Florida’s school choice czar is leaving to help guide education policy in Georgia.

Mike Kooi

Mike Kooi, who is executive director of the state Department of Education’s Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, has overseen for the past five years what is arguably the largest educational choice offering in the nation.

In his new role, he will serve as Division Director For Education in the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and, in effect, as a direct education policy adviser to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal – a governor who has shown interest in expanding options himself.

The departure was announced at the Florida Board of Education meeting in Tampa today, and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett was quick to note Kooi’s role in the growth of choice options. “Mike has done marvelous work here in Florida as Florida has become a leader in choice,’’ Bennett said.

During Kooi’s tenure, he oversaw the growth of charter schools with student enrollment nearly doubling from 117,040 in 2008 to 203,199 today. In a report released earlier this year, DOE determined that 1.5 million PreK-12 students in 2011-12 attended something other than their assigned neighborhood school. That’s roughly 43 percent of all students.

“It’s an opportunity to work on a wider array of educational policy,” Kooi said, “and to hopefully provide some experience and guidance in terms of education reform policies that we have gone through are going through in Florida. Georgia is a unique state, but they are also doing some of the thing we are doing.”

Before moving to the Department of Education, Kooi was a longtime school choice advocate and former executive director for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools. He also worked for the Florida House of Representatives as staff director and policy chief for the Schools and Learning Council.

A Department of Education biography described Kooi as being instrumental in legislative policy. He previously served as a former commercial litigator in Jacksonville, as assistant general counsel with the education department and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

“Mike has served the department incredibly well,’’ Bennett said, “and he has served the state of Florida very, very well for many years.’’

Editor's note: Georgia's Tuition Tax Credit Scholarship program has suffered from gaps in its law that have led to legitimate questions about transparency. We invited Derek Monjure, executive director of the Arete Scholars Fund, to provide his take on the bill that passed the Georgia Legislature last week. Arete has provided 2,300 scholarships to 1,100 low-income students in less than three years. It also has established a reputation for operational transparency and safeguards that have exceeded requirements in the law.

Monjure

Georgia took a giant step forward last week on educational freedom. After two years of persistence from school choice supporters, and with input from critics, the 2013 Georgia Legislature responded decisively to improve and grow a tuition tax credit program that already serves more than 11,000 Georgia children.

Our state's political leaders should be commended for their efforts. By passing House Bill 283 with bipartisan support, legislators continued to shift the focus away from education delivery methods to the best interests of children - further enabling parents to choose the learning environment that best fits their own kids. Changes to the law will help ensure that students and families who have the fewest educational choices are not forgotten.

Unlike similar programs in 11 other states, the Georgia tax credit scholarship program has been frequently questioned by opponents of choice for its ambiguities and lack of transparency. House Bill 283 clarifies the law and moves Georgia wisely forward on parental choice. The bill requires public school attendance for scholarship recipients. Exceptions are granted for students assigned to failing public schools and subjugated to bullying. The law further eliminates  quid-pro-quo giving. HB 283 increases the amount of donations that must be used for scholarships, raises the annual cap on tax credits to $58 million, and requires student scholarship organizations to report the household income and composition of their scholarship recipients.

For the first time, both program supporters and opponents alike will have a clearer view of how tax credit dollars are spent. (more…)