Note: Today's roundup is longer than usual. It includes noteworthy Florida education news, blog and opinion pieces that appeared during our holiday break. Our Florida roundups are returning to their usual Monday-through-Friday schedule.
Lawsuits. A lawsuit challenging Florida school choice legislation is dismissed. Associated Press. Miami Herald. Education Week. News Service of Florida. Palm Beach Post. Capitol News Service. WFSU. Fort Myers News-Press. redefinED. The Tampa Tribune praises the outcome in an editorial. A separate lawsuit challenging the tax credit scholarship program threatens families' options, a USA Today guest column argues. The program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.
School choice. A Tampa Bay Times section on school choice highlights the growth of private and charter schools, the difficulty of getting a seat in some in-demand programs, increased offerings from the Pinellas County school district and expanded private scholarship programs. Duval schools draw attention to non-magnet choice programs. Florida Times-Union. Parents need timely school grades and other information to make the best school choices, the Sun-Sentinel argues in an editorial.
Common Core. States in the market for higher education standards are bound to find some overlap with the Common Core State Standards, the Fordham Institute's Michael Petrilli writes in the Tampa Bay Times.
Charter schools. Fewer Florida charter schools closed, and other indicators were positive even as scrutiny increased in 2014. Naples Daily News. Florida's well-known Charter Schools USA may take over as operator of schools in a troubled Pennsylvania district. York Daily Record. A planned Manatee charter pulls its application after the state appeals panel supports its rejection. Bradenton Herald.
Catholic schools. Catholic schools constitute the second-largest school system in Pinellas. Gradebook.
Virtual education. A new virtual learning center aims to provide an alternative to typical home education. St. Agustine Record.
Education politics. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush steps away from his education foundations, in what is seen as a step toward a possible presidential run. Washington Post. Education Week. A husband-wife duo includes a state representative and a school board member who support parental choice and want less bureaucratic regulation of schools. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
PLSAs. An article in National Affairs delves deep into the theory of action behind new parental choice scholarship account programs.
There are times when it’s appropriate for a journalist to boil down a story into a he-said, she-said. And there are times when it’s just lackluster reporting.
As Jon East has noted in this blog post and this op-ed, Florida’s Amendment 8 – the “religious freedom amendment” – is not about private school vouchers. It’s clear if you look at the legal history for private education options in Florida. It’s clear if you look to see who is and isn’t bankrolling the campaign.
And yet, one news story after another has allowed the Florida Education Association, the Florida School Boards Association and other school choice critics to posit that it is about vouchers – and to let those assertions go unchallenged. Often it’s in terms so deep into an alternate reality, they beg for a little scrutiny. According to the Gainesville Sun, for example, an Alachua County School Board member described Amendment 8 as “the very death of public schools.”
With six weeks left before the vote, statements like these are surfacing in major newspapers nearly every day. Here are a few examples, along with how the story captures the legislative intent of the amendment, the constitutional underpinnings of school vouchers, the lack of a campaign or financial support by school voucher advocates, the factual history of private options in a state that now provides them to more than 200,000 students, or just some form of a statement from those with an opposing view:
From the South Florida Sun Sentinel (Aug. 21):
“Amendment 8 would remove the long-standing restriction in the Florida Constitution that prohibits the expenditure of public funds to support religious programs," the resolution (from the Broward County School Board) reads. "Passage of Amendment 8 could result in state funds being awarded to non-public schools, instead of allocated to support public and charter schools.”
The resolution stops short of saying whether those would be good or bad outcomes, but it was obvious where board members stood.
"We have a limited amount of resources, and you would continue to strain the resources for public and charter schools," board member Robin Bartleman said.
Response from other side: None
Supporting evidence: None
***
From the Daytona Beach News Journal (Sept. 15):
The title and wording of the amendment were the subject of a lawsuit in which Ormond Beach school principal Susan Persis and Palm Coast rabbi Merrill Shapiro were plaintiffs.
They and other representatives of school-related organizations and clergy tried to get the amendment thrown off the ballot, but a judge allowed it to go before voters after Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi rewrote the proposal.
Persis said she fears passage of Amendment 8 would divert money from public schools to religious ones. "This would further reduce funding for public education," said Persis, who's principal of Pine Trail Elementary. "Any further reduction will be devastating to our schools." (more…)
