Scott Kent

Scott Kent manages strategic communication for Step Up For Students. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he spent 30 years in newspapers, the last 25 as an editorial writer and opinion page editor in Georgia and Florida. Additionally, he was opinion page editor at the Daytona Beach News-Journal. He can be reached at skent@sufs.org or (727) 451-9832. Follow him on Twitter at @ScottKent66 and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/redefinedonline.

06/01/21 | Scott Kent

Vouchers for me, but not for thee

As the newspaper industry continues to shrink, the Poynter Institute, which is to establishment journalism what The Vatican is to Catholicism, recently published on its blog a column urging Congress...

05/05/21 | Scott Kent

Sinking a stake in ‘vampire’ myths about education choice

For centuries, the vampire has haunted folklore across cultures. Because these bloodsuckers “become what we fear most at any given time,” it’s not surprising that opponents of education choice see...

04/08/21 | Scott Kent

Commentary: Let’s start trusting families to make the right choices for their children’s education

Editor’s note: You can read how three choice scholarship families plan to use their federal stimulus checks to supplement their children’s education here. Congress recently passed a $1.9 trillion COVID...

08/04/20 | Scott Kent

New Pasco County charter school: ‘We have a plan and teachers who are ready to go to work’

The COVID-19 pandemic has tossed K-12 education into a sea of uncertainty, forcing parents navigating waves of anxiety to search for a safe harbor for their children. Innovation Preparatory Academy,...

06/10/20 | Scott Kent

How remembering the past could educate us in the future

Never again. It’s the vow from Holocaust survivors not to allow the world to forget their past, lest genocide be repeated in the future. Today, an innovative, high-tech method of...

05/13/20 | Scott Kent

Florida Virtual School likely to be ‘new normal’ in Sunshine State and beyond

When she was a junior in high school, Maya Washburn spent six weeks of her fall semester backpacking around Europe with her mother. From England to Sweden, Norway to Slovakia,...

04/15/20 | Scott Kent

Students with intellectual, developmental differences continue to thrive at Jacksonville private school

Like most schools that were shuttered by the COVID-19 virus, North Florida School of Special Education in Jacksonville had to sprint to set up a distance learning program for students...

03/20/20 | Scott Kent

How Covid-19 could fuel school choice

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Well, not literally. (We hope.) But when American society comes out the other end of the Covid-19 crisis, it almost...

12/26/19 | Scott Kent

archivED: First Hope Scholarship brings peace to fifth-grader

Editor’s note: During this holiday season, redefinED is republishing our best articles of 2019 – those features and commentaries that deserve a second look. This student spotlight from Step Up...

11/01/19 | Scott Kent

fact-checkED: Family Empowerment Scholarship not ‘a hit to public schools’

Editor’s note: This post is another in our fact-checking series, one that focuses solely within the arena of educational choice. The goal of fact-checkED is to bring clinical precision to...

10/29/19 | Scott Kent

Education choice a top priority for Legislative Black Caucus

When Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus unveiled its priorities for the 2020 session at a media conference Tuesday in the Capitol, it was unsurprising that PreK-12 education was among the first...

10/22/19 | Scott Kent

Misplaced nostalgia for public education

Conservatives have been accused of wanting to take the nation back to an idealized version of a homogenized America, such as the ones portrayed in the squeaky-clean 1950s sitcoms “The...

10/04/19 | Scott Kent

School leaders to their communities: Are we communicating yet?

When it comes to connecting with the parents and communities they serve, many school leaders sound like Strother Martin in the movie “Cool Hand Luke”: “What we’ve got here is...

09/13/19 | Scott Kent

A roadmap for the future of education in Florida

Two decades ago, Florida planted the seeds of ambitious education reform that have proved fruitful. The Sunshine State has seen significant improvements in academic achievement and graduation rates – Education...

06/25/19 | Scott Kent

Accountability comes in different forms

Editor’s note: One of the most pervasive of all education choice myths is the one that claims schools that accept scholarships are not held accountable to the public for their...

06/19/19 | Scott Kent

Debunking the ‘no accountability’ myth

Editor’s note: Misinformation abounds across the education choice landscape, adding confusion to an already complex issue. The redefinED team is dedicated to shining a light and providing the facts. Today’s...

02/01/19 | Scott Kent

The human face of education

If you could illustrate media coverage of education choice, it would resemble a bird’s-eye view of a vast industrial complex: machinery greased by politics, walls whose mortar is money, and...

01/14/19 | Scott Kent

First Hope Scholarship brings peace to fifth-grader

LAKE PLACID, Florida — Jordyn Simmons-Outland is a fifth-grader who was in need of a lifeline. The 10-year-old has a sweet demeanor and a love for the online video game...

01/04/19 | Scott Kent

Wishing for more strange bedfellows in educational choice

Editor’s Note: This is the tenth and final of a series of posts where various members of the education choice world share an #edchoice wish. For yesterday’s post, CLICK HERE. My wish this holiday...

11/29/18 | Scott Kent

Gap persists on charter funding

Charter schools have become a popular choice for families seeking alternative ways to educate their children. In 2017-18, more than 7,000 charter schools in the United States enrolled nearly 3.2...