Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryOctober 20, 2017

A debate on traditional public schools vs. charter schools took front and center Friday at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club. For 68 minutes, a group of education leaders of various backgrounds discussed the issue at the Ferguson Law Center. Speaking out most prominently for charters was Doug Tuthill, the president of Step Up For Students, the nonprofit group […]

Guest AuthorOctober 18, 2017

Science, psychology, and innovative research have proven that children possess different learning abilities, skills and interests. To make the most of these unique ways of learning, students need educational options that meet their particular scholastic needs and broaden their interest in education. The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, administered by Step Up for Students, provides […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 18, 2017

The Florida Education Association (FEA) vented its “frustration” Wednesday after the Florida Supreme Court declined to take up a suit challenging the constitutionality of what’s been called “the nation’s largest private school choice program.” The court decided not to hear a challenge to the Tax Credit Scholarship Program, created in 2001, though – as one former judge noted – its […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 18, 2017

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will not take up an appeal on a high-profile school vouchers case. The decision comes as a major setback to vouchers opponents, including the Florida Education Association (FEA), the statewide teachers’ union, but was applauded by school choice advocates. (Separate story on the FEA’s reaction here.) The court denied a request […]

Julie DelegalMay 1, 2016

John Kirtley is at it again. The Tampa businessman who created Florida’s voucher school program is out spinning again for school “choice.” According to the Tampa Tribune, he told a group gathered at the Florida State University Alumni Center that the lawsuit challenging the voucher program’s constitutionality could undo all the good that he says […]

Julie DelegalJanuary 12, 2015

“Can’t we all just get along?” The immortal words of police brutality survivor Rodney King might make for great TV, but they’re a lousy statement on education policy. And yet, those words nearly jumped off the page as I read Trey Csar’s recent apologia for public school privatization. Csar is president of the Jacksonville Public […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 6, 2015

Several days before the White House announced the U.S. would be normalizing relations with Cuba, a high school sophomore from Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood gave a speech that wowed a bipartisan group of state legislators and education advocates at a conference sponsored by the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO). In his speech, […]

Daniel TilsonMay 13, 2014

Maybe if public policy deception were a crime, I wouldn’t have had to write this column. But there’s no law against disingenuous propaganda. So I had to write this. I had to push back against powerful vested interests advancing a dangerous social agenda while claiming it’s a public service. Vested interests like these pay “public […]

Julie DelegalMay 5, 2014

It looks like my columns questioning the efficacy of school privatization in Florida have hit a nerve. Again. Voters might remember that I’ve long opposed voucher schools because, among other reasons, they don’t administer the same high-stakes tests to their students that public schools do. Without equal accountability, parents of mostly low-income children who now […]

Guest AuthorMarch 23, 2014

Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, explained away the withdrawal of his Senate version of voucher expansion with “there just wasn’t enough time to develop accountability provisions that everybody could agree on.” Sure. Galvano had no such qualms in voting through SB 1642, a bill that confirms Florida’s continuing accountability apparatus earlier this month. And maybe he […]

Tag: Step Up for Students
Capybara Cafe. Image via AP.

Tampa Tiger Bay Club debates charter schools

Robert McClure: Support the Tax Credit Scholarship to protect Florida’s families

Teachers’ union: “Who can challenge the Legislature on voucher program?”

Supreme Court throws out school vouchers case

Julie Delegal: Charity donations, not taxes, should pay for private-school vouchers

Julie Delegal: Lousy education policy blurs line between public, private

William Mattox: Embattled school in Little Havana fears déjà vu all over again

Daniel Tilson: Progressives are not falling for “parental choice” con game

Julie Delegal: Let’s determine if Bush-brand education reforms are working

Bob Sikes: Why voucher expansion really died in the Florida Senate