Florida’s 2019 legislative session rewarded supporters of school choice as the House and Senate created the Family Empowerment Scholarship and boosted funding for charter schools.
The new state-funded K-12 scholarship will help get 18,000 low-income and working-class students off a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) for lower-income families. (The FTC scholarship is managed by non-profits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.) The 18-year-old scholarship serves 100,512 students this year and is funded by corporate contributions that receive dollar-for-dollar state tax credits.
However, the rate of growth in contributions slowed this year and failed to keep up with demand for the scholarship, which produced a waiting list of 13,000 students.
Unlike the FTC scholarship, the new FES program would be funded with tax dollars through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), which is the operational formula for funding traditional public schools (as well as the state’s two-decades-old McKay Scholarship for students with special needs).
The new scholarship targets 18,000 students in the first year and will add roughly 7,000 additional students in future years. It also slightly increases the income eligibility ceiling from 260 percent of poverty ($66,950 for a household of four) in the current FTC program to 300 percent of poverty ($77,250) in FES.
The bill (CS/SB 7070), which is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, gives priority to students with household incomes up to 185 percent of poverty ($47,637).
Passionate debate over the bill divided Republicans and Democrats in both chambers, and the final version survived 24 failed Democratic amendments. In the end, six House Democrats voted for the measure.
Responding to Democratic criticism of the bill, Rep. Jennifer Sullivan (R-Mount Dora), the bill’s sponsor and chair of the House Education Committee, said she was moved by testimonials from parents, either on the FTC scholarship or the waiting list, who testified before lawmakers during the session.
Two of them, Carletha McGuire of Miami and Shareka Wright of Orlando, were among those pleased by the bill’s passage.
McGuire, a retired paraprofessional with Miami-Dade public schools who is raising two grandchildren and a nephew, said she was thrilled with the news. McGuire’s younger granddaughter, Monique, started at Kids Learning Center on a Tax Credit Scholarship but was on the waiting list this year. Monique’s grades have slipped at her neighborhood school.
“I let Monique know the bill passed, and she’s so happy she’ll be able to go back to the school she loves,” McGuire said. “We can leave that worry behind.”
McGuire said the past few months have been stressful for her family. She watched the hearings closely, and earlier this month, made the trip to Tallahassee to testify in favor of the new scholarship program.
“I just want to say to the lawmakers, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing the right thing to make sure families have what they need. Thank you for loving our kids,’” she said.
Wright, a single mother of three who drives a garbage truck for the city of Orlando, was equally thankful. Her sons Zion, 8, and Jayden, 6, are on the waiting list.
“I’m tired of people saying my sons don’t deserve a private school,” she said. “The new Family Empowerment Scholarship gives options for moms like me.”
In another move with a major impact on school choice, lawmakers passed a tax bill (HB 7123) with a provision that requires school districts to share certain tax revenues with charter schools.
Starting July 1, any school district that passes a local education tax referendum must share the revenue with charter schools, which are public schools. The amount of money charters get would be based proportionally on the number of students they enroll.
The measure was in response to events of last November, when voters in eight counties approved extra taxes for public schools. Four of the counties – Alachua, Lee, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach – made formal decisions prior to the election not to share the revenue from tax increases with charter schools.
The bill creating a new scholarship program for Florida's K-12 students comes with a sharp decrease in the amount of tuition awarded.
TALLAHASSEE – A bill that would eliminate a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students – but also slash the value of the vouchers – passed in a party-line vote Wednesday by the House Committee on Appropriations.
The bill, HB 7075, would create the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which would accommodate about 28,000 students in 2019-20. That includes some 13,000 students currently on a waiting list for the tax credit scholarship.
Unlike the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which is funded with private donations from corporations that receive tax credits, the new program would be funded with tax dollars through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).
Enrollment in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program (which is administered by non-profits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog) dropped for the first time in 14 years in 2018-19, the result of slower growth in corporate contributions. Yet demand for the scholarship remains strong. Parents of more than 170,000 students had started applications by the time Step Up For Students halted the application process in June because of a funding shortfall. Step Up already has awarded more than 88,000 scholarships for 2019-20, approximately 20,000 students ahead of last year.
The scholarship funding calculation established in HB 7075 would result in dramatic reductions in the scholarship amounts for many students in grades 4-12. High school students could see the value of their scholarships decline by more than $1,000, middle-schoolers could see reductions of $800 or more, and fourth- and fifth-graders could see theirs drop by more than $500.
The Senate has proposed a similar new program to end the waiting list, as has Gov. Ron DeSantis, but neither plan would reduce the value of the scholarships.
Lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday from several people who supported ending the waitlist and expanding the scholarship to more families but who opposed cutting scholarship amounts.
Ashley Baum, a mother of two from Crawfordville, said the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship has been “a hugely positive game-changer in our lives.”
“However, that will be made more difficult, for our family and many others, if the House reduces the value of the scholarships,” Baum said. “If I had to tell my kids that they could not attend their school anymore because of lack of scholarship money, there would be many tears and heartache in our household.”
Debbie Fell, principal at Wakulla Christian School in Crawfordville, said about 85 of her school’s 205 students use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. While she said she supports the House program to eliminate the waiting list, she said she was “mortified” that lawmakers would consider decreasing the value of the scholarships.
“That would be catastrophic for our school,” she said. “That’s tens of thousands of dollars out of our budget. … As an administrator, I know that some smaller schools might even have to close. Imagine the repercussions across the entire education ecosystem.”
Opponents of the House bill, which included all Democratic members of the committee as well as several public speakers, repeatedly claimed the new program would be unconstitutional because it would allow tax dollars to be spent at private religious schools.
Rep. Carlos Smith (D-Orlando) was among those who questioned program’s constitutionality.
“It is blatantly unconstitutional,” Smith said. “This is a setup for another court case. It’s a setup to declare the Blaine Amendment unconstitutional so that future legislatures can start handing out money directly out of our state coffers into private schools. That is extremely offensive to me.”
Rep. Jennifer Sullivan (R-Mount Dora), who chairs the House Education Committee, sponsored the bill. In response to lawmakers who said the bill was unconstitutional, she said, “That’s purely speculative.”
Florida has a number of publicly funded educational choice scholarship programs that pay for tuition at private and often faith-based schools, including Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, Bright Futures and the Gardiner Scholarship. Another is the McKay Scholarship for students with disabilities, which was created in 1999 and is funded annually through the FEFP, just as the House’s Family Empowerment Scholarship (and the Senate’s proposed version) would be. McKay is costing state taxpayers $219 million this year alone.
Rep. Joe Geller (D-Hollywood) opposed the bill, calling it a “lifeboat theory of education.”
“I’m sure (the scholarship) works out wonderfully for those fortunate enough to get it,” he said, “but we don’t give this to everybody. There’s an enormous amount of students who will still be in public schools, and we’re taking money out (of public schools). We need to maintain funding for public schools.”
Nicolette Springer, legislative advocate for The League of Women Voters of Florida, told lawmakers the new program would divert funding from public schools.
“The biggest concern is we have the opportunity to educate children in the public school system, and every year, you cut the funds, she said.
The House had unveiled on Tuesday a proposed PreK-12 budget of $21.6 billion, a $579.3 million increase over last year – and an increase of about $167 per student.
Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged to end the waiting lists for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Gardiner Scholarship in his first State of the State address
TALLAHASSEE – In his first State of the State address Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated his pledge to end the waiting lists for parents seeking the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) for lower-income families and the Gardiner Scholarship for students with certain special needs.
About 13,000 families are on a waitlist for the FTC Scholarship, and over 1,900 are on the Gardiner waitlist. (The scholarships are managed by non-profits like Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)
“Education opportunity shouldn’t be limited by parental income or ZIP code,”
DeSantis told a joint session of the Legislature. “One way Florida has expanded opportunity has been through the Tax Credit Scholarship program for students from low-income families. More than 100,000 students – nearly 70 percent of whom are African-American or Hispanic, with an average family income of roughly $26,000 per year – are utilizing the scholarship.”
DeSantis stressed that the results have been positive, citing a recent Urban Institute study that found tax credit scholarship students are 43 percent more likely to attend a four-year college and up to 20 percent more likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Students who use the scholarship more than four years are up to 99 percent more likely to attend college and up to 45 percent more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree.
During a trip to Orlando last month, DeSantis was moved by testimony from Shareka Wright, a single mother of three who drives a garbage truck for the city. Two of her sons are on the FTC waiting list.
One of Wright’s sons is doing well in an Orange County district school, but she said her younger sons need a different educational environment -- one son is struggling academically and the other has been bullied. Wright works about 60 hours a week to be able to afford private school tuition for them.
“Shareka is doing her best to give her boys a better future,” DeSantis said. “I’m not satisfied to see hard-working parents like Shareka mired on a waitlist, and so I’m proposing to eliminate the waitlist by creating a new Equal Opportunity Scholarship that is similar to the tax credit scholarship.
“We are a big, diverse state and one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to education. Let’s stand with working moms like Shareka and empower them to choose the best learning environment for their kids.”
Enrollment in the FTC program dropped for the first time in 14 years in 2018-19. In the preceding 13 years, the average annual enrollment increase was 20 percent. The dip was due to slower growth in corporate contributions, according to the state Department of Revenue.
Demand for the program remains strong. Parents for more than 170,000 students had started applications by the time Step Up For Students halted the application process in June. Step Up already has awarded more than 84,000 scholarships for 2019-20, approximately 20,000 students ahead of last year. New students are starting applications at a rate of more than 1,000 a day.
DeSantis last month proposed a state-funded “Equal Opportunity Scholarship” to eliminate the FTC waiting list.
Under the governor’s plan, funding for the scholarship program would come from the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP). The scholarship award amount would be a slight discount of the district average per-student funding in the FEFP, allowing funding to follow the student. The maximum number of students eligible to receive a scholarship would be equivalent to 0.5 percent of statewide public school enrollment for the first year, providing opportunities for approximately 14,000 students. Each year thereafter, the number of eligible students would increase by an additional 1 percent of statewide public school enrollment.
On Feb. 21, state Sen. Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah), who chairs that chamber’s Committee on Education, proposed a “Family Empowerment Scholarship” to eliminate the FTC waitlist. Details of the plan are in Senate Bill 7070.
DeSantis declared last month that parents of special needs students will not have to worry about the Gardiner Scholarship as long as he is governor. Tuesday, he repeated his promise to eliminate the Gardiner waiting list, highlighting one family waiting for relief.
“Donna and Michael Holt are here with their son Levi, who has Down syndrome,” DeSantis said. “Levi is on the waiting list for a Gardiner scholarship. Students like Levi have unique abilities that require a customized learning environment that the Gardiner (Education Savings Account) can provide.”
Step Up funded 11,276 students with Gardiner scholarships averaging $10,389 during the 2018-19 school year.
Step Up currently is accepting new and renewal applications for the Gardiner Scholarship and already has awarded more than 6,000 scholarships for 2019-20.
Bills to enhance the Gardiner Scholarship program were filed in the House and Senate this week. HB 1051 and its companion SB 1380 were filed by Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff (R-DeLand) and Sen. Keith Perry (R-Gainesville), respectively.
If passed by both chambers and signed by the governor, the changes in the bill would allow parents to apply for the scholarship the day their child turns 3, and would permit parents to use the scholarship to pay for tuition and fees associated with art, music or theater programs.
The bills also would make it easier for parents to renew their scholarship. Renewing parents no longer would be required to get a notarized “sworn compliance statement,” which is required to notify the Department of Education (DOE) of the parent’s intent to accept the scholarship and not enroll in other publicly funded educational options.
The bills also would require the DOE to create a secure website that allows parents to submit all required information in order to maintain program eligibility.
“The Gardiner scholarship is our way of saying that everyone counts and that these are lives worth living,” DeSantis said. “We stand with you, and we want to get rid of that waiting list.”
The Florida Legislature kicks off its annual 60-day session Tuesday with a host of education issues at the top of lawmakers’ agendas, including expansion of educational choice options. Here are some issues and bills to watch.
Education choice
Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to expand educational options and has vowed to end the waiting lists for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Gardiner Scholarship, proposing creation of a new state-funded scholarship. Senate leaders have put forth their own plan to end the waitlists. Bill language was filed in the Senate late Friday afternoon with SB 7070 creating a new state-funded scholarship program. The bill is scheduled to be heard in committee on Wednesday during the second day of session.
The first major educational choice bill filed this session, SB 1410, revises the application process for the Hope Scholarship for bullied students.
Two identical bills, HB 1051 and SB 1380, slightly revise student application and eligibility criteria for the Gardiner Scholarship. The biggest change allows for scholarship funds to be used for tuition and fees associated with art, music or theatre programs. The bill also requires the Department of Education to create a system allowing scholarship parents to submit information to maintain Gardiner eligibility electronically.
HB 189 and SB 1342 make instructional materials assigned for dual enrollment courses free of charge for students in private schools and home education programs. The legislation also allows for private and home school students in grades 11 and 12 to enroll in early college programs in their districts.
Accountability
SB 1444 and HB1127 require the Department of Education to create and maintain a “state disqualification list” that prohibits employment for “bad actors” at district, public and charter schools, as well as on charter governing boards. The legislation also allows the DOE to deny the authority of an owner or operator to establish a private school participating in scholarships programs in Florida if the owner has operated an institution “contrary to the health, safety, or welfare of the public.” Anyone employed by or applying for employment in a district or private school on the disqualification list would be committing a third-degree felony.
SB 1470 would tweak charter school operations, allowing the Charter School Appeal Commission to recommend denial of a charter application if the application does not propose a reading curriculum consistent with effective teaching strategies grounded in scientifically based reading research. The bill also has more broadly clarifying language for the commission in considering charter applications.
SB 1576 provides charter schools access to district teacher preparation programs and allows publication of state, district and school level results of anonymous every-other-year surveys of school personnel to identify best practices for student learning and teacher retention. It also creates alternative pathways for teacher support while reducing teacher costs for examination fees for teachers who have to retake parts of the exams.
School safety
SB 7030 would expand the Aaron Feis Guardian Program created after the Parkland school shooting in February 2018. It would allow school staff to volunteer to carry guns on campus and to be screened and trained by local law enforcement, removing the ban on teacher participation. Charter schools are included in the bill language, but private schools are not.
SB 1238 and HB 403 authorize religious and other private schools to designate a person to carry a firearm on school property. If the school chooses to do so, the legislation would require its governing board to create appropriate policies and procedures the designee must meet.
HB 2105 is an appropriations bill filed for the third consecutive year by Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) allocating $4 million for security funding for Jewish Day Schools. Last year’s appropriation was $2 million.
Sen. Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah) unveiled the Senate education leadership's priorities for the 2019 legislative session today in Tallahassee.
TALLAHASSEE – Florida state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. on Thursday said Senate leaders hope to implement a “Family Empowerment Scholarship” to eliminate a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income families.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made a similar pledge last week, saying he wanted to create an “Equal Opportunity Scholarship” to eliminate the FTC waitlist of about 13,000 families.
Diaz (R-Hialeah), who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, said there were “some similarities” in the two plans.
“We will continue to support families’ decisions to choose what’s best for their children’s education – whether it’s public or private school,” Diaz said, adding that over 100,000 students are currently on the FTC scholarship. (The scholarship is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)
The new scholarship would be funded through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) and would be capped at 15,000 students in its first year.
Flanked by lawmakers, parents on the FTC waiting list and faith leaders, Diaz said the “Family Empowerment Scholarship” is separate from DeSantis’ proposed plan. He said eligibility requirements of the two proposed scholarships are “very similar,” but did not offer specifics.
Under DeSantis’s plan, funding for the scholarship program would come from the FEFP. The scholarship award amount would be a slight discount of the district average per-student funding in the FEFP, allowing funding to follow the student. The maximum number of students eligible to receive a scholarship would be equivalent to 0.5 percent of statewide public school enrollment for the first year, providing opportunities for approximately 14,000 students. Each year thereafter, the number of eligible students would increase by an additional 1 percent of statewide public school enrollment.
Asked by media if the separate scholarships would confuse parents, Diaz said the proposed scholarship simply gives parents even more choices.
“I think we’ve done a good job of educating parents in Florida” about school choice, he said. “They’re interested in finding the best educational settings for their children. Every child is different. What works for one, may not work for another.”
The FTC program helps lower-income families pay for private school tuition or transportation costs to an out-of-district public school. A recent study by the Urban Institute showed students on the program are enrolling and completing college at higher rates than their public school peers.
In 2018-19, enrollment in the FTC program dropped for the first time in 14 years. In the preceding 13 years, the average annual enrollment increase was 20 percent. The enrollment dip was due to slower growth in corporate contributions, according to the state Department of Revenue.
Demand for the program remains strong. Parents for more than 170,000 students had started applications by the time Step Up For Students halted the application process in June. Step Up has already awarded more than 79,000 scholarships for 2019-20, approximately 20,000 students ahead of last year. New students are starting applications at a rate of more than 1,000 a day.
The proposed “Family Empowerment Scholarship” put a smile on the face of Giselle Gomez, who was among the parents who stood behind Diaz at Thursday’s event. Gomez is the mother of Arturo Gomez III, 6, who is on the waiting list for the FTC scholarship. A Realtor, Gomez currently pays out-of-pocket for Arturo to attend Redeemer Christian Academy in Ocala, which costs about $7,250 per year.
She did not want her son in a public school because of her own negative experiences attending public schools in Miami and Ocala. Gomez said she applied for an FTC scholarship this year for Arturo, but by the time Arturo’s application was approved, money to fund the program had run out.
While Arturo has thrived at Redeemer Academy – his behavior has improved and teachers often work with him one on one – she has been behind in payments.
Gomez said she is going through a divorce, making the situation even more tense.
“(Arturo’s) going through a lot of changes right now,” she said. “I want him to have stability and stay in the same school. His behavior used to be erratic, but the teachers have worked with him so much. His focus is better and his grades are amazing. I don’t want to take that away from him.”
Diaz was joined at Thursday’s press conference by Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Simmons (R-Altamonte Springs), each of whom unveiled other Senate K-12 education initiatives.
