ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ron Matus
Ron Matus is director of Research & Special Projects at Step Up for Students and a former editor of redefinED. He joined Step Up in February 2012 after 20 years in journalism, including eight years as an education reporter with the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times).
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My background story
I’ve been watching Florida’s education landscape for 20 years. If the changes were distilled into a Florida Man meme, the meme might say, “Holy smokes! Florida Man got something right!” I left a career in journalism after my own evolution on school choice made me realize how fundamental it is to a fair, high-functioning education system. Florida’s system, once a national joke, is showing the rest of America what’s possible. How amazing it is to be here at this moment in history. When it comes to learning options, there are 1,000 flowers in bloom – and thousands of people, from all walks of life and all points on the political spectrum, worked together to make it happen. How gratifying to be part of such a diverse, dynamic movement – and to help tell its story.
What I did before joining Step Up For Students
I was a newspaper reporter my entire adult life; my first story was published when I was 18. I worked in Tallahassee, Fla., Thomasville, Ga., Albany, Ga., and Panama City, Fla., before becoming the environmental reporter at the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun in 1997. I joined the Tampa Bay Times, the state’s biggest and most influential newspaper, in 2002, and I was the TBT’s state education reporter from 2004 to 2012. It feels like bragging to mention it, but I won more than 20 reporting awards, including three from the Education Writers Association, and I was nominated for two Pulitzers.
What do I do on my day off?
I study Florida. I’m slogging my way, one course at a time, through a master’s degree Program in Florida Studies at the University of South Florida. I got halfway through a similar program in the 1990s before I was derailed by delusions of being a rock star. My academic focus is on Rosenwald schools, segregation-era schools that flourished throughout the South for a half century before integration and still hold ironic lessons for public education today.
How to reach out?
Reach me at [email protected].
06/25/24 | Ron Matus
Special report: A taste of a la carte learning
One of the best education stories in America is the shift from school choice to education choice. The best place to see it is an hour north of Miami. Humming,...
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06/17/24 | Ron Matus
‘Excellence personified’: The school where 3-year-olds learn to read
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Benjamin Crump, one of the most prominent lawyers in America, aka “Black America’s attorney general,” obviously could send his daughter to any school he wanted. So, it...
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06/01/24 | Ron Matus
A Taste of À La Carte Learning: EYE OF A SCIENTIST
Florida has long had a critical shortage of public school science teachers. But growing numbers of students in South Florida’s booming alternative education networks are learning science from a...
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06/01/24 | Ron Matus
A Taste of À La Carte Learning: THE LIVING SCHOOL
Joelle Smith’s school-on-wheels is literally a dream come true. In 2022, Smith had a dream so vivid it woke her at 4 a.m. It built on a vision she...
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06/01/24 | Ron Matus
A Taste of À La Carte Learning: PROJECT FLOURISH
These middle school students at the Colossal Academy micro-school had a blast making zucchini boats under the guidance of Alicia Garcia, a former chef who now leads a unique...
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06/01/24 | Ron Matus
A Taste of À La Carte Learning: SURF SKATE SCIENCE
In 1977, a 15-year-old skateboarder in South Florida named Alan Gelfand invented a revolutionary move called “the ollie.” The ollie has been called the “cornerstone of modern skateboarding” because...
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06/01/24 | Ron Matus
À Taste of À La Carte Learning: SALTWATER STUDIES
So how’s this for a science classroom? These students are snorkeling on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in a place called Jupiter Inlet. They’re enrolled in an à...
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05/28/24 | Ron Matus
This former public school teacher created her own school. Now she’s ‘100 percent free.’
JUPITER, Fla. — When you start your own school, you make the rules. You can even bring your dog. The Andersen Academy serves 16 middle school students, nearly all...
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01/25/24 | Ron Matus
Blazing Stars, blazing trails
DADE CITY, Fla. – LaTania Scott and Kameeka Shirley were former public school teachers who wanted something different when they opened their own school in January 2023. Something … authentically...
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10/23/23 | Ron Matus
A sweet example of education unbundling
MOORE HAVEN, Fla. – Education choice enthusiasts talk a lot about ESAs and part-time enrollment and “unbundling.” They are some of the keys to the future of public education. Millions...
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10/16/23 | Ron Matus
A school in the woods where the sky’s the limit
SEBRING, Fla. – See that sweet building built around that cluster of moss- and fern-draped oaks? In Florida, we call that a school cafeteria. On the day I visited The...
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10/02/23 | Ron Matus
The school these parents wanted didn’t exist, so with school choice, they created it
Florida is a hotbed for classical education. It’s home to at least 15 classical charter schools and dozens of classical private schools, including many that are classical Christian schools. Those...
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03/13/23 | Ron Matus
Video: With rural school choice, a pearl of a school
Editor’s note: This is the third video in our series on school choice in rural areas. You can check out the first two here and here. And you can see...
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01/05/23 | Ron Matus
South Florida’s education renaissance is about more than schools
MIRAMAR, Fla. – Broward County isn’t one of the locales featured in “The Geography of Genius: Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Places.” But if author Eric Weiner is game...
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12/23/22 | Ron Matus
Best of 2022: School choice in Florida’s most rural county
Editor’s note: In keeping with our year-end tradition, the team at reimaginED reviewed our work over the past 12 months to find stories and commentaries that represent our best content...
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12/08/22 | Ron Matus
Video: School choice at work in rural America
Editor’s note: This video spotlights another rural private school that caters to school choice students and is changing lives and communities for the better. To learn more about how...
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12/06/22 | Ron Matus
School choice in Florida’s oyster country
Editor’s note: This distinctive high school in the Florida Panhandle is another compelling example of how education choice manifests in rural areas, contrary to myths perpetuated by choice opponents in...
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