Some Florida private schools face an unexpected dilemma this school year: Find extra dollars to pay for state college courses their high school students want to take – or deny them the option.

The problem stems from a new law requiring public school districts and individual private schools to cover tuition for students enrolled in the state’s popular dual enrollment program.

Though it’s unclear how many private school schools and students are affected, the change has left some schools curbing participation and others anxious about what they’ll do if local colleges, prompted by the new law, end up hiking charges.

The change “caught everybody off guard,’’ said Howard Burke of the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, and immediate past president of Florida Association of Academic Nonpublic Schools (FAANS). “This is a hardship for parents already paying taxes for public schools and paying for private school.’’

His association represents about 140 schools with an average of $4,000 to $5,200 in tuition. Burke said some of those schools are telling parents they now will owe an additional fee for dual enrollment to help schools with the unexpected costs.

“I think it’s obscene,’’ Burke said. “This should not be happening.’’

Dual enrollment lets students knock out college-level credits for free while they’re still in high school so they can earn college degrees faster and save their families – and the state - thousands of dollars.

Currently, there are about 65,000 high school students participating, up 20 percent since 2010-11. Before the change, districts and colleges received additional state funding for the program costs (excluding books and other materials). Private schools, meanwhile, had separate agreements with colleges that allowed their students the same access.

In recent years, however, state colleges lobbied for more money because they said they were losing an estimated $43 million to $58 million a year in tuition. Lawmakers approved a bill last spring that allows the colleges to charge districts a standard fee of $71.98 per credit. The law went into effect in July. (more…)

Homeschooling: A Florida woman who has been homeschooling her children is ordered by a judge to put them in public school after a guardian ad litem says she believes they would benefit from the socialization. Tampa Bay Times.

Charter schools: A Palm Beach County senator wants to narrow the mission of charter schools with a bill that would require charters meet “a specific instructional need or a need for additional educational facilities.” The Florida Current. Charter school administrators are now required to post the school’s annual budget and fiscal audit, the state grade and names of governing board members on their websites. Daytona Beach News-Journal. At Immokalee Community School, every parent has signed a contract to speak Spanish with their kids for at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week. StateImpact Florida.

Magnet schools: With the opening of a new aviation academy, students at Clearwater High School soon will be able to graduate with a pilot's license - and a jump into the growing field of aviation and aerospace. Tampa Bay Times.

Private schools: Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg is looking for a new leader after an announcement that its head of school is stepping down. Tampa Bay Times.

College credit: Duval County's strongest advanced high school programs may "seed" smaller accelerated or career courses at other district schools. Florida Times-Union. 

Achievement gap: Escambia County School District officials will soon be forming a new task force to help close the achievement gap among the district’s students. Pensacola News-Journal. (more…)

Private schools: A Miami-Dade family operated private school hires its first non-family school leader. Miami Herald. A Orlando private school threatens to expel a student if she doesn't cut and shape her hair. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Charter schools: Lake Wales charter students spend their vacation delivering hot meals to shut-ins, giving out free car washes to passers-by and taking holiday food boxes to those in need. The Ledger.

Grad standards: Sen. Education Committee Chairman John Legg sees graduation standards as the panel's top priority. The Florida Current.

Single gender: Two Miami-Dade lawmakers have filed legislation that would encourage Florida school districts to try gender-specific classrooms. The Buzz.

Teachers: Pasco County School District officials consider a transfer window to help get quality teachers into the system. Tampa Bay Times.

Bus service: Broward's school transportation department is finally on the road to improvement after being blasted for disastrous service and bloated overtime payments. Sun Sentinel.

First-graders: Escambia County school officials work on first-grade retention. Pensacola News-Journal. (more…)

Forty-six years ago a plaintiff named John Serrano sued the State of California, asserting that the capacity of school districts to raise money was grossly unequal, hence unconstitutional. The quality of education in property-poor districts was said to be diminished by the resulting disparities in spending per pupil. Students had a right to a more rational and fair distribution of money.

As in most litigation the claimants had to prove some real injury. The disparities in spending were colossal, ranging, at the extremes, from a few hundred dollars per pupil in property-poor districts, to several thousand in freakishly wealthy industrial centers and top-rank suburbs. The injury seemed self-evident.

But it wasn’t. By whichever measure of outcome - graduation, test scores, reputation - there was no pattern linking spending to actual quality. In addition, surprisingly, there was little or no evidence that children from poor families were systematically getting less spent on their schools. The lawyers for Serrano et al. could not credibly assert that money was the key to quality education or indeed, that it affected the success of schools in any way - except one. It was obviously true that the richer districts could buy more stuff. They could hire more teachers, administrators and superintendents, at higher salaries, build fancier buildings and secure the most up-to-date supplies, books and equipment. The trial judge decided this was injury enough. His judgment for the plaintiffs was affirmed by the California Supreme Court. As yet, however, 40 years later, no one has succeeded in establishing a clear link between spending per-pupil and the benefit for the child.

Nevertheless, spending has skyrocketed in succeeding generations across the nation for reasons political - principally the monopoly power of public-service unions. But the apparent disconnect between spending and quality of education remains. This reality has conflicting implications for the school choice movement. It reduces the political significance of the consistent discrimination in spending against today’s charter schools; we are not at all clear that it really affects outcome. On the other hand, it is plain to anyone who knows the facts that, whatever it is that does make a school successful, it can be had without exploding the cost. In short, if school choice supporters are willing to accept and even exploit politically the cheaper regimes now in place, they have a more powerful case. (more…)

by Perry Athanason

At 13, Kevin Rodriguez is an old soul. He does not talk much, but listens intently. He loves science, math and history, and hopes to be an architect one day. His interest in science, including figuring out how things work and how things change in different environments, sets an interesting parallel against Kevin’s educational experience.

“I’m interested in how houses and buildings are constructed and want to learn more about different designs,” said Kevin.

Growing up, Kevin was a quiet child always keeping to himself and spent a lot of time reading. Kevin attended his neighborhood elementary school and did OK mostly due to his slightly reclusive, yet inquisitive personality, his mom said. As he reached the higher-grade levels, Kevin started witnessing bullying and insolent activities such as vandalism and destruction of school property.

This was something Kevin’s mother, Sylvia Febus, feared because her older son had a similar experience when he was younger. At that time, Sylvia pulled her older son out of the school and enrolled him in a magnet school from which he graduated. But when Kevin had a similar experience, she could not find an easy solution for him.

“His entire demeanor changed,” said Sylvia. “He became even more reclusive than usual. He would not get out of bed in the morning. He started dreading the idea of going to school, and he lost an interest in learning about new things. This was alarming to me because Kevin had always been more of the bookworm in our family.”

Sylvia knew she would have to become her child’s strongest advocate. She needed to make sure Kevin remained interested in school and decided to seek out every available opportunity, even if it appeared to be financially out of reach. (more…)

Charter schools: The Lake Wales Charter School system is creating a new position to help with private fundraising. The Ledger.

Magnet schools: Beginning next school year, Hernando County's magnet schools will be able to send students with attendance problems, excessive tardiness, behavior issues or poor grades back to their zoned schools. Tampa Bay Times. Pinellas County School District officials want to add more magnets, fundamental programs, career academies and other options to the district's school choice mix. The Tampa Tribune.

Achievement gap: Two prominent community leaders say Pinellas County schools could do more to close the achievement gap between black and white students. Tampa Bay Times.

School safety: Pinellas considers scaling back five school police officers' schedules by June 2014. Instead of working 12 months, these officers would work 10, aligning with the school year. Tampa Bay Times.

School nurses: The Palm Beach County School District plans to ask the health care district for help finding as much as $600,000 for eight additional school nurse positions this year. Palm Beach Post.

(more…)

Few people in the field of education bring the kind of credibility to a debate on faith-based schools that Andy Smarick brings. So his keynote speech Tuesday to the American Center for School Choice’s Commission on Faith-based Schools in New York was all the more riveting for his decision not to preach to the choir. His message – that to reverse the decline, faith-based educators need also to look in the mirror – amounted to a family intervention.

“Without putting too fine of a point on it,” Smarick said, “an H.G. Wells quote seems particularly fitting: ‘Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.’ ”

Smarick criticized faith-based schools – and private schools in general – for not adapting to a new educational environment driven by regulatory accountability and performance measures, and for not being more transparent about their academic performance. He challenged a passage in the commission's report:

“The following paragraph from your report is particularly instructive: 'America is losing a valuable national asset — not because it has become obsolescent, not because the demand for it has disappeared, not because the need for it has been satisfied by other entities, but because we have a misguided public policy … '

“It is my humble contention that these policies are misguided as much because of our behavior as anyone else’s. I’m sad to say, most believe we currently don’t deserve better policies. Our elected officials are understandably making education decisions based on the conditions of 2013, and we’re acting like it’s 1963.”

The public and charter sectors are transparent in ways that better inform parents and satisfy the demands of those in government who pay the bills, Smarick told the audience. So private schools that want to constitute a viable third sector need to embrace the reality seen in most Western nations: (more…)

Members of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education are taking turns traveling cross-country by bus to raise awareness about Catholic schools and faith-based education.

It’s part of a 50-city tour, dubbed Fighting for Our Children’s Future, that’s aimed at highlighting how a Catholic education can have an impact not only on individuals, but on society as a whole.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate the community treasures that we have in Catholic schools,’’ Christian Dallavis, senior director of leadership programs for ACE, told redefinED. “It’s also a chance to recognize people doing heroic work.’’

Much of that work is tied to keeping Catholic schools relevant, vibrant – and open. In the past 20 years, as other school choice options have grown, including tuition-free charter schools, more than 1,300 Catholic schools have closed.

ACE is devoted to saving Catholic schools and helping them fulfill their mission of providing children from all walks of life with a high-quality education. Through graduate level programs, ACE is training the next generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders.

ACE graduates and current leaders are among the contingent participating in the tour, which kicked off in Dallas last month with a forum at the George W. Bush Institute on the campus of Southern Methodist University. That’s where the Rev. Timothy Scully, ACE’s founder and director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, spoke about the role of faith-based schools in America.

“At a time when the dialogue about K-12 education often seems unnecessarily polarized and stultifying, this is an opportunity for leaders across the political and ideological spectrum to re-imagine what faith-based schools can mean to our cities," said Scully, who recently won the William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship by the Manhattan Institute for his work with ACE. (more…)

Charter schools: The superintendent of the Schools of McKeel Academy resigns following an investigation. The Ledger.  A Polk County charter school helps students find job success. The Ledger.  A group that wants to open a charter school at MacDill Air Force Base pitches its proposal to the Tampa Bay Times' editorial board.

Private schools: The Hillel Academy, a private Jewish school in Hillsborough County, is collecting books and money to help an elementary school library in Botswana, Africa. The Tampa Tribune. Students from a Hillsborough County private Catholic middle school help 16 organizations and charities. The Tampa Tribune.

Magnet schools: A new performing arts high school could be on the horizon in Miami-Dade County. Miami Herald. A Workforce Education Expo attracts thousands of students from more than 100 Polk County school academies. The Ledger.

Special needs: This 3,500-student high school in Seminole County has at least four mentoring programs that bring together students with and without disabilities. Orlando Sentinel.

Governor's race: Democratic candidate Charlie Crist says education and the economy are the most important issues. StateImpact Florida.

Teacher pay: The Broward County School Board approves a plan that gives 14,000 teachers a 5 percent salary bump. Sun Sentinel.

Common Core: Florida school superintendents ask for three additional years to fully switch to the new math, English and literacy standards. StateImpact Florida. More from Tallahassee Democrat. Multiple well-known testing companies are eyeing Florida’s Common Core assessments, which are set to begin next school year. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)

Florida is reducing state-funded scholarships for private school students with disabilities if they take online courses through Florida Virtual School.

The state Department of Education last week began notifying the 1,200 private schools accepting the McKay Scholarship that quarterly payments for students will be docked starting in February – in some cases, by as much as $800.

Since then, some school operators, such as Donna Savary of Savary Academy in tiny Crawfordville, have pulled McKay students from the FLVS programs to avoid the unexpected costs. They also have warned parents they’ll have to pick up the tab for courses their children already completed.

“We’re not happy,’’ said Savary, whose academy has 16 students of which six receive McKay Scholarships. “The kids are not happy. The parents are really upset.’’

In a letter dated Nov. 8, the department cited the recently-amended education funding formula as cause for the reduction. DOE officials reviewed the new law that went into effect in July and determined last month that it did apply to recipients of the McKay Scholarship because the funding comes from the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).

School districts and Florida Virtual School also are funded by the FEFP, and have been hit with similar cuts when public school students enroll in the online provider’s program.

“If they (DOE) had told me about this in the beginning of the school year, my kids wouldn’t have been in Florida Virtual School at all,’’ said Savary, who told one of her families this week it will owe $800 in February for two courses completed since August. “This is a rural area. Parents here don’t have $800 lying around.’’

The DOE decision means parents of McKay Scholarship students are the only ones in Florida directly assessed for FLVS courses, said Robyn Rennick of The Coalition of McKay Scholarship Schools. (more…)