Anne Geggis
Democratic Rep. Joe Casello says the state has a war against public education that he predicts will render it unrecognizable in five to seven years.
The Palm Beach County legislative delegation met with the School Board Thursday to take stock of how recent legislation has affected the schools and what legislative needs the county school district has. The teacher shortage, the gargantuan task of vetting elementary classroom libraries for objectionable books and the escalating demand for scholarship money for kids to attend private schools rose to the top.
Casello told the Board that what he’s hearing about this Session’s agenda is alarming.
“I don’t know why there is a personal vendetta against public education in Tallahassee, but I can assure there is one and it’s going to get harder and harder for you members of School Boards and for leadership, as Superintendents, to govern for our students,” he said, noting the unprecedented situation that has roiled the Broward County School Board.
Officials from the state Department of Education were not immediately available to comment Thursday.
Superintendent Michael J. Burke noted that the Palm Beach County School District is doing its best to market its extensive offerings, but he’s concerned that the public system might become the option of last resort, serving primarily students who have the most challenges.
Between 2019 and the current year, the amount that the school district shells out for scholarships has risen from $11.2 million to $76.1 million — an increase of nearly 600%. Its biggest jump was between 2021 and 2022, when Palm Beach County’s scholarship payments increased from $21.8 million to $56.2 million.
“In recent years … the Legislature has increased the eligibility for those (scholarships) … and that’s going to be problematic,” Burke said. “There’s only so many private schools and parochial schools. You’ll probably see more being opened with this revenue stream now available.”
That’s the shape of the education system to come, Casello predicted.
“A scholarship voucher program — that’s where public education is going,” he said.
13 comments
The Common Tater
January 12, 2023 at 9:35 pm
““A scholarship voucher program — that’s where public education is going,” he said.”
And why not? Public school majordomos, get ready to be forced to hear the one word you detest the most: competition.
cassandra
January 13, 2023 at 12:32 pm
“competition”: Your comment defies logic and basic economic principles. Giving voucher handouts and other ‘free stuff’ to entitled private schools is not competition, nor is it competence.
It makes no more sense than the actions of a McDonald’s CEO who, instead of fixing a few broken fry-timers and jamming ice machines, pays Wendy’s to provide free fries and drinks at Wendy’s drive throughs.
Shareholders would not accept the mismanagement/sabotage—why are the Florida Useful Idiots demanding it?
Common 'Tater
January 14, 2023 at 9:49 am
Your reply is telling of the modern public education mindset, comparing it to a business whose goal is to keep the most customers. Retaining customers should NOT be the goal of the public schools, getting the best education for the most children society-wide should be the goal, any way society can do it. To continue with your somewhat specious analogy, if the goal of the McDonald’s CEO is to see that the most people eat the best food, that CEO should pay anybody who can provide the service, including Wendy’s. At the same time the CEO should be trying to figure out why McDonald’s fryers and icers don’t work, and fixing them, and reject anyone who is content with broken fryers and failing icers, as it seems, Cassandra, you are, for the sake of the traditional brand.
cassandra
January 14, 2023 at 5:51 pm
“Competition” was your word. And, private schools ARE businesses.
Some private schools are “better” than some public schools, but the opposite is also true. Private schools of the type being pushed by Moms for Liberty (M4L), for example, are inherently inferior as children are being taught to fear anyone who is not a straight, white, fundamentalist Christian male, and are denied books, health and reproductive education, diverse classmates, etc.
CHILDREN are the customers. They deserve to be educated and form their own opinions about themselves and their world, not have parents and unqualified administrators deliberately keeping them ignorant. Taxpayers should not be paying for such a limited education.
Many public schools do need improvements and more creative approaches, but tax money handouts to private schools is not the answer. To use the fast-food analogy: The CEO should get a regular kitchen timer while figuring out how to get the machine fixed rather than sending customers to, as you put it, the “competition” for inferior fries at the company’s own expense—-unless the CEO is intentionally trying to sabotage the business! Innovative solutions (some temporary) will make public schools more flexible and thereby able to serve ALL children in the community. (regarding community student diversity and needs.See Tj’s comment January 13, 2023 at 4:41 pm)
cassandra
January 15, 2023 at 9:39 am
I forgot to remind you that Republicans have been in control of Florida public education since Jeb! (1999). If you want better schools STOP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS!!
See you soon in FP comments!
Tjb
January 16, 2023 at 2:04 pm
Interesting how those supporting vouchers are the ones destroying our public schools.
Perhaps we should teach accountability in our schools… But I am sure the Republicans will ban it from the curriculum.
Charlotte Greenbarg
January 13, 2023 at 9:58 am
Interesting. Once parents get choices, they take control. People don’t move without thinking long and hard. PBC schools needs to do some deep cleaning.
cassandra
January 13, 2023 at 12:43 pm
A minority of Florida parents have fallen victim to outside agitators’ fearmongering. There’s no evidence that any of the parents have been “thinking long and hard”. Looks more like a fight or flight response. Quite a few FP commenters seem to have been tricked as well
Tj
January 13, 2023 at 4:41 pm
Will these private schools accept all students, especially those with learning disabilities? Will these private schools give low income families significant voucher income for their children? Will the state provide additional money to support all the children in our public school system facing the greatest education challenges? Will the private schools provide full transparency of their finances and curriculum to the public … they are using our money at the expense of public school funding.
Tjb
January 13, 2023 at 5:07 pm
Will these private schools accept all students, especially those with learning disabilities?
Will these private schools give low income families significant voucher income for their children? Will the state provide additional money to support all the children in our public school system facing the greatest education challenges? Will the private schools provide full transparency of their finances and curriculum to the public … they are using our money at the expense of public school funding
Abhishek
January 14, 2023 at 10:58 am
You may be quite curious to know why you should consider a boarding school in Bangalore. Well, please allow us to enlighten you on that. There are a lot of reasons that make Bangalore a perfect fit.
Ronald Crump
January 15, 2023 at 9:30 am
My fellow leftists thank you for your learned comments of great insight and wisdom. As we loose the Black vote and the Hispanic vote never panned out due to their illogical hatered of abortion the childern become our only hope of survival politically other than eliminating elections alltogether. Fact is our only reliable voter base are those which used to be refered to as sexually deviant. Your continued attempts to turn the childern away from the previous sexual norms are our only hope of survival if we cant eliminate elections. We have Disney and several corporate fellow traverlers on board to turn the kids away from the schools. But we need all school administrators and teachers on board too. Keep up the sexual pressure on those elementry age ones and we will rule this Nation. Its all about us and our political survival. Take no prisioners in this great fight for our very survival. Turn those kids.
App
January 17, 2023 at 8:34 am
not all private schools are “better” than public schools and that some private schools are inherently inferior in the way they teach children to fear anyone who is not a straight, white, fundamentalist Christian male, and in the way they deny children access to books, health and reproductive education, diverse classmates, etc.
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