The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the Florida “Brighter Choice” scholarship program, whose criteria were changed in a way that has a disparate impact on black and Hispanic students.

The Miami Herald reports:

“Since the program’s inception, an outsized share of more than $4 billion in scholarships has gone to white or affluent families, at least some of whom were wealthy enough to afford college without any help. In recent years, state lawmakers — concerned about rising costs of the program — changed the standards to make the scholarships even harder to get, raising the minimum SAT and ACT test scores to levels critics charge will only further exclude poor and minority students….

“Similar allegations resurfaced in a public way last spring after a University of South Florida analysis predicted that the new Bright Futures standards would benefit far fewer students — the total number of college freshmen getting scholarships at state universities would drop by about half, from 30,954 to 15,711. The analysis predicted Hispanic students would see a 60 percent drop in scholarships, and black scholarship recipients would plummet by more than 75 percent.

“Of all large counties, Miami-Dade takes the biggest hit from the new criteria. Yet the Legislature’s Florida Hispanic Legislative Caucus, dominated by Republicans from Miami-Dade, has generally supported the revisions.

“At Florida International University, where about three-quarters of students are black or Hispanic, the percentage of incoming freshman qualifying for Bright Futures was once as high as 81 percent. This coming fall, under the new minimum SAT score of 1170, FIU expects only about 14 percent of freshmen to qualify.

“Luisa Havens, FIU’s vice president for enrollment, called it “silly and counterproductive” for the state to place financial obstacles in front of students who want to go to college. The Bright Futures cutbacks are happening at the same time Florida leaders publicly say they want to boost the number of residents with college degrees and make college more affordable.

“Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the harm being inflicted on minority students is “shameful.”…..

“The most significant impact is the poor and minority high school students who, just a couple of years ago, would have had a far greater opportunity of entering college,” he said. “Now, it’s undermined.”

“Bright Futures is funded by the Florida Lottery, which while immensely profitable couldn’t keep up with the growth of the program during the last decade. In 1997, Bright Futures’ first year, the lottery funded $75 million in the scholarships. By 2008, that amount had exploded to $435 million.

“When the costs became too great, the state slashed the value of the scholarships and then cut funding and reduced the number of awards by hiking standards. This year, the Florida Department of Education budget calls for $271 million in Bright Futures funds, reflecting cuts of $38 million and 18,000 scholarships from last year.

“Critics point out an irony in the cuts and changes: Although the lottery is most heavily played by minorities and the poor, they are less likely to benefit from the scholarship program.

“Some who want the program reformed argue a better way to screen applicants is with a “sliding scale” that combines GPA and test scores. In that system, a student with test scores slightly below the cutoff would still qualify if their GPA was very strong.

“Both college administrators and the College Board acknowledge that it is high school performance, and not standardized test scores, that is the best predictor of college success.

“But instead of changing Bright Futures’ minimum 3.0 GPA, Florida lawmakers chose to significantly raise qualifying test marks — from a minimum of 970 three years ago to 1170 now on the SAT. The average Florida combined SAT score was about 982 last year.

“Legislative leaders also have dismissed including a means test that could reduce or restrict scholarships to students from the wealthiest families….

“But in Florida education circles, testing has become the preferred method of evaluating public schools, teachers, and — in the case of Bright Futures — scholarship applicants. Schaeffer said Miami-Dade’s Hispanic Republican lawmakers are wedded to the test philosophy, even in an instance when their constituents suffer the most.

“They are Jeb Bush Republicans,” Schaeffer said. “Jeb Bush is one of the strongest believers nationally in the role of test scores in defining education quality. To come out otherwise would be an insult to their mentor.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/22/4010170/feds-investigate-floridas-bright.html#storylink=cpy