Spurred on by Governor Ron DeSantis, Jeb Bush, and Betsy DeVos, the Florida Senate endorsed a fifth private voucher program.
“The bill would create a new Family Empowerment Scholarship — the state’s fifth voucher program — that could help up to 18,000 students pay private school tuition with state-backed scholarships. The program would target youngsters from low-income families but could be open to more middle class ones, too, with an income limit of nearly $80,000 for a family of four….
“Every parent knows what’s best for their individual child, and at no point should we turn over that responsibility to the government,” said Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, one of the bill’s sponsors.”
The new program would be funded with money taken from the state education budget, up to $130 million. Other vouchers programs are “tax credits” given to corporations or individuals. Because this money comes right out of the state budget, it might be subject to legal challenge since it directly violates the state constitution’s prohibition on public money for religious schools.
Republicans are betting that the state courts will ignore the state constitution and the 2012 referendum that went against Jeb Bush’s effort to change that provision of the state constitution.
More than 80% of students using vouchers attend religious schools. Voucher schools “do not have to give students state tests nor meet state standards when it comes to academics, teacher credentials or facilities.”
Florida Republicans continue their assault on public schools.
Florida is no model for the nation.
On the NAEP, Florida ranks at the national average in 8th grade reading and math. It has large achievement gaps between black and white students. Ignore Florida’s fourth grade scores; they are tainted by the state policy of retaining third grade students who don’t pass the state reading test.
I don’t know whether voucher students are included in NAEP’s sample. The State makes sure they are not included on state tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ed reformers are voucher-crazed. This follows a decade of the charter craze.
I wonder when they’ll get around to doing anything for public schools, students and families?
Not this year, that’s for sure. Public school students got pushed to the back of the agenda again. No one works on their behalf. It’s shame. Their parents should think about hiring some public employees in government who intend to do some work for public school students. They’re really getting a raw deal.
Come spend your voucher at Billy Bob’s Real Good School. Learn history (“Six thousand years ago, when the world was created, there were only two people.”), science (“Cain and Abel rode around on dinosaurs”), civics (“Those Honduran toddlers are stealing your jobs”), English (“English is the official language of the United States of America”), and sex education (“Obama put chemicals in the water to turn high-school kids transgender”).
The future of education in Florida.
““Every parent knows what’s best for their individual child, and at no point should we turn over that responsibility to the government.”
I find it hard to believe that every parent knows best. What about the parents of all the children that wind up in CPS. The very fact that most parents are not that well informed on education issues is why the state is supposed to provide “a thorough and efficient education.” The state should be providing an adequate education for all students, even if the parents are remiss or unable to provide children with a good home. All these charters and vouchers are undermining the state’s ability to do its job as money is being moved into private entities. Too many government representatives have lost their minds, or their conscience.
The looting only gets worse. The 20 Dem candidates for Pres. must be pushed to articulate robust education policies to reverse the decimation of public k-12. I go tomorrow to a Bernie 2020 mtg nearby to raise that issue.
Looting is precisely the right term. And thank you, Ira, for your activism!
We need to “name” it …. LOOTING.
I know an almost 84-year-old woman who hates kids and teachers, has been fired from jobs, and banned from certain restaurants. This person is a “grader” (temporary worker) for Pearson. She doesn’t give a rat’s behind about kids and teachers.
So sick.
She’s single and never been married and uses people. Can’t make this stuff up.
And as she states repeatedly, “I never want to grow up.” Huh?
People like this have power over our students and teachers? This is so wrong.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has on its website an interactive map detailing charter and voucher laws in various states. It’s available here: http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/interactive-guide-to-school-choice.aspx#/
Another map of these “school choice programs” is available here: https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/school-choice-in-america/
“The new voucher program was proposed because donations to the tax credit program have slowed, leaving about 14,000 students on its waiting list this school year, officials said.”
So voucher lobbyists told the public that the money for vouchers would come from donations, and when they didn’t happen, they took the money out of public education funds.
Bait and switch.
They flim-flammed the public.
I love the lawmakers proclaiming their undying love for public schools.
Ask them what they have done for public schools this session. Nothing.
It isn’t that ed reformers push vouchers and charters constantly – although they do- it’s also that they do absolutely nothing on behalf of public school students. They return no value to the vast majority of students and families.
“Every parent knows what’s best for their individual child, and at no point should we turn over that responsibility to the government,” said Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, one of the bill’s sponsors.”
Sen Diaz is a corrupt idiot because every parent DOES NOT know what is best for their individual child. But we shouldn’t be surprised. This lie has been told so many times that many easy to fool people think it is the truth.
That’s why the public school are not run by the government or by profit-driven corporations that do not care with the parents think or want.
Public schools are divided up into 13,506 school districts spread out over 50 states and some territories that are part of the US global empire like Puerto Rico.
Most of those districts that haven’t been taken over by a state government and/or corporations are managed by locally elected school boards that hold public meetings mostly once a month. According to state law, public school districts must operate transparently and not keep secrets regarding how public money is spent.
Each state has its own education codes that were enacted by elected state legislatures. The elected school boards have a responsibility to see that that ed code laws are upheld and not neglected. Most of those laws came about because it was determined that children needed to be protected from abuse. That does not apply to legislation introduced by the elected puppet minions that really work for ALEC and not the people/parents.
Elected school boards hire each districts administration and have the power to overrule and/or fire administrators that don’t do an adequate job managing each public school district.
Elected school board answer to the voters and/or the parents that are involved in the education of their child, but no all parents are involved.
There are four recognized parenting styles:
For a fact, uninvolved parents are always going to take the easy way out and turn their children over to someone else to raise.
In addition, many parents have no idea what’s the best way for their children to learn while attending K-12 education and they rely on the experts, the profession teachers to do their job.
That is what the parents in Finland do and it has worked great.
This study by PEW shows a wide variety of views parents hold and that does not translate to parents know what’s best for their children especially when it comes to K-12 schooling.
“A narrow majority of parents (54%) say parents can never be too involved in their children’s education. But about four-in-ten (43%) say too much parental involvement in a child’s education can be a bad thing, a view that is particularly common among parents with more education and higher incomes. For example, while majorities of parents with a post-graduate (65%) or a bachelor’s (57%) degree say too much involvement could have negative consequences, just 38% of those with some college and 28% with no college experience say the same.”
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/parenting-in-america/
State Senator Diaz is an idiot. Some parents earnestly believe that their children should not be vaccinated against infectious diseases like measles, mumps, chickenpox. They put their children and everyone else in danger.
Some parents beat their children to death, like the parents of 5-year-old A.J., whose body was found in a shallow grave in Illinois. https://news.yahoo.com/parents-reported-5-old-son-103741642.html
Or the California parents of 13 children who tortured and abused them.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-parents-of-13-plead-guilty-to-torture-abuse
They did not know what was “best” for their children.
I wonder if Idiot Dias was elected with help from Jeb Bush, ALEC and the Walton family. It seems that they are helping a lot of idiots to win elections.
Anyone who runs for state legislature should be required to take the high school graduation tests and pass them and the civics tests that new citizens are required to pass. If they can’t pass, they should not be allowed to serve.
I think that is letting them off too easy. Let’s add several more elements to that test.
Imagine having STANDARDS for holding political office…
Too many fools are elected. Either the power of propaganda or a very bad reflection on the electorate, who vote against their self-interest in living in a decent society.
“The candidate who spends the most money usually wins
“How strong is the association between campaign spending and political success?
“For House seats, more than 90 percent of candidates who spend the most win.
“From 2000 through 2016, there was only one election cycle where that wasn’t true: 2010.
‘In that election, 86 percent of the top spenders won,’ said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that tracks campaign fundraising and spending.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/money-and-elections-a-complicated-love-story/
The autocratic oligarch billionaires like Koch and Walton know this and that is why they are spending so much money to elect idiots that are loyal to them and not the U.S. Constitution and what it stands for.