The article talks about Scott's education team. You should only one member of the team is a teacher and he teaches at a virtual school. Furthermore Jeb Bush's Heritage Foundation talks about all the progress Florida has made but at the same time seeks to help dismantle our public schools. -cpg
By Catherine Whittenburg of the Tampa Tribune
TALLAHASSEE - Should Florida offer to pay for any public school student to attend a private one instead?
That's just one of the policy debates brewing in Tallahassee about Florida's K-12 education system, which Gov.-elect Rick Scott appears ready to turn on its head.
From the moment he is sworn in Tuesday, Florida's new "Let's Get to Work" governor will be under pressure to create jobs and invigorate the economy. But those aren't Scott's only priorities. The governor-elect is also talking up education reforms, some of which borrow substantially from his predecessor-before-last, Jeb Bush.
Bush aggressively pursued conservative reforms of Florida's school system, partly by creating private school tuition "vouchers" for children in various categories of need.
Last month, Scott signaled his desire to take school choice in Florida to the next level, possibly by making vouchers available to all students. At a school vouchers rally in St. Petersburg, he called the upcoming legislative session an opportunity to "give every child in the state every opportunity that you've had -- to make sure you go to whatever school you want to."
Scott's team of education advisers then released its recommendations, including one for a voucher-like program called "educational savings accounts." Such a program would offer every public school student in Florida a private school tuition subsidy, equal to 85 percent of the amount that Florida would spend to educate him or her in the public system.
The remaining 15 percent, according to the report, would represent direct savings to the state. Families could also spend their subsidies on options like private tutoring, private virtual schooling or college savings plans.
It's an idea promoted by Patricia Levesque, Bush's former deputy chief of staff who now directs his Foundation for Florida's Future, the advocacy organization that Bush formed to continue pressing his brand of education reform. Levesque is also head of Scott's K-12 education advisory group.
Jean Clements, president of the teachers union in Hillsborough County, said she hopes statewide educational savings accounts are "an idea that dies on the vine."
"Even the conservative leaders in the House and Senate, who have been big proponents of vouchers for a long time, have the ability, the experience and the insight to see what a flawed concept that would be," she said. "It leaves public schools still having to provide all of the services required by law … but they would be operating on a ghost budget from year to year. How would they provide those services? It would create great instability from year to year."
The notion of vouchers-for-all "contradicts what the message has been from voucher supporters over the last few years," said Democratic Rep. Martin Kiar of Davie, who sits on two House education committees.
Florida's existing voucher programs have enjoyed bipartisan support because they were created to help students with specific needs, he said.
"Providing a voucher to every child doesn't make much sense. You could have a child coming from a well-off family who could afford to send them to a private school; they could be surrounded by 'A' schools, yet they will have the opportunity to get a voucher from the state."
On a practical level, he said, "I don't know how it could be implemented, or how the state could afford it. It would, I believe, potentially close up to half of our public schools."
State Rep. Will Weatherford, who sponsored legislation in 2010 that expanded an existing voucher program for low-income children, said that's just scare talk from voucher opponents.
"I don't see how empowering a parent could be damaging to any education system. People need to stop talking about the education 'system' and start talking about students."
Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he had yet to read the details of the proposed educational savings accounts. Advocates would have to develop such a program carefully, he said, given the court challenge that ended a Bush-era voucher program in 2006 on grounds it violated constitutional protections of public education.
"But I applaud the fact that the governor wants to continue the state of Florida's great record of expanding school choice."
Levesque did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Scott's staff, though they have stressed that all recommendations from the governor-elect's advisers remain just that at this point.
Another of Scott's education advisers, former state education commissioner Frank Brogan, said that "much of what you will hear by way of wailing and gnashing of teeth is probably overblown. I think most parents are probably very happy with where their child goes to school."
If such a reform passes, "it would clearly be, on a national scale, the expansive choice effort in the country," said Brogan, who was Bush's lieutenant governor.
But its practical effect would not be so dramatic, he said. Even if vast numbers of parents did want to enroll their children in private education, "there would not be room … simply because most of the schools in the state of Florida are full today -- that's both public and private. So the belief that this perceived mass exodus would occur, I think is wrong."
Another schools policy in the works could ignite even more fireworks this spring, if last year's fight over it is any indication.
Angry teachers and parents persuaded Gov. Charlie Crist to veto Senate Bill 6, a bill that would have phased out tenure for K-12 teachers and ushered in a new era of paying teachers based on their students' performance on tests.
Among other things, opponents complained it relied too much on testing, eroded local control of schools and could harm special-needs teachers whose students would not likely make the learning gains required to trigger pay raises and certification renewals.
During the campaign, Scott noted repeatedly that his daughter teaches children with disabilities, indicating a sensitivity to the challenges faced by such educators. But he also said that he would have signed SB 6 and considers the next version of the bill a priority.
Levesque, heavily involved in the new bill's drafting, briefed lawmakers in November on its progress. No legislation has yet been filed, but a recent draft includes changes like evaluation guidelines to accommodate special-needs teachers and potential salary boosts for those teaching in low-income schools or "critical teacher shortage" areas like science and math.
Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, called the changes he has seen so far "minor tweaks."
"We're seeing an awful lot of the same ideas," he said. "Pretty much, it's what was in SB 6."
Key components of the bill likewise appear among the recommendations from Scott's education advisers, none of whom is a K-12 public school teacher. The closest is MaryEllen Elia, Hillsborough County's reform-minded schools superintendent who has worked closely with the teachers union to overhaul the district's methods of evaluating and paying teachers.
"From my perspective, the whole concept of merit pay -- and support -- for teachers is absolutely critical," she said.
In an interview, Elia downplayed the absence of traditional teachers on Scott's team, saying she still considers herself one. But she also noted that Hillsborough's success thus far in reforming its system is rooted in collaboration with local educators.
Asked this week about including more teachers in future discussions, Scott said he talked to teachers all the time during the campaign.
"I told them that teachers ought to come up with a bill they support," he said. "Do you know how many teachers have come up with a bill? Zero. We have to listen to them, but they have to come up with how they want to be measured."
cwhittenburg@tampatrib.com
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/02/021017/incoming-governor-has-sights-set-squarely-on-educa/news-breaking/
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