Politico reports on Florida’s latest nutty plan: CHOICE! What exactly does choice do to improve education? Well, we can be like Chile, where students rioted to demand an end to privatization.

 

Politico reports:

 

 

FLORIDA’S SCHOOL CHOICE LANDSCAPE EXPANDS, BIG TIME: Starting with the 2017-18 academic year, Florida’s public school students will be able to attend any school in the state with available space. The bill [ http://bit.ly/1pfi61d%5D, signed into law by Republican Gov. Rick Scott last week, will also subject charter schools to greater accountability and funding regulations and grant high school athletes immediate eligibility when they change schools.

 

– The new law brings the Sunshine State close to having what’s offered in Arizona, where students have been able to attend schools outside their neighborhoods since 1994. [http://bit.ly/1LO2SaW ] Arizona also has charter schools, tax credit vouchers and a program that enables parents to spend much of what a local school district might have allocated for their child for towards private school tuition, tutoring or even to save for college. Florida has offered vouchers, allowed charter schools and let students transfer within districts for years.

 

– Florida hasn’t projected how popular its new program will be. But it has limitations Arizona’s program doesn’t. For example, Florida’s school choice program gives preferential enrollment to certain students, including the children of active military personnel, students who have had to move because of foster care placements and those already living in the district. It also allows parents to request a transfer for their child to another classroom or even an out-of-field teacher, if available. Florida’s policy also mandates that districts post plans about how they’ll implement this program, which must include a lottery system for student assignments and must also give preference to students in multiple-session schools – all while maintaining “socioeconomic, demographic and racial balance.” The law also requires fiscal transparency and providing parents with a financial report noting the average amount spent per student. And Florida schools must adhere to a constitutional amendment that limits class size, noted Jaryn Emhof of the Foundation of Excellence in Education.”

 

Ha! Just what students need: turmoil, instability, change for its own sake.

 

 

This is the link: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=91ceb5b4df0c06578319919cff0f29c828da9484177f83f3cca0919b1f5564a7

 

If you go there, you can also read about Delaware Governor Jack Merkel’s defense of the Common Core standards. He is rumored to be on Hillary’s shortlist for Secretary of Education.