By Ron Matus and Dava Cherry

Florida’s choice-driven education system is the most dynamic and diverse in America, but it’s facing new tests. This year, 41,000 Florida students were awarded school choice scholarships but never used them. 

We wanted to know why, so we surveyed their parents. 

The 2,739 who responded had a lot to tell us. Not only about supply-side challenges, but about the extent to which families are migrating between different types of schools, and their expectations for finding just the right ones. 

As education choice takes root across America, we thought other states could learn from these parents, which is why we boiled their responses down into a new report, “Going With Plan B.” 

We saw three main takeaways: 

1. Thousands of families wanted to use their scholarships but couldn’t.

A third of the respondents (34.7%) said there were no available seats at the school they wanted. This, even though the number of Florida private schools has grown 31% over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, a fifth of the respondents (19.7%) said the scholarship amount wasn’t enough to cover tuition and fees. 

2. Many families still found options they considered better than their prior schools.

Even without scholarships, a third of the respondents (36.5%) switched school types (like going from a traditional public school to a charter school). And between their child’s prior school and the school they ended up in, more experienced a positive rather negative shift in satisfaction (20.4% to 10.5%). We didn’t see that coming. 

3. Most of those families, however, still want a private school.

Two thirds of the respondents said they’d apply for the scholarships again, including 63% of those who switched school types, and 55.5% of those who were satisfied after doing so. 

Things got better, it seems, but not better enough. 

Perhaps as choice has grown, so too have parents’ expectations. 

See the full report here. 

Dava Cherry is the former director of enterprise data and research at Step Up For Students, and a former public school teacher.

 

"War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing"

— Edwinn Starr, "War"

The District of Columbia Public School system has a troubled history with special education. In reviewing a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights study on the subject, footnote 4 on page 7 led to a data source in which DCPS stood out like a very sore thumb: disputes between families and the district over special education: In 2018-19, DCPS had a rate of special education due process complaints filed which stood at more than eight times the national average per 10,000 students with disabilities served:

This led me to wonder what more recent data, and to wonder about how the states of Arizona and Florida would compare to DC in that more recent information. A web of policy diffusion between the states of Arizona and Florida resulting in both states eventually adopting robust formula funded education savings account programs for students with disabilities. The process began in Florida in 1999, when Florida Senate President John McKay passed and Gov. Jeb Bush signed what became a statewide voucher program for students with disabilities. Under the federal IDEA legislation, parents had the right to sue school districts for failure to provide a free and appropriate education (FAPE) for a district-financed private school placement. The practical difficulties of financing such a suit, however, left it as an avenue mostly accessible to well-to-do families. Districts have long contended that they do not receive enough funding for special education.

The McKay Scholarship program turned both of these unfortunate facts on their heads: you no longer needed to file a lawsuit to access private schools. Moreover, McKay Scholarship-participating families were entitled only to the funding that districts have spent decades describing as inadequate. Access to private education for students with disabilities was delightfully democratized and a financial win-win developed for families and districts. Tens of thousands of special needs students participated in the program, and it spent many years as the largest school choice scholarship program in the country.

Over in Arizona, our education freedom Scooby-gang was determined to emulate Florida’s success. In 2005, Arizona lawmakers passed, and Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a voucher program for children with disabilities. The Arizona school district industrial lobbying complex sued the program, and in 2009 the Arizona Supreme Court struck it down as violating the Blaine Amendment in Arizona’s Constitution. The Arizona Blaine Amendment forbade aid to “private or religious schools.” Dan Lips had proposed an account-based choice program in a paper for the Goldwater Institute, and the lightbulb moment happened: an account-based program with the option not to spend money at private and religious schools would be meaningfully different than a voucher program as pertaining to constitutional issues, among other advantages. Firing up our school choice Mystery Machine, we passed the first ESA program in 2011 and survived court challenges. Our compatriots in Florida became the second state to pass an ESA program for students with disabilities in 2015, and the ESA and McKay programs were eventually merged into a single ESA program.

How could this help DCPS and their never-ending cycle of special education conflict? Below is that more recent special education conflict data I referred to, and the rate of various conflict measures per 10,000 students with disabilities are displayed for Arizona, DCPS and Florida.

DCPS should not wait on the federal Olympians to look down from their perch on Capitol Hill to impose such a peace settlement on DCPS and the families it is constantly at war with. DCPS should settle this peace themselves as fast as possible by creating a robust ESA program for students with disabilities. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Someday DCPS will join us in this humane and beneficial policy and give peace a chance.

 

More students would be able to use scholarships at hybrid schools, scholarship programs for students with disabilities would grow more quickly to meet demand, and religious virtual schools could become eligible to participate in scholarship programs under a bill passed during Florida’s 2024 legislative session.

Provisions in HB 1403, by Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, and Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, would:

• Allow families using the Personalized Education Program scholarship, also known as PEP, to use their education savings account funds at private schools they attend in person at least two days per week if their student learning plan addresses the remaining instructional time.
• Open the door to online religious schools such as the Archdiocese of Miami Virtual Catholic School to become state-approved virtual education providers, which would allow them to fully participate in the state’s scholarship programs. Previously, only “non-sectarian” virtual schools were eligible to become state-approved providers. As a result, parents at the Archdiocese of Miami Virtual Catholic School could only use funds to buy the school’s curriculum to use at home but not to take live classes. Leaders at religious online schools expressed hope last year that lawmakers would remove these limitations. "We are pleased by the passage of HB 1403, which will allow faith-based virtual schools to participate in state scholarship programs in the same way as secular programs,” said Jim Rigg, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Miami. “Once again, our lawmakers have demonstrated their focus on empowering parents to make informed choices about the education of their children. Such choice makes all schools better, and ultimately benefits the learning of students throughout the state.”
• Increases the growth escalator for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program for students with Unique Abilities to ensure the funding of more families Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the maximum number of scholarships funded would increase annually by 5% of the state’s exceptional student education enrollment, minus those classified as gifted. The maximum number of scholarships funded would increase by an additional 1% following any school year in which the number of funded scholarships exceeded 95% of the number of scholarships available.

The bill will be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

The bill’s bipartisan passage drew praise from the Foundation for Florida’s Future, the nonprofit education organization founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“As Florida’s parental choice landscape continues to expand, we look forward to working with Gov. DeSantis, the legislature and the Department of Education to ensure Florida remains the national leader in parental choice,” the foundation said in a statement on its website.

 

Editor's note: This story is published in celebration of National School Choice Week, which runs Jan. 21-27. 

In the early 1980s, a young educator and pastor named Frederic Pinkney received a vision of a school where all children got the attention they needed to succeed.  

Years later, in 1996, he left his Duval County district classroom to co-found Joshua Christian Academy and make that vision a reality in Jacksonville. The school’s journey from scrappy start-up to enduring community institution in the northwest corner of Florida’s largest city traces the 25-year arc of education choice in the Sunshine State, which reached new highs this school year thanks to the largest-ever expansion of educational options in America’s history. 

Joshua Christian Academy opened its doors three years before Jeb Bush became Florida’s 43rd governor and led the charge for school choice scholarships in the Sunshine State, which was then called the nation’s most ambitious program. 

“People paid for their children to go,” Pinkney recalled.  

The community was hungry for options. As a public-school teacher, Pinkney enjoyed helping students learn, but he also saw plenty who were struggling. 

“I saw some kids were slipping through the cracks,” he said. He saw kids being passed along to the next grade without mastering the skills necessary to be promoted. He also saw kids, especially Black boys, disciplined more harshly than white kids for the same infractions.  

He said he knew there had to be a better way. 

Before the school officially opened, Pinkney served as the sole employee. That included getting an occupancy certificate from city hall, where staff kept saying no.  

“For three months, I went to city hall every day, four or five times a week,” before a director signed off on the request. “I never backed down.” 

With approvals finally in hand, Pinkney opened the school with six students. His wife, Gloria, a 19-year elementary school educator, left her job and helped her husband run the school. Church members volunteered for non-instructional tasks. Pinkney’s sister made lunches for the children. The Pinkneys' daughter, Lisa Harris, also played a key role. 

In the early years when there was no state funding source, Joshua Christian Academy experienced uneven growth and at one point had to eliminate the upper grades due to low enrollment. (Those grades were later restored as younger students got promoted.) However, the school managed to grow its elementary school enrollment as word spread about the school’s high academic standards, smaller class sizes and commitment to personalized education. With the state legislature’s passage of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program in 2001 and later the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program in 2019, enrollment began to increase rapidly.  

Last year’s passage of HB 1 provided the rocket fuel that sent enrollment to 400.  

“It turned night into day,” he said. “It changed the culture.” He said the school’s phone rings constantly with calls from parents who want to send their kids there.  

“It’s probably ringing right now,” he said. 

Such growth has allowed the Joshua Christian Academy, home of the Eagles, to offer a comprehensive athletics program and provide transportation to and from school with its fleet of seven shuttle vans and three traditional school buses. Pinkney said some students live at least 20 miles away, though the average distance is about 10. Three years ago, Joshua Christian Academy graduating class members received more than $1 million in higher education scholarships, a point of pride for Pinkney. 

He credits this achievement to his daughter, Lisa Harris, who is now the school’s executive director and has taken over the school’s day-to-day operations as Pinkney stepped back to work with the church. 

Pinkney is also quick to credit his wife, whose many years of experience as an educator helped provide a foundation of excellence from the beginning. In November, Joshua Christian Academy cut the ribbon on a new building to house the upper grades. Its name: “Dr. Gloria Pinkney High School.”  

 

If you take the Nation’s Report Card data back as far as it will go to capture all 50 states (2003) and up until the most recent exams (2022), the trends for students with disabilities look like the chart above. For the United States across four exams you get a net 1-point increase. Let’s call that the midpoint between “spinning your wheels” and “playing in your food” spectrum. Meanwhile Florida made a net 63 points of progress, a grade level or more on each of the exams. A suite of reforms seems to have helped drive this progress.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s reforms started in 1999 and included the creation of the nation’s first private choice program for students with disabilities. You can examine Figure 1 above and ponder whether the continual predictions of doom made by choice opponents seem the

least bit credible. Florida lawmakers created a separate education savings accounts, or ESA program, for students with unique abilities before consolidating the programs. Florida’s students with disabilities have had more choice access for a longer period of time than students in any other state.

Florida’s policies with a plausible connection to academic progress for students with unique abilities don’t end with choice. Florida pioneered the grading of schools A-F. Crucially, the Florida formula double weights the academic gains of the bottom 25% of students on the previous year’s state standardized exams.

 

Editor’s note: This article appeared Tuesday on postandcourier.com.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush gave Republicans in the South Carolina House a pro-school-choice pep talk ahead of a public hearing on legislation that would give parents money for private tuition.

Bush, who signed Florida’s first school choice law nearly 25 years ago, encouraged the House GOP Caucus to charge ahead with efforts to give parents taxpayer-funded choices in both public and private schools.

“I want to maybe give you a sense of what the future looks like,” Bush told the caucus during an April 4 luncheon that was open to the media.

“The world gets better when parents make more choices,” he added. “There are lessons on the way to make sure it’s done right, but the idea parents know best for their kids is irrefutable in my mind.”

Chairman of the nonprofit ExcelinEd, Bush said he was in South Carolina this week before Easter as an evangelist for school choice.

It was a pitch that seemed to preach to the choir.

Republicans in the House have been pushing for private school choice for nearly two decades. After years of dividing the GOP, legislation helping parents pay for private school almost reached Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk last year. It failed at the end of the session with Republicans in the House and Senate unable to agree on student testing.

To continue reading, click here.

In the Legislature: A new bill submitted to the state House of Representatives would allow districts to put cameras in classrooms. HB 985, would require video cameras to be placed in certain public and charter school classrooms. Teachers in the classrooms with cameras would have to wear microphones during the school day, according to the bill. WKMG. A state senator has introduced legislation that would raise the state's compulsory age for school attendance. The proposed legislation, SB 992, would raise the cap by two years from 16 to 18. If enacted, the bill would take effect on July 1. WFLA. Another bill filed recently in the Florida House would limit diversity efforts and expand the powers of university boards and alter course offerings. HB 999 proposes leaving all faculty hiring to boards of trustees and removing majors or minors in subjects like critical race theory and gender studies. It would also prohibit spending on activities that promote diversity, equity and inclusion and create new general education requirements. Tampa Bay Times. State lawmakers have been given two vastly different cost estimates as they consider HB1,  which would expand school vouchers and offer education savings accounts to all school-aged children in the state. The bill's sponsor put the number at $209.6 million, but the Florida Policy Institute says the measure could add billions to the state budget. Tampa Bay Times. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 

Around the state: The school board in Lee is considering a phased rebuild of Fort Myers Beach Elementary, students at universities statewide participated in walkouts regarding various issues and the school board in Alachua approved a new policy for homeless students. Here are details about those stories and other developments from the state's districts, private schools and colleges and universities:

Lee: The majority of the Lee County school board appeared to be leaning toward a phased rebuild of Fort Myers Beach Elementary, which was severely damaged during Hurricane Ian. During the board's meeting on Wednesday, three options were presented, which ranged in cost. They include sending students to other schools and restoring the campus, a phased rebuild and a portable campus with the option to rebuild. Ft. Myers News-Press.

Volusia: Local businesses have donated items such as model jet engines and hotel stays to Volusia County schools through the adopt-a-school program. Now, the hospitality industry is on a mission to find adopters for the last nine of 67 traditional public schools — most of which are in West Volusia. The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Alachua: The school board in Alachua approved a new policy that waives school fees for students experiencing homelessness or who are unable to pay. The new Waiver of School Fees policy establishes prohibitions on school fees for students who qualify for free lunch of breakfast, a student whose family is experiencing a severe loss or does not have the ability to pay due to any reason Superintendent Shane Andrew deems appropriate. WUFT.

Target list: Gov. Ron DeSantis' list of 14 incumbent board members around the state he is targeting to defeat in the 2024 election include Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn in Hillsborough county and Laura Hine and Eileen Long in Pinellas county. Tampa Bay Times.

Book reversal: A book about late MLB legend Roberto Clemente that was removed from public schools in Florida's Duval County pending a review over its references to racism and discrimination has been approved for student use.  NBC News. Axios.

University and college news: A public art display celebrating diversity will not travel to State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota after college officials requested the omission of several pieces. The concern, according to a college spokesperson, was that several images could offend viewers. The organizer canceled the scheduled exhibit. WUSF.  Inside Higher Ed.  Members of University of Florida's Bateman case study competition presented their campaign to Greater Gainesville Young Professionals. Students are teaching people how to identify credible news by sharing their experiences with misinformation. WCJB. A Florida nonprofit in a new lawsuit is seeking the call logs and texts of one of six trustees recently installed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the state's most progressive higher education institution. New College of Florida made headlines in recent weeks after an overhaul of the liberal arts university's leadership. Miami Herald. The State University System Board of Governors signed off on making Richard Corcoran the interim president of New College of Florida, and will take the helm on Monday. WUSF. Hundreds of University of South Florida students participated in a walkout to protest Gov. Ron DeSantis' education policies. Tampa Bay Times. At University of Florida, a protest was held called "Stand for Freedom." Gainesville Sun.  In Tallahassee, Florida State University students also protested. Tallahassee Democrat. Meanwhile, students at six Florida universities staged a walkout protesting school officials sending transgender students health information to the state. In January, Gov. Ron DeSantis sent state universities a survey requesting the number and ages of students who sought gender dysphoria treatment, including sex reassignment surgery and hormone prescriptions. WMFE. NPR.

Opinions on schools: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joined Students Over Systems host Ginny Gentles to talk about the history of Florida's flourishing education options. Ginny Gentles and former Gov. Jeb Bush, reimaginED.

On this week’s episode of Students Over Systems, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joins host Ginny Gentles to discuss the history of the Sunshine State’s flourishing education options.

Among the topics:

• Bush explains how he overcame opposition to education freedom early in his governorship and remained focused on improving K-12 education in Florida
• Bush and Gentles address the state of education in Florida before the state created school choice opportunities and the improvement in Florida’s education system in the years since Bush introduced his A+ plan for education in 1999
• Bush looks ahead at the future of education choice throughout this legislative season and beyond

Here is a snippet of the conversation.

“And Florida’s a really good example of consistent reform policies … So, our system has yielded improvements across the board. And now there’s a pretty big constituency because we started this journey and then successive legislators have added choice provisions, to their credit, and governors have embraced the idea.

So now Arizona, I guess, and Florida and a handful of other states have close to majority of their kids; their parents choose where their kids go to school, whether it’s a traditional public school, a charter school, homeschool, ESA, customized school environment, or private school.”

You can listen to the podcast here.

Editor’s note: This commentary from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appeared Friday on wsj.com.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone: I’m a proud Floridian.

It’s the state I’ve long called home, where I raised my family and gratefully served two terms as governor. It’s also why I’m proud to boast about a new bill introduced by the Florida legislature to scale and improve school choice in the Sunshine State.

Last month, Speaker Paul Renner introduced House Bill 1, which will make Florida’s school choice program the most expansive, inclusive and dynamic in the country and will accelerate Florida’s leadership in reimagining education.

Since I signed Florida’s first statewide school choice bill into law 25 years ago, we’ve largely led the nation in education freedom. Since then, 31 states, as well as Washington and Puerto Rico, have enacted school choice policies, dramatically expanding the power of parents to exercise control over how their child’s education is provided.

Yet despite having the nation’s largest school choice program, we are beginning to trail other states in offering the most innovative solutions to students.

First, Arizona and West Virginia started nipping at Florida’s heels. Even as Florida made important improvements and expansions to its programs, both of these states enacted universal education savings account programs, or ESAs, surpassing Florida’s reach by delivering educational freedom to all families.

ESAs are a game changer. They empower families to personalize their children’s education. Want to purchase an online math course? ESAs cover that. Extra books? ESAs allow for that. Tutoring to close learning gaps? That’s an allowable ESA expense. Maybe your student needs a blended approach that includes private school tuition and educational therapies. An ESA has your back.

With these flexible and powerful accounts, education dollars are no longer exclusively used to fund systems. Instead, ESAs enable education funding to focus on helping to individualize each student’s learning experience, giving every child his best shot at a great education and lifelong success.

There’s a bona fide movement for educational choice and flexibility sweeping the nation. On Jan. 24, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Students First Act into law, making Iowa the first state this year to enact a school choice bill and becoming the third state in the nation to provide universal ESAs to families.

And only a few days later, on Jan. 28, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed school choice legislation into law. All told, bills to establish universal choice are moving in more than a dozen states, including Indiana, Ohio, New Hampshire, Texas and Virginia.

In Arkansas and Nevada, newly elected governors Sarah Sanders and Joe Lombardo have spoken boldly about ensuring their respective states will soon offer or expand school choice.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and newly elected State Superintendent Ryan Walters are committed to creating a universal ESA program for Sooner State families. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster and newly elected State Superintendent Ellen Weaver have committed to fighting to expand educational opportunity.

With the right leadership, a 21st-century vision and the resolve to put families first, these states in all parts of the nation are moving this student-centered movement into high gear. Even before the pandemic, parents were demanding more autonomy and greater control over their children’s education.

The pandemic accelerated that by shining a light on deficiencies in our education systems. A February 2022 Real Clear Opinion Research poll found that more than 72% of parents supported school choice, including 68% of Democrats, 82% of Republicans and 67% of independents.

Educational choice is popular and empowering parents is the right thing to do. Pennsylvania’s newly elected Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has said that traditional public schools can be funded alongside school choice. And he’s right.

Nearly 200 years ago, when the industrialized school system we know today first emerged, it made sense to build massive schools that focused more on “averages” than individuals. For its time, assembly-line education mirrored the successful assembly lines of the unfolding industrial age. And aside from a few private schools, there weren’t many available alternatives.

Today, the U.S. economy is far more advanced, and new options for education abound. So rather than accepting an education system designed to teach to the average, parents are rightfully demanding a system that is individualized and empowers each student to achieve his full potential.

For too long, public-education funding has worked primarily for the special interests that run school systems for their own benefit. Florida’s HB1 is a game changer. Not only will it create the nation’s largest ESA program, it will supercharge flexibility.

Best of all, this student-centered movement is the product of competition among states, free from the grips of special interests, bureaucrats and top-down federal mandates.

This benefits everyone by finally making public education work for the students and families it exists to serve.

Editor’s note: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, chairman and founder of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, issued the following statement in response to the filing of HB 1. The bill would significantly expand eligibility for education choice options to all K-12 students in Florida.

“The right to a publicly funded education is a promise our state makes to every student and yesterday, Speaker Paul Renner and members of the legislature took bold steps to ensure each and every Florida student can access the education of their choice.

“Florida stands on the monumental verge of restoring the original intent of publicly funding education – by funding individual students – so each child can reach their God-given potential. HB1 is a forward thinking and important move toward ensuring Florida remains the nation’s leader in student-centered solutions. I applaud Speaker Renner and the Florida House for their vision and leadership in creating this unmatched opportunity for Florida students and families.”

House Bill 1, released by Speaker Paul Renner and sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, will significantly expand school choice options for all Florida K-12 students.

• Creates universal eligibility for the Florida Family Empowerment Scholarship program
• Expands eligibility for homeschool students who wish to participate in the program
• Removes scholarship caps for low-income based programs
• Eliminates the waitlist for students with unique abilities
• Transforms the Family Empowerment Scholarship and Florida Tax Credit Scholarship programs into education savings account program, allowing funds to be used to pay for tuition and a variety of other educational material and expenses
• Improves the definition of part-time enrollment, enabling students who enroll in a traditional public school part time to receive their proportionate share of public school funding

You can read the full test of the bill here.