Guest Author
Despite overwhelming evidence that Florida’s public schools have never been better, some still see phantoms: Terrible schools, made worse by school choice.
In his March 19 column, Joe Henderson pitches an echo-chamber conspiracy theory. Lawmakers cripple public schools by draining money from them. Then they ring alarms about how bad the schools are. Then they offer more choice to the students and parents who want out. The plot keeps spiraling to its intended conclusion: The “panacea” of privatization.
With all due respect to Mr. Henderson, who I agree with on some things, the facts don’t support this narrative.
True, Florida has been a national leader in expanding choice for the past two decades. But over that span, Florida public schools have racked up accolades like FSU football used to notch Top 4 finishes.
Once adjusted for demographics, Florida ranks No. 1, No. 1, No. 3 and No. 8 on the four core tests for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Florida ranks No. 3 in the percentage of graduating seniors who’ve passed college-caliber Advanced Placement exams. Florida ranks No. 4 in K-12 achievement, according to Education Week. Florida’s graduation rate, 86.1 percent, is also up a fair bit from the ‘90s, when it barely topped 50 percent. These trend lines are rising even though Florida has among the highest rates of low-income students.
I agree that Florida should do better with funding. If I was king, I’d reward our educators because they’re getting such good results. But the correlation between spending and outcomes isn’t as strong as many people believe. And it’s downright Twilight Zone to suggest private school scholarships are part of the “budgetary bleeding of public schools.”
The amount of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship is about 60 percent of full per-pupil spending in district schools. That’s why multiple studies conclude the program saves taxpayer money that can be reinvested in public schools, and not a single study shows otherwise. The real fiscal nightmare would occur if the program ended and 100,000 low-income students flooded into public schools. Construction costs alone would be in the billions.
Truth be told, Floridians have backed state support for private education for years. We’ve spent billions on Bright Futures scholarship at private colleges, on Voluntary pre-Kindergarten at private preschools, on McKay and Gardiner Scholarships for students with disabilities to attend private K-12 schools. There’s been little to no controversy. What is it about expanding options for low-income kids, predominantly kids of color, that conjures the bogeyman of privatization, when none of these other programs did?
True, one of the new voucher proposals would expand eligibility into the middle class. But it ensures low-income parents have first dibs on the scholarships, and it’s hard to envision masses of middle-class parents clamoring for them. Over generations, they’ve shaped public education to fit their needs, to a system based on buying homes in neighborhoods where the schools work well for their kids.
So many choice critics exercised that form of choice, yet would deny options to those who can’t afford to do likewise. They’re haunted by myths. That our public schools aren’t good. That expanding choice will make them worse. Here’s hoping the facts eventually exorcise them.
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Ron Matus is director of policy and public affairs for Step Up For Students, a nonprofit that administers four state-supported scholarship programs. He is a former state education reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.
4 comments
Reid Friedson, PhD
March 19, 2019 at 5:20 pm
Florida Department of Education has for decades been rated among the BOTTOM 10% of state departments of education for students, educators, and taxpayers. Political cronyism for private profit is a problem in education. To ignore such facts and claim our public schools have never been better is false especially when over there are well over 2000 teaching vacancies in Florida’s public schools. Maybe the FDOE should try paying Florida teachers the highest salaries in the country instead of the lowest. Then halt unconstitutional certification practices as well as retaliation against whistle-blowers whole file complaints with our state education agency which then ignores those grievances. We need public school revitalization instead of segregation by privatization. Revitalization means fixing our decaying, overcrowded, and grossly underfunded urban and rural public school environments across Florida.
Reid Friedson, PhD
March 19, 2019 at 5:24 pm
Florida Department of Education has for decades been rated among the BOTTOM 10% of state departments of education for students, educators, and taxpayers. Political cronyism for private profit is a problem in education. To ignore such facts and claim our public schools have never been better is false especially when over there are well over 2000 teaching vacancies in Florida’s public schools. Maybe the FDOE should try paying Florida teachers the highest salaries in the country instead of the lowest. Then halt unconstitutional certification practices as well as retaliation against whistle-blowers who file complaints with our state education agency which then ignores those grievances. Justice should investigate our state education commissioner’s office, general counsel, inspector general, and education practices commission for decades of errors of fact and law in denial of basic human dignity. We need public school revitalization instead of segregation by privatization. Revitalization means fixing our decaying, overcrowded, and grossly underfunded urban and rural public school environments across Florida.
Jan
March 19, 2019 at 6:43 pm
Well said, doctor. Amazing how non-educators are working to dismantle our public schools. As I said in reply to another article, Florida is 42nd out of 50 states in per student spending, private schools have zero accountability to the state and can make their own rules, are not required to give mandatory student standardized testing, and can hire (and fire on a whim) whoever they want; just to name a few reasons taxpayer money should not be given to them without more serious debate–including input from educators.
Schools don’t fail. Students fail, parents fail, communities fail. As a public school guidance counselor for 35 years, I have never seen a student fail who behaves in class, pays attention to his/her teacher, completes all classwork work first time asked, does all his/her homework, participates in class, attends regularly and has parent involvement–even if it is a single parent.
I voted for Ron DeSantis but this is a slippery slope toward privatizing education. Schools cannot be run as businesses. For example, there is a famous company that claims to make the best blueberry ice cream “with the finest ingredients.” What happens when they get a shipment of unripe blueberries? They send it back. Public schools cannot send their students back–they have to take the Learning Disabled, Emotionally Disordered, Physically and Mentally Disabled, ESOL, 504, and ADHD students.
Some students thrive in private schools but we must not think they can take the place of well funded, well equipped, professionally staffed and accountable neighborhood schools.
Peter
March 20, 2019 at 12:43 am
Also my experience with private schools is they are only a good choice if you have an excellent student. If your child is a slow learner they become intolerant and do not want to spend more time on that student. The classrooms tend to be overcrowded and their teachers just as over worked as the public school teachers. And if you qualify for the scholarships you still need to pay the exorbitant book and administrative fees and transportation costs that most scholarships do not cover. For a working class family it can be a strain on your finances even with the scholarship. I have found out the hard way that the public school system is a better deal while exposing your student to the diversity of culture that is your whole community.
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