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Within an hour of Fifth Third Bank's announcement via a press release that it will continue to fund scholarships for Florida's most disadvantaged students, state lawmakers took to social media to thank the bank for reconsidering its decision to fund the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program.

Those lawmakers included Rep. James Bush III, D-Miami, who posted: "The return of Fifth Third as a donor to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program is a victory for the more than 100,000 low-income students who need options in their education."

Rep. Kimberly Daniels, D-Jacksonville, referenced the pressure exerted upon Fifth Third by activists who came out in force this week to support the scholarship program and urged others to tweet @Fifththird to thank the bank for continuing its support.

Several other lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, applauded Fifth Third for "coming back to the table" and listening to all voices. "This decision means that thousands of underprivileged, minority children will not have to give up their dream of a better future," Sprowls tweeted.

Rep. Patricia Williams, D-Pompano Beach, tweeted: "I celebrate the announcement by Fifth Third Bank, which will bolster education opportunities for those who need it most -- low-income, minority students."

Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, and Rep. Byron Daniels, R-Naples, also weighed in, with the latter thanking Fifth Third for "doing the right thing" in resuming its corporate donations.

Meanwhile, Rep. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, commended the bank for supporting equal education opportunities for all children. "Our great state will be the better for it," Lawson tweeted.

Adding their voices to the praise chorus were two national figures.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who signed the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program into law in 2001, thanked Fifth Third and tweeted, "Great to see @FifthThird continuing to support Florida's families seeking a better education for their children."

And U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio commended the bank, tweeting "Great job by the bipartisan coalition that made this possible."

Rubio made headlines earlier this week when he called Fifth Third's decision to cease donations, along with Wells Fargo's, a "publicity stunt aimed at earning 'wokeness' points with the radical left."

 

ORLANDO - Renee Oliver started sending her children to St. Andrew Catholic School in 2004. At the time, it drew Catholic families from surrounding communities in the western part of Orlando. But it remained financially out of reach for many who lived nearby.

Over the years, that's changed.

The nation's largest private school choice program has enabled schools like St. Andrew to open their doors to hundreds of families who couldn't previously afford tuition, including some from its predominantly black neighborhood of Pine Hills.

"The school community came to reflect the community that it was in," Oliver said.

She had to support her family on a single income after an on-the-job injury forced her husband out of work. Tax credit scholarships helped her send three of her five children to St. Andrew.

When President Donald Trump came to visit the school on Friday, she told him similar options should be available to all families.

Started in 2002, the tax credit scholarship is administered by Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog and pays my salary. It helps nearly 98,000 students across Florida — and the vast majority of students at St. Andrew — attend private schools.

While he hasn't backed a detailed plan, Trump made a pitch to expand similar programs across the country. Parents like Oliver joined him around a table with Sen. Marco Rubio. The president expressed interest in the lawmaker's efforts to create a nationwide tax credit scholarship.

At one point, Trump turned to Denisha Merriweather, a Florida scholarship alumna he highlighted during his recent address to Congress.

"We want millions more to have the same chance to achieve the great success that you're achieving, right now," he said.

***

Latrina Peters-Gipson, St. Andrew's principal, is a product of Catholic schools. She developed a love of education as a college student in New Orleans. Weeks into her first year as a full-time classroom professional, Hurricane Katrina struck. Her family lost almost everything. The storm destroyed the Hyatt hotel where her husband worked. The hotelier helped her family relocate to Orlando. (more…)

Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio says he wants to create a national tax credit scholarship program, modeled on the one in Florida, to create a "new pathway to school choice."

In an interview with Campbell Brown of The 74, Rubio touts a proposal, which he also has pushed in the U.S. Senate. It would allow companies to give money to private scholarship funds in exchange for credits on their federal income taxes.

"I'm not saying it's a silver bullet that's going to solve everything," Rubio says. "But it will provide yet one more avenue by which low-income parents can have access to a better education than the one their kids are getting now."

Rubio says he wants to do away with the U.S. Department of Education, and that he sees little role for the federal government in K-12 education, beyond expanding Pell Grants for high school students who want vocational training, and supporting a his school choice proposal. (more…)

Nearly 2,000 students and parents packed Jacksonville's Florida Theatre to start the largest-ever week-long celebration of school choice.

National School Choice Week officially starts Jan. 25, but Friday's rally was part of the first round of more than 11,000 planned events. The events aim for a celebratory tone, with music, dancing, celebrity guests and tributes to the range of educational options: district, charter, private, virtual and home education.

Desmond Howard, a former Jacksonville Jaguar and Heisman Trophy winner, told the capacity crowd that some students benefit from options beyond the schools that are assigned to them.

"I don't believe your potential should be limited because of your ZIP code, because of your assigned school, because of an antiquated system that limits families from accessing quality schools," he said. "As a parent, I know this first hand. Every child is unique."

Denisha Merriweather, who grew up in Jacksonville and has become a prominent advocate for school choice, helped set the stage for figures like Duval County School Board member Jason Fischer, state Board of Education member Gary Chartrand and Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform. Others, like U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, made video appearances.

Merriweather attended Esprit de Corps Center for Learning with the help of a scholarship funded by Step Up For Students, the non-profit that administers the scholarship program and co-hosts this blog.

Public school options — especially those that emphasize the arts — got a shout out from Florida's Teacher of Year, Christie Bassett, who leads the art department at Highlands Grove Elementary in Polk County.

"When parents have more say in where their children go to school, everybody wins," she said, adding: "We love having choices in every area of our lives. Education should be no different."

Step Up For Students Chief Storyteller Lisa Davis contributed reporting and photos to this post.

From an op-ed on FoxNews.com today authored by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio:

Last year in my home state of Florida, over 40% of children educated with taxpayer funds didn’t attend their zoned public school. They attended district run magnet schools, charter schools, virtual schools and dual enrollment programs with colleges. This customization has enabled Florida to have great achievement gains for its lower-income and minority children over the last decade.

For 13 years, Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program has played a critical role in this progress. The program provides tax credits to companies that donate to scholarship-granting organizations. It’s been so successful in Florida that I used it as a model for federal legislation I’ve introduced.

Today roughly 68,000 low-income parents use the program to send their child to a school that better fits his or her unique learning needs. Test scores show that these children were the lowest performers in their public schools when they left but now see learning gains equal to children of all incomes.

Incredibly, in spite of this clear success, the Florida teachers union and the Florida School Boards Association filed suit in August to shut down the program. 

Should the suit succeed, these 68,000 needy children – 70% of which are either African-American, or of Hispanic or Haitian descent – will be evicted from their chosen schools. Further, hundreds of private schools in Florida serving minority children will be forced to close their doors.

Although this is happening in Florida, it should concern all parents across the entire country who want and deserve the freedom and opportunity to give their kids better education options.

Full op-ed here.

Dual enrollment: Students enrolled in the College Academy at Broward College take classes on the college's campus with Broward College professors, but they also get the support of a high school, all for free. Sun Sentinel.

Career academies: Clay County plans to redesign high schools into wall-to-wall career academies. Florida Times-Union. Mulberry's Automotive Academy in Polk County realigns to earn certifications. The Ledger.

Private schools: Private school principals say Duval public school officials are partly to blame for a Title I shortfall that's affecting how private schools deliver services to needy students. Florida Times-Union. Scheck Hillel Community Day School students in North Miami Beach receive advice on how to accomplish their goals from best-selling author Adam Grant. Miami Herald.

District schools: Brevard Public Schools leaders seek comment on a preliminary list of budget cuts for the 2014-15 school year, and an additional list of cuts for 2015-16 if the half-cent sales tax fails at the ballot in November. Florida Today. The general counsel for the Hernando County School District defends the superintendent's decision to transfer an assistant superintendent to a warehouse position. Tampa Bay Times.

School choice: Moving forward with plans to reopen two elementary schools as tech magnets, Pinellas district leaders schedule a second application period for parents seeking options outside their zoned schools. Tampa Bay Times.

State testing: Opt Out Orlando is a group dedicated to discussing options to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and other high-stakes exams. Orlando Sentinel. 

Common Core: StateImpact Florida looks at how the new education standards address poverty.

Education spending: Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal for a big boost in education funding amounts to about $6,949 per-student, but that's still below the 2007-08 high of $7,126. The Tampa Tribune. (more…)

Common Core is okay. But the new, multi-state tests aligned to them may have to go.

So suggests Florida Gov. Rick Scott in documents set for release today.

In a draft executive order, Scott says "Floridians will not accept Federal government intrusion into the academic standards that are taught to our students." The order then says the tests being put together by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, better known as PARCC, "do not meet the needs of our students or the expectations of state leaders" in terms of cost, test length and testing requirements - and constitute "excessive involvement by the United States Department of Education." It says the state education commissioner shall recommend to the state Board of Education that the board terminate Florida's role as the fiscal agent for PARCC and establish a competitive bidding process for new tests.

In a draft letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Scott also criticizes PARCC, saying it "has become a primary entry point for the involvement of the federal government" in many state and local education decisions.

But the letter also notes the state BOE adopted Common Core standards in 2010 after a process that began under former Gov. Jeb Bush and continued under former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

"This process resulted in the highest academic standards that could move our students and teachers away from 'teaching to the test' and toward a more independent, analytical approach to reading, writing and math," the letter says.

Here is a copy of the letter to Duncan. Here is a copy of the executive order. And here is a letter to BOE Chair Gary Chartrand.

Statement from Patricia Levesque at Foundation for Florida's Future here. Statements from six of seven BOE members here.

Other coverage: Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay Times (editorial), Education Week, Sunshine State News, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel, Associated Press, Pensacola News Journal, Gradebook, The Buzz, StateImpact Florida, Daytona Beach News Journal, Fort Myers News Press, Sarasota Herald Tribune, John Romano, The Answer Sheet, Florida Current, NPR, Bridge to Tomorrow, Wall Street Journal.

School grades: Florida has a record-high 107 F-rated schools this year. Miami Herald. Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando all earned overall "C'' grades. Tampa Bay Times. Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie says the district's school grade drops mirror declines statewide, but students still performed better or as well as last year. Sun-Sentinel. For the first time in nine years, the Palm Beach County School District is not getting an A on its report card. Palm Beach Post. The Polk County School District has six "F'' schools and received an overall "C'' from the state. The Ledger. Two of Duval County's "F'' schools rose in the state's ranking system to a "D'' while the other two received another failing grade. Florida Times-Union. Brevard elementary schools earned 21 "A'' grades, 25 ''B'' grades, eight ''C'' grades, one ''D'' and one ''F'' - Endeavour Elementary in Cocoa. Florida Today. Lee, Charlotte, and Glades school districts dropped from a "B'' to a "C''; Collier dropped from an "A'' to a "B''; and Hendry County dropped from a "C'' to a "D.'' Fort Myers News-Press.

Tax credit scholarships: The number of students attending private schools on tax-credit scholarships, administered by Step Up For Students, jumped 27 percent last year, reaching a record high of 51,075 kids. Miami Herald.

Disabled students: The Palm Beach County School District plans to spend $18 million during the next 10 years to fix nearly 100,000 disabled access issues. Palm Beach Post.

Recruiting: Despite the lure of extra cash, teachers aren't fighting to get into some of Pinellas County's lowest-performing schools. In many cases, they're trying to get out. Tampa Bay Times.

Common  Core: Sen. Marco Rubio has joined growing criticism of the education standards known as Common Core, putting him at odds with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The Buzz. And Bush, once a strong force in shaping the state's education policies, is taking some big hits, lately. The Buzz. If Education Commissioner Tony Bennett agrees with legislative leaders that Florida should create its own assessments, his proposal has to be better than PARCC's. Tampa Bay Times. The standards registered little excitement when Florida adopted them three years ago, but now ... . Palm Beach Post. We don't need to panic about the new national standards, writes columnist Beth Kassab. But we do need patience. Orlando Sentinel.

Charter schools: More students are going charter in Hillsborough County. Tampa Bay Times. Lauderdale Lakes is reconsidering its decision to allow the new Ivy Academies Charter Schools to open in August. Sun Sentinel. Lake Wales Charter Schools has a $700,000 surplus. News Chief. There's mounting evidence that charter schools aren't a panacea in public education and are enabling our return to racial segregation, writes columnist Bill Maxwell. Tampa Bay Times.

Budgets: The complicated formula used by the state to match local property tax dollars with state money has required a tax increase for nearly 20 out of the state's 67 school districts. Associated Press.  Pinellas County School District's upcoming operating fund reflects an additional $38.2 million - one of the biggest increases in recent years, but that doesn't mean an easier year for the district. The Tampa Tribune. (more…)

I have written an article about tax credit scholarship plans that will be published in the Journal of Law and Education (Volume 43, Issue 1, Jan. 2014). You can read it here.

The article describes these school choice scholarship plans, which have now been enacted in 12 states. Put simply, funded by state tax credits, these plans enable low- and modest-income families to send their children to private schools in grades K-12. The main purpose of the article is to discuss design parameters that those creating such plans must consider. I address the important issues and show how states have come up with a variety of answers to these questions. I also make some brief legal and economic comparisons between tax credit school scholarship plans and voucher plans, and I discuss Sen. Marco Rubio’s recently proposed federal tax credit school scholarship plan.

The key design questions for these plans (which I consider) are:

1.   What families are eligible for the scholarships (as measured by income and up to what level, and by whether their children are already in private schools)?

2.   How large must or may the scholarships be (and how large are they likely to be if there is discretion)? What do such limits mean for the obligation of the family whose child wins a scholarship to pay tuition in part out of its own pocket?

3.   To what extent are schools that accept scholarship students to be regulated and by whom (in terms of testing regimes, teacher qualifications, and control over admissions)? (more…)