School choice is rapidly becoming the norm in Florida. How are public-school leaders responding?
Recently the leaders of two of the state's largest school districts — both of which are also among the ten largest school systems in the nation — answered that question in different venues.
We offer partial transcripts of their comments below, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Runcie
Last month, Broward County Public Schools superintendent Robert Runcie spoke before a pow-wow between district and charter school officials from around the state. Runcie, who has pushed to give traditional public schools some of the same autonomy enjoyed by charters, said education leaders need to "think differently, to be innovative, and to offer our kids the best education possible."
I was reading an article the other day that came out in Harvard Magazine. It was ... a compelling piece that talked about the history of school reform in this country, and why we have charter schools, and what the purpose is. And so I'll read a little bit of that for you.
With districts beset by collective-bargaining agreements ... organized special interests, and state requirements, choice and competition remain the main levers of reform. ... Charter schools are growing in number, improving in quality, and beginning to pose genuine competition to public schools ... Introducing such competition is the best hope for American schools, because today’s public schools show little capacity to improve on their own.
The reason I read that is that it's not about whether we have traditional public schools or charter schools.
But having the climate where we're all being pushed through some degree of competition is actually a healthy thing. It's a good thing, and it makes all of our public schools better. That's why we're all here.
Also last month, Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins appeared on an education-focused edition of "Florida This Week" on a Tampa Bay-area PBS affiliate. Here's what he said when host Rob Lorei asked him about the proliferation of school choice in Florida. 
Eakins: We have to value great choices for our parents. It starts with student needs. Parents want the very best for their child.
As a public-school system, we have to make sure we have all the offerings available — whatever the needs might be for that particular child. But we also know that there are particular situations. There are curricula, opportunities across this community, that parents can avail themselves of, whether it's private school, charter schools, virtual schools. You have so many options in 2016 that you didn't have 25 years ago. And I remind my staff about that every single day. That's why we have to be up on our game, every day, to deliver in our classrooms for our kids.
Lorei: Because now you're competing against these other options.
Eakins: Absolutely.
Lorie: But what do you think? ... School vouchers ... have they hurt the public-school system?
I don't know that they've hurt the public-school system. [He then clarified the focus was on Florida's tax credit scholarship program].
Once again, we have to look inward. We have to say, if we have students, and we have families that are looking and saying 'I don't think my student's needs are being met,' well then, what do we need to do to up our game within our public-school system to offer options, programs, make sure their needs are being met? I look at it as a challenge within our school system. I think our staff sees that as a challenge.
We know that there's legislation and laws that govern all of that, so we have to abide by those particular guidelines.
We also have to have strong monitoring over all of our charter schools, because as a [school] board we have to approve those in Hillsborough County. Therefore, we have to have a system of monitoring to hold everyone accountable for doing, with their students, in their schools, what they say in their application. And when things arise ... we have to hold those particular entities accountable.
