scholarship program is the largest private school choice program in the country, with more than 67,000 students enrolled this fall, nearly 70 percent black or Hispanic. The FSBA, Florida Education Association, Florida PTA and other groups filed suit against it on Aug. 28, sparking fear among scholarship parents and outrage from school choice supporters throughout Florida and beyond.

In his op-ed, Gaetz noted the oversight changes made to the program in SB 850, which the Legislature passed last spring, and the financial repercussions if scholarship students are "forced back into traditional public schools at twice the cost to taxpayers." He also noted that, "As a former school board member, I'm ashamed of the Florida School Boards Association." Read his full op-ed here.

If its import wasn’t apparent already, parental choice leader Howard Fuller said Florida should be a national battleground after the Florida School Boards Association, Florida Education Association and other groups filed suit Aug. 28 to kill the nation’s largest private school choice program.

“First off, we got to fight, and we need to make Florida a national issue,” Fuller, president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, told redefinED this week. “It isn’t just a Florida issue. It has to be a national issue, for all of us who care, not just about parental choice as a policy, but care about 70,000 poor kids not having the opportunity to go to the schools of their choice. So we need to become very focused on that.”

The suit is targeting the 13-year-old tax credit scholarship program, which is serving more than 67,000 students this fall. All are low-income, and nearly 70 percent are black or Hispanic. The program is administered by scholarships funding organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

Fuller said the suit should be a lesson to school choice supporters that they must be ever vigilant.

“They just told us, we don’t care. We don’t care. And we’re going to continue to try to protect our power,” he said, referring to the plaintiffs. (more…)

The Florida School Boards Association is facing some pushback from within its own ranks for moving to end the nation's largest private school program program.

In recent days, three local school board members - Jason Fischer from Duval County, Jeff Bergosh from Escambia County and Dale Simchick from Indian River County - all weighed in with op-eds in their local newspapers. All three criticized the lawsuit that the FSBA and others filed Aug. 28 against the state's tax credit scholarship program, which, if successful, could dramatically curb educational options for tens of thousands of low-income families.

The 13-year-old program, which never faced a standalone legal challenge until now, provides scholarships for low-income students to attend more than 1,400 participating private schools. It is expected to serve nearly 70,000 students this school year, more than 70 percent of them minorities. The program is administered by scholarship funding organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

The suit “literally asks a judge to uproot these 67,000 students from schools that appear to be working for them, leaving particularly urban districts in the position of scrambling to find room for them,” Simchick wrote on TCPalm.com, which serves Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. “This feels more like a temper tantrum than a strategy for helping disadvantaged children.”

In his piece for the Pensacola News Journal, Bergosh quoted letters he received from parents in support of the program, then wrote: “Instead of listening to biased, self-obsessed labor unions and other special interest lobbying entities, I’m listening to my constituents; I’m in agreement with them and together we are on the right side of this issue. I hope Florida legislators and other education leaders with courage will listen to students, parents, and taxpayers that benefit from this worthwhile program, too.”

It’s unclear how much dissent there may be amongst other rank-and-file school board members. The FSBA leadership did not consult members before voting in June to proceed with the suit, which also includes the Florida Education Association, Florida PTA, Florida NAACP and other groups as plaintiffs. (more…)

Lawsuits. The statewide teachers union, school boards association and other groups are preparing to announce the first direct constitutional challenge to Florida's tax credit scholarship program. Times/Herald. Sentinel School Zone. redefinED.

Testing. In clear violation of state law, the Lee County school board votes to "opt out" of all state standardized testing. Fort Myers News-Press. Naples Daily News. Collier schools roll out new end of course exams. Naples Daily News.

School choice. A Palm Beach school board member pushes for more choice options within the district, but meets resistance. Palm Beach Post.

Charter schools. The Northwest Florida Daily News visits a new, collegiate-themed charter high school.

English Language Learners. Gov. Rick Scott criticizes federal accountability rules for students learning English at an event in Miami. Miami Herald. Gradebook. He appears ready to challenge the standards for federal accountability waivers. StateImpact.

Common Core. The standards were not the election driver some expected. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Prayer. The Orange County school district's decision not to allow chaplains at football games draws heat from a local pastor. Orlando Sentinel.

Elections. Recounts are coming in Hillsborough and Palm Beach school board races. Palm Beach Post. Tampa Tribune. A winning Indian River candidate faces residency allegations. Indian River Press Journal.

by Ron Matus and Travis Pillow

A chorus of Florida lawmakers, education leaders and others began urging the Florida School Boards Association Wednesday to drop a lawsuit it plans to file against the state's tax credit scholarship program for low-income students.

The suit, which sources said could be filed as early as Thursday, could potentially limit school choice options for nearly 70,000 low-income parents, saddle school districts and taxpayers with hefty financial costs and entangle the nation’s largest school choice program in litigation for years.

"I believe in choice and in freedom especially for those children that have limited mobility and limited financial resources," said Florida Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand in a written statement. "The Florida tax credit scholarships provide this freedom for our most underserved population to choose a school that best serves their needs."

The FSBA "is acting without consideration for this population by filing a law suit against this program," Chartrand continued. "This is surprising and disheartening, and I call on them to rethink their position and withdraw the lawsuit."

Added Florida House Speaker-Designate Steve Crisafulli: "This proven, popular program is essential for preparing children for success in college and the workforce.  I hope School Board members will reconsider their actions and put the needs of children first."

The FSBA board of directors voted June 11 to move forward with a suit challenging the constitutionality of the scholarship program, which the Legislature created in 2001.

FSBA Executive Director Wayne Blanton could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Juhan Mixon, executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators, which is supporting the suit, said it was in part spurred by the program's rapid growth. (more…)