Editor’s note: The definition of public education is changing, as more than 1.5 million Florida students choose options beyond their zoned school.
Last month, John Kirtley, the founder and chairman of Step Up For Students, discussed this shift during a Catholic Foundation celebration hosted by the Diocese of St. Petersburg. He was calling on church supporters to help fight a lawsuit challenging Florida’s tax credit scholarship program (Step Up administers the scholarships, and also hosts this blog).
But Kirtley’s remarks highlighted the ways school districts — particularly the large urban school systems of Miami-Dade and Hillsborough — have embraced the new definition. What follows is an excerpt, lightly edited for clarity and length. A video of the full speech is embedded below.
Think of the diversity in this state. Think of the diversity in Miami-Dade county.
Did you know that there are over 100 languages spoken in the Miami-Dade public schools?
In addition to ethnic diversity, if you drive from Coral Gables to Overtown, you will see the incredible economic diversity and disparity.
With that incredible amount of diversity, is a one-size-fits-all system going to produce excellence for every single child?
Probably not.
Fortunately, we are moving towards a new definition of public education in this state. Is public education just a closed system of buildings and employees? Or can we have new definition, which is this: Raise taxpayer dollars and then have parents direct those dollars to different providers, and even different delivery methods, that best fit their individual students’ needs.
Fortunately, we have enlightened districts, and enlightened people who run them in our state. They are moving towards this new definition.
In Hillsborough, we have things called magnet schools. A magnet school is simply a school of choice, run by the district, with a unique curriculum or environment. You’ve probably heard of the fantastic performing arts magnet we have at Blake [High School]. We have an amazing computer science magnet at Middleton [High School].
[Florida students also enroll in public charter schools, take college courses through dual enrollment, complete classes online through Florida Virtual School, attend public schools outside their neighborhood zones using open enrollment, and enroll in private schools using tax credit and McKay Scholarships. Some students mix and match different options at the same time.]
Right now, in Florida, over one-third of the children in K-12, funded by the taxpayers, do not attend their zoned public school. In Dade County, that number is over 50 percent.
We should applaud districts. I applaud the management of our district for offering these options. I applaud them for moving away from uniformity.
