Governments engage in social engineering when they create policies and programs to influence (i.e., govern) their citizens’ behavior. All governing, including public education, is an act of social engineering. How social engineering is implemented in U.S. public education has evolved over the years and will continue to do so as the expansion of ESAs (education savings accounts) transforms the public education market.

The U.S. Postal Service, which the Second Continental Congress created in 1775, functioned as the nation’s first public education system. Its social engineering task was to expand basic literacy and help unify a diverse and isolated rural population.

Public education’s next social engineering effort was in response to the large numbers of Catholics immigrating to the U.S. in the mid-1800s. State governments began passing mandatory school attendance laws and using public schools to teach Catholic children how to be good Protestants and thereby good Americans.

As industrialization and urbanization expanded in the later 1800s, the government started managing public schools as if they were industrial factories to teach children how to be good industrial workers.

Well into the 1900s, government used public schools to perpetuate traditional gender roles by forcing female teachers to resign when they got married and later in the mid-1900s forcing married women to resign when they got pregnant. The junior high school I attended in the late 1960s required all male students to learn how to use woodworking tools and all female students how to plan meals, cook, and sew.

For much of our country’s history, the government used public schools to implement and help perpetuate Jim Crow laws. Black students were prohibited from attending my all-white high school until my junior year (1971-72).

The government’s social engineering via public education in the 1700s and early 1800s was not controversial, but beginning in the mid-1800s public education’s social engineering became contentious and remains so today.

Improvements in how some states are implementing public education may allow us to begin de-escalating the controversies surrounding how government uses public education to further its social engineering goals.

Thanks to the education choice movement, public education is becoming more diverse and decentralized. Today nearly half of Florida’s K-12 students do not attend their assigned public schools. Our Florida nonprofit, Step Up For Students, will fund about 450,000 full-time flexible spending accounts (i.e., ESAs) this school year and another 30,000 part-time ESAs. Other states are also funding increasing numbers of ESAs.

ESAs enable families to spend their children’s public education dollars on a wide variety of educational products and services in addition to public and private schools. This family-controlled spending is attracting diverse and innovative providers into the public education market and creating a feedback loop in which more demand is attracting more supply, which in turn is attracting more demand, which is then attracting more supply.

Families accessing this expanding variety of educational options are decentralizing public education as fewer students attend government schools, thus limiting how comprehensive government’s social engineering efforts can be. The days of government using public education to teach children how to think about issues such as religion, race, or gender roles are probably ending as families reassert control over how and when their children learn about non-academic topics.

As government’s ability to influence how children think about cultural issues through public education diminishes, its emphasis will shift to ensuring children master the literacy skills necessary to be successful adults and giving families the support they need to guide their children’s personal and social development.

There is a back-to-the-future feel to these changes. Families were responsible for all aspects of their children’s education until government took away much of this responsibility in the mid-to-late 1800s and kept it for the next 150 years. The modern education choice movement is helping families regain this control.

Government social engineering will always be part of the public education market. But going forward, this social engineering will be tempered by greater parental control over their children’s education. Finding the proper synergy between parental empowerment and government social engineering will be an important, ongoing process as public education continues to diversify and decentralize.

 

The number of Jewish schools in Florida nearly doubled over the past 15 years, boosted by parents using state school choice scholarships and the migration of families from New York, according to a new report from Teach Coalition and Step Up For Students.

Student enrollment between 2007-08 and 2022-23 rose 58 percent, from 8,492 to 13,379, while the number of Jewish day schools and yeshivas grew from 40 to 74, the report shows.

Over the same span, the percentage of Jewish school students using choice scholarships increased from 10 to 60 percent.

The growth of Jewish schools in Florida is historic and unmatched anywhere else in America. The analysis is also likely to understate the trend lines, given it does not cover the 2023-24 school year, the first year every student in Florida became eligible for a choice scholarship. (The data for 2023-24 is not yet available.)

On a cautionary note, the report also points to increasingly pressing issues that could limit future growth – and not just for Jewish schools.

The vast majority of newer Jewish schools are on the smaller side, with fewer than 175 students. That’s not a function of parental preference, the report suggests, but the result of challenges schools face in navigating restrictive local zoning laws to find adequate and affordable facilities.

“With Florida’s existing Jewish schools at or near full capacity, more effort is needed to source suitably sized school buildings,” said Danny Aqua, director of special projects at Teach Coalition. “Without legislative and regulatory action to reduce the hurdles to opening new schools, the lack of school building space may throttle growth in Florida’s Jewish day schools.”

Full report here.

RIVERVIEW – Rosa Salom Garcia’s car was reinforced to withstand bullets because the threat of being kidnapped was a part of everyday life in Venezuela.

She was a leading eye surgeon in her native Caracas with a practice spread over multiple locations in the city. Her daughter, Maria Castillo Salom, attended private school.

Life was great until it wasn’t.

Until the political climate became volatile in the mid-2010s, with the government confiscating some of Rosa’s offices. Until kidnappings of citizens who could pay huge ransoms were commonplace. Rosa feared for her safety as well as Maria’s.

“All I wanted to do in life I did,” Rosa said. “My life became Maria’s life.”

So, in the summer of 2017, mother and daughter moved to Riverview, east of Tampa. Rosa gave up her medical practice and left her family for a safer, better future for Maria.

“She never said, ‘I did this all for you,’ but I knew,” Maria said. “I knew all the sacrifices she had made. She left her whole life behind, and my main goal was to make her proud.”

Maria, who arrived in time for the seventh grade, continued her private school education with the help of a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which is funded by corporate donations to Step Up For Students.

Maria finished elementary school at nearby St. Stephens Catholic School, then attended Tampa Catholic High School, where she graduated in 2023 third in her class with a 4.0 GPA and an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

“We’re forever grateful for Step Up,” said Gabriel Casas Diaz, Rosa’s husband and Maria’s stepfather. “Without Step Up’s help, Maria won’t be where she is right now.”

That first year at St. Stephens was not easy for Maria, now 20. An honor roll student in Caracas, Maria had little trouble in science and math, because two plus two equals four in any language. But her English was limited, and she struggled with American History. The smaller classes at her new school provided the right educational setting, because teachers could take the time to work with Maria. They knew she was a bright student, and they were determined to help her succeed.

They explained assignments during class and tutored her afterwards.

“I had teachers who were truly devoted to me,” Maria said. “Honestly, I took up a lot of their time.”

Attending a Catholic school in her new home offered some much-needed familiarity with her faith as she adjusted to the move to a new country.

“It was really good to be connected to my faith,” she said. “It was a difficult move. My father is still in Venezuela. So is my extended family.”

n the eighth grade, Maria wrote an essay about the life she left behind. She didn’t leave anything out. She wrote about the violence, the poverty, the never-ending fear for her family’s safety. The essay was for a contest where the winner received a $10,000 scholarship toward high school. Maria finished second.

But her essay was forwarded to the administration at Tampa Catholic. Maria was asked to apply and was accepted. The essay earned her a Mary Neary Scholarship from her new school. That coupled with a scholarship from the Diocese of St. Petersburg for her grades and the FTC scholarship enabled Rosa to afford Tampa Catholic.

“I am eternally grateful for the (Florida Tax Credit) scholarship, for allowing me to make it through,” Maria said.

Maria found the teachers at Tampa Catholic as helpful and encouraging as those at St. Stephens. It wasn’t long before she was taking AP classes. She studied French and became president of the French National Honor Society. She took six math classes and continued her education during the summer though Florida Virtual School.

She recorded more than 200 community service hours from volunteering at Feeding Tampa Bay and the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. She played three years of soccer, stopping as a senior only because her courseload was too demanding.

When asked during her junior year by Tampa Catholic’s college counselor about her college plans, Maria answered with the three words: The Naval Academy.

Somewhat stunned, the counselor suggested the University of Notre Dame as a safe school, where she could join its Navy ROTC. But Maria had her eyes set on the Naval Academy, which could lead to a career in the Marines or the FBI.

Gabriel retired after nearly 29 years as a Marine, and Maria likes the camaraderie he has with fellow Marines, those he’s known for a long time and those he just met. It’s “Oorah” and an instant bond.

Maria, who became a U.S. citizen in 2020 along with Rosa, received the acceptance email from the Academy on March 31 of her senior year. She already had been accepted to Notre Dame and the University of Florida.

She had just finished taking an AP biology exam when she noticed the email alert on her Apple Watch. She was excused from class and called her mom with the news. They both cried.

“My mother, she’s my role model,” Maria said. “I had to make her sacrifice worth it.”

Rosa has changed careers since moving to the United States. She earned a liberal arts degree at Hillsborough Community College and is a certified mental health counselor, working with immigrants.

“I really appreciate all that this country made for Maria, for us in general,” Rosa said. “She has a great opportunity. Maria’s future would be different if she remained in Venezuela. Totally different worlds.”

Maria loves her new world.

“I feel like the United States opened its heart and to us and I've just been so grateful,” she said. “It certainly is amazing. I don't think it could be a better place in the world, and that's kind of the reason I'm serving the country, to show I’m so grateful to it.”

 

 

TAMPA – The night ended with a set of Latin music, one of Victor Peña’s favorites, and everyone inside the theater on the campus of Jesuit High School was standing and moving something – arms, legs, hips.

It was the final set of a two-hour concert to raise money for a scholarship to honor Victor, Jesuit Class of 2016, who died along with a close friend, Sean Shearman, in a car accident in Tallahassee in October 2020.

Carlos Lamoutte was the bandleader and ringleader. He’s Jesuit Class of ’25. He attends the private, all-male, Catholic high school in Tampa with the help of Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO), managed by Step Up For Students.

His family and the Peña family are close. They attend the same Catholic church near their homes – the Peñas in Brandon and the Lamouttes in Plant City. The children attended the same Catholic elementary school. They’ve vacationed together. Spent days together at the beach.

The scholarship to honor Victor’s memory was Carlos’ idea.

“I can’t imagine who I would be without Jesuit,” Carlos said. “They truly are shaping me into becoming the man I am, and the same exact experience I’m having, I want for others to have, and I know how expensive it is for some families to send their sons here.”

The Victor Pena ’16 Benefit Concert raised $18,000, which will go toward the Victor Pena '16 Annual Financial Aid Scholarship to Jesuit.

“As Victor’s parents, we are super pleased at this beautiful gesture of the school and Carlito, because if it wasn't for his spark, and his idea and his organizing, pushing and making the case to school administration officials, it never would have happened,” Victor Peña Sr., said. “He was the linchpin.”

Carlos, 17, is a talented musician who plays the guitar and piano. He’s also the lead singer of his rock band, The Jesuit Boys, which he formed two years ago with some classmates. They play at Catholic events around Tampa.

Victor was a close friend of Caroline Lamoutte, Carlos’ older sister who is now in medical school at the University of Florida. Carlos saw Victor as an older brother.

“He had a huge, positive impact on my life,” Carlos said. “There is this heaviness in my heart.”

Since Victor’s passing, Carlos had wanted to honor him in some way. It was this past December while having dinner with his parents – Ana and Carlos – that Ana mentioned his music.

“My Mom said, ‘You have this talent, and the Lord has asked you to use this gift for something great because this gift wasn't given to you just to have fun. It is to make an impact on the world,’ ” Carlos said. “So, I thought, ‘Well, shoot. I've always wanted to do something for Victor. This could be it. I can raise money in his name.’ ”

“The light bulb went on,” Ana said, “and from that point on, he was nonstop.”

The Rev. Richard C. Hermes, S.J., president of Jesuit High, didn’t hesitate to say yes when Carlos approached him with the idea of a benefit concert. With guidance from Nick Suszynski, Jesuit’s director of development, and help from other members of the Jesuit staff and a few alumni, Carlos put together a silent auction, food, and musicians for the event.

The crowd of 200 that gathered at the Antinori Center for the Arts included members of the Peña family from Georgia and Miami and former classmates of Victor’s from as far back as grade school. Victor’s brother, Gabriel (Jesuit class of ’17), was the emcee. His sister, Angie, read a poem.

At one point, Lidia Peña, Victor’s mom, joined the band on stage and played a duet of several Cuban dances on the piano with her sister, Lisette Garcia.

“It was right,” Ana said. “It was music. It was dancing. It was food. It was Victor.”

“Victor was definitely there,” said his father. “Victor was a fun-loving guy. He just loved to have fun. We believe in an afterlife, so we really feel that he was a happy camper that night.”

Victor’s family and friends remember him for his larger-than-life personality, his levelheadedness, his strong Catholic faith, his smarts, his ability to bring friends and family together, and his high energy, which everyone agrees was contagious.

Family and friends say the same thing about Carlos.

“I see Victor every time I interact with Carlito,” Victor Sr. said.

Carlos is an honor roll student who is interested in a music career. He’d like to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville and major in finance or economics with a double major in music business.

Though he is a natural at leading a band on stage and interacting with the audience, organizing the benefit concert has led him to think his future might be on that side of the business -- marketing and promotion. Also, working with Suszynski on the concert provided an introduction to the world of fundraising.

“Maybe creating a nonprofit would be something that I'd like to do,” Carlos said. “This has been a super cool experience in that perspective, as well.”

And there is always the medical profession. His other sister, Lauren, is in dental school at the University of Florida.

“Having the (FES-EO) scholarship is a huge blessing,” Carlos said. “With a sister in medical school, a sister in dental school, and me at a private school, my parents didn’t know how they were going to make ends meet. The scholarship came along and it has helped. It’s been such a blessing in my own life.”

Carlos plans to visit Vanderbilt this summer during a trip to Nashville. He knows his senior year will pass quickly, and it will include the big decision of where to go to college and what to study.

He also knows his senior year will include another Victor Pena ’16 Benefit Concert to raise more money for the scholarship fund. In fact, it’s Carlos’ plan that the concert became a yearly staple on the Jesuit social scene, whether he’s involved or not.

“It felt amazing to know that we were all in it together,” Carlos said. “The school wanted to help. The people in the audience wanted to help. And we were making a huge impact to honor Victor and for all these future kids who are going to come to Jesuit in need of financial aid.”

 

 

 

DORAL, Fla. – This was supposed to be Elise’s school, the white two-story building with beige trim that sits on a quiet street and serves students with moderate to severe development and behavioral needs.

When John and Jamie Althoff learned Elise, their unborn daughter, had Down syndrome, they wondered what education options existed near their South Florida home. John did the leg work, visiting nearly 30 schools for students with special needs. He didn’t feel that he found a good match for his daughter or his family.

 

A teacher at Divine Savior Academy (DSA) in Doral at the time, John asked the administration if he could start a program for students with special needs. They said yes, and five years later, in 2020, Divine Savior School (DSS) opened its doors to six students. By the end of the school year, enrollment had doubled.

Sadly, Elise was not one of them. She passed away a week before her due date. Tragic as that was, John pressed on with his vision for DSS.

“When we lost her, well, it didn’t stop the fact that there's this need for a school like this,” John said.

Enrollment is expected to reach 55 during the 2024-25 school year.

“So,” John said, “there’s obviously a need.”

All DSS students attend the school with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, managed by Step Up For Students.

They receive Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and speech and occupational therapy on-site. Each student has an individualized education program developed with input from the parents, therapist, and academic personnel.

There is a Bridge program for students in middle school and high school students who benefit from individualized academic attention and inclusion in a typical school setting.

Those students make the short walk across the parking lot to DSA and join those students for homeroom, two elective classes, and lunch.

There is a plan to begin a vocational program for graduates where they can transition into employment.

Some DSS students play on the basketball team that competes in the Special Olympics. John said they are hoping to start a similar program for flag football.

***

Jose Pablo Saenz finished his lunch in the DSA cafeteria, surrounded by students from both schools. Some days he ate with his older brother, Alvaro, who recently graduated from DSA. It’s this kind of inclusion that Jose Pablo’s parents – Ivan and Maria – find so important.

Jose Pablo was 8 when he developed a form of epilepsy that cannot be controlled by medication. Suffering from as many as nine seizures a day, he was diagnosed as hospital-homebound. Homeschooling, however, was not a good fit.

“He needed to be around other kids,” Maria said.

“We could see he was getting very depressed, very antisocial, and I was always concerned,” said Jose Pablo’s sister, Sofia.

Jose Pablo can go a few days without a seizure, but when they come, they are massive according to his dad.

“It creates like a concussion, and when you're continuously exposed to those situations, it creates a lot of problems with short-term memory and the ability to learn,” Ivan said.

Jose Pablo was one of the original six to attend DSS when the doors first opened. Thanks to the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, he was able to find the right educational setting.

“The scholarship is a blessing,” Ivan said. “We found the place where he's been able to thrive. Given his limitations, he's still been able to go to school and learn how to read and write, learn some history, interact with children, develop his social skills.”

And with all the therapists on-site, Maria no longer has to drive Jose Pablo around South Florida from therapist to therapist.

DSS also provides a service for the parents where the fathers can meet as a group and the mothers can meet as a group and talk about being the parents of a special-needs child.

“When you have a child with special needs, it changes things,” Ivan said. “Your friends and sometimes members of your family pull back.”

“People can be cruel,” Maria said. “They ask, “Is he contagious? Is he possessed?’ ”

The groups meet to compare notes, vent, rant, and offer support.

“People don't understand what it's like to have a child with special needs,” Ivan said. “Intentionally or unintentionally, their ignorance can be very cruel to our children, to ourselves as parents, as well. So, it kind of drives us to be isolated. But within DSS we've been able to find this amazing environment where our children thrive, and where we as parents can openly express what the challenges are. It’s so gratifying to find a place like DSS, and without the help of the scholarship, we would have never been able to send Jose Pablo there.”

As the oldest of three, Sofia, who also graduated from DSA, has always looked out for Jose Pablo.

“I'm eternally grateful for DSS and what they've done for my brother and my family, as well,” she said.

***

From his office window, John Althoff, now the DSS school director, sees an SUV pull up to the front door of the school.

“Dillon’s here,” he called to the staff outside his office as he popped from behind his desk to greet Dillon and his mom. All students are met this way in the morning. The staff asks the parents about their child.

Did he have a good night’s sleep?

Did he eat breakfast?

Is there anything we should be on the lookout for?

This way they can anticipate what kind of behavior to expect that day.

“Have a good day, Dillon,” John said as he helped Dillon with his backpack and through the front door.

 

John, who already had a doctorate in education from Florida International University, earned a graduate certificate in Special Education from the University of Central Florida before DSS opened and is then enrolled in the ABA program at Florida Institute of Technology.

It’s no surprise that John was able to start DSS. A former Marine, he was building his first house from scratch when he met Jamie. He also helped opened DSA’s middle school and later the high school.

“The FES-UA scholarship provides opportunity for our students with profound needs to access a program that might not otherwise be available to them,” Althoff said. “Divine Savior School provides a purposeful micro-school setting where each student is able to receive individualized support and therapy services to provide for their overall growth and development, as well as plan for positive inclusion opportunities with our sister school, Divine Savior Academy.”

He was asked if he ever takes a moment during the school day to appreciate the two-story school building, what it accomplishes each day, and what it stands for -- a tribute to Elsie.

“All the time,” he said. “It’s been an interesting journey.”

The student capacity is nearly maxed out. So, what’s next?

Build another school.

“That’s what we’re working on,” he said. “Everything has its time, right?”

The first quarter academic awards ceremony at Grace Christian School was coming to an end, and Lynette Thomas had yet to hear her daughter’s name called.

Briana Thomas had enrolled at the pre-K-to-8 faith-based private school in Ocala as a sixth-grader that August and had aced every test. Lynette thought it was odd Briana hadn’t been recognized.

Not really.

There was still one more award to go.

High Honor Roll for kids with all A’s.

A name was called. Briana Thomas.

“I cried,” Lynette said. “I was not expecting that.”

Lynette enrolled her three children at Grace Christian School at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year with the help of Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Opportunities (FES-EO), managed by Step Up For Students.

“It's a big help because if I didn't have this scholarship, it would be something that I absolutely couldn't afford,” said Lynette, a single mom who works in catering.

“It’s a humongous blessing, and (my children) don't take it for granted. They always tell me, ‘You know, we're so blessed to have received that scholarship.’ And Briana is always like, ‘Mom, I'm gonna make you proud.’ ”

Briana, now an eighth grader, plans to attend Trinity Catholic High School in the fall. She is already researching colleges and has talked about a career as a veterinarian, doctor, or photographer.

Lynette calls Briana “my little Einstein.”

“It’s like her mind is on steroids,” Lynette said.

“I’m one of those students who strives and thrives to get straight A’s,” Briana said. “My grades are very important because the higher grades you get, the higher you achieve in life. I try my very hardest to get the best grades because that’s what colleges are looking for.”

When asked what she likes most about her school, Briana said, “The dedication, passion, and commitment to education shown by the teachers. I appreciate them.”

This made her mom chuckle.

“Normally kids are afraid to speak with the principal and assistant principal, but they are super nice and have built a relationship with every student,” Lynette said. “They’re the best.”

 

Lynette admitted she had more than a little anxiety when she enrolled Briana, Omari (now in the fifth grade), and Madison (second grade) at Grace Christian. It has everything she was looking for in a school: a faith-based curriculum and the favorable teacher-to-student ratio that come with smaller class sizes.

But …

“I was scared to death,” Lynette said. “I didn’t know if my child would excel in private school.”

That fear was quickly put to rest. Briana has been on the honor roll every quarter. That’s 10 and counting. Not surprisingly, she’s a member of the National Junior Honor Society.

“She’s a very bright child,” said Debbie Bruni, Grace Christian’s Admissions Director & Events Coordinator.

Omari and Madison are also doing well academically.

Briana (percussions) and Omari (euphonium) are in the band at the Riley Arts Center in Ocala. Briana also plays basketball, volleyball and swims.

Lynette’s children attended their district school before the COVID pandemic. She tried homeschooling during the pandemic but admitted it wasn’t ideal. After learning about the FES-EO scholarship, she began a tour of private schools in the Ocala area.

Grace Christian was the last school on her list. Bruni was the tour guide, and it was her advice that sold Lynette.

“I tell everybody who visits, please go visit other schools because you have to make this decision with your heart, not your head,” Bruni said. “It’s one of the biggest decisions you're going to make for your child's life. They're here most of the day, and we are a family here. We all work together. We love and nurture these children and bring them up in Christ and you’ll see your child blossom.”

Lynette was sold.

“The staff at Grace Christian is amazing,” Lynette said. “Sometimes I cry, and I call them, and I'm like, ‘Thank you guys so much for taking excellent care of my babies.’ ”

Sometimes Lynette makes the staff cry, like the morning after she drove the children to school and told Bruni that during the ride, they were laughing and singing hymns.

“They want to go to school,” Lynette told Bruni.

“We hear that a lot,” Bruni said. “We help to bring them up as better people.”

Briana said she entered Grace Christian with the typical nerves that come with attending a new school. Will I make friends? Will I be able to handle the work? Much like her mother, that anxiety didn’t last long.

She was invited to sit at a table for lunch during her first day. Friendships were made.

Briana said she loves the faith-based atmosphere at school. Students pray every day and attend church once a week. She has received the school’s Light of Christ Award every year.

She also likes the class trips – Washington, D.C. in the sixth grade and camping in the seventh.

And she likes being challenged academically.

“Sometimes her friends invite her out and she tells them, ‘No. I have to finish my homework,’ ” Lynette said. “If it wasn’t for the scholarship, she would never get to go to that school. It’s amazing to see her do so well.”

The story: After two court victories in the 1990s, Wisconsin, the national birthplace of modern-era school choice, now faces a court challenge that, if successful, could send more than 60,000 students back to the state’s district schools.

This time, a brewery owner, former congressional candidate and super PAC founder is funding a case that argues the state’s four scholarship programs and independent charter schools, which are authorized by organizations other than school districts, are a “cancer” with a funding method that has put school districts into “a death spiral.” The case, brought on behalf of eight Wisconsin residents, is going straight to the state Supreme Court.

School choice supporters say the lawsuit is an attempt to capitalize on this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which gave liberals a 4-3 majority for the first time in 15 years. The high court has not announced whether it will hear the case.

Flashback: In 1990, Wisconsin launched the nation’s first K-12 school choice program, empowering low-income parents to remove their children from failing Milwaukee schools and enroll them in the city’s private schools. The scholarship allowed up to 1,000 students to attend a non-sectarian private school of their families’ choice.

The ink on the bill was barely dry before it ended up in a legal challenge that made it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Opponents argued that the legislation was a special interest program and that lawmakers approved it improperly. An appeals court struck down the program, but state supreme court upheld it in a 4-3 ruling, saying in the majority opinion that the program’s limited scope “is not an abandonment of the public school system.”

The programs survived a second court challenge in 1998 when the state supreme court ruled that the state’s expansion to let religious schools participate did not violate the federal Establishment Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.

State of play:  Today, four school choice programs serve Wisconsin families, including three for lower-income families and one for students with special needs. The state also  Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), a public interest law firm, recently filed a brief outlining why it thinks the court should decline the request to consider the case. The state also offers independent charter schools as another option.

The organization has also filed a motion to represent 22 families as intervenors if the high court agrees to hear the case. WILL attorney Cory Brewer sat down with NextSteps to share some details. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q. The state supreme court has already upheld Wisconsin’s school choice programs twice in the 1990s. Why is this happening now?

A. We think this petition is politically motivated based on the recent shift in the makeup of the court.  A primary backer of the case is Kirk Bangstad, who owns the Minocqua Brewing Company and runs the Minocqua Brewing Super PAC. The Super PAC has a history of supporting liberal candidates and has been telegraphing aspects of this case for weeks on Facebook. The state’s educational establishment is lining up to attack choice and charter schools with this case. The state teachers union has expressed support for the case. One of the petitioners is Julie Underwood, the former dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

Q. So, what is the new argument the petitioners are making about the programs’ constitutionality?

A. The lawsuit brings three claims as to why each of those four programs is illegal. Those claims are:

• the programs violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s “public purpose” doctrine;
• The way those programs are funded violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s uniform taxation clause
• Those programs lack sufficient supervision by the superintendent of public instruction.

The fourth claim they raise in the lawsuit challenges “revenue limits” which impose a cap on how much money each school district is allowed to generate per pupil from all sources (this is a way to control property tax expenses, and revenue limits have been in place since the 1990s).

Q. What allows the petitioners to take this directly to the state Supreme and bypass lower courts? 

A. The Wisconsin Constitution provides the Wisconsin Supreme Court with so-called original jurisdiction. This gives the court the power to hear cases that have not first been heard by the lower courts. Sometimes, a quick and definitive answer to a legal question serves the public interest. The court has historically been fairly sparse on original actions over the years, and cases requiring complex and intensive factual development are not appropriate for original action. Normally, when deciding whether to accept a case as an original action, the court errs on the side of caution.

Q. Does the Supreme Court usually agree to hear direct petitions? 

A.  A Marquette professor studied this issue a few years ago. According to him, from the 2003-04 term through the 2020-21 term, there were 103 original action petitions denied and 15 granted, seven of which were in the 2019-20 term. Each year, the court hears about 50 to 60 cases total, so original actions do not constitute a significant part of its workload.

Q. How are the public schools actually doing in Wisconsin? The plaintiffs say in their petition that the scholarship programs have put school districts in a “death spiral” and say that for every scholarship student funded, the district lose the equivalent of funding for five students. What is your response?

A. We don’t believe petitioners’ claims are rational or factually accurate. Public schools continue to receive additional funding every year, and frankly school choice is very popular with the voters of Wisconsin. Also, school districts in Wisconsin are funded through a combination of state and local aid, and the local aid means that public schools get substantially more than the voucher in most every case. Inflation-adjusted spending is far higher today than when school choice began in 1990.

Q. If these petitioners prevail and the programs are shut down, what would that mean for school choice families in Wisconsin? Also, how would it impact district schools that must absorb many of these students? 

A. The stakes could not be higher. Over 60,000 students could see their education options go away if the relief sought by the petitioners were to be granted. We believe this would have a massive negative impact, including on public schools. Not only do public schools benefit from the competition, but we do not believe they have the capacity to absorb all the displaced students. As for practical implications, school choice enrollment (Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Racine Parental Choice Program, Wisconsin Parental Choice Program and the Special Needs Scholarship Program) is 54,949 for the 2023-24 school year. Independent charters enroll another 10,802 students. Demographically, school choice is disproportionately used by students from minority backgrounds. According to data from the state report card, approximately 32% of participating students are African American, 28% are Hispanic, 32% are white, and the remainder are something else.

So last week I related the incredibly weak evidence for the “death” of district schooling in Arizona. That evidence shows flat to gently sloping enrollment district enrollment, all-time highs for spending and remarkable academic improvement. Given that Arizona districts look more like an Olympic gold medalist than a corpse, I decided to check Florida for signs of mortality.

Behold: the “death” of Florida district education:

Rather than “dying” Florida school districts have added a number of students more than three times the size of the K-12 enrollment of Wyoming between 2003 and 2021 despite the growth of choice options. Moreover, Florida’s spending per pupil increased faster than inflation during this period, so more students and a higher real spending per pupil is a very odd way to “destroy” school districts.

Private choice enrollment has grown since 2021 (the latest data available across sectors) and now is likely slightly above Florida charter school enrollment. That would be because Florida’s lawmakers have (wisely) adopted policies to create a demand-driven K-12 system. Let’s check the NAEP to see how that went pre-pandemic:

Not bad, especially considering that Florida made huge NAEP progress before 2003 (before all states began participating in NAEP). As you can see from Figure 1, a large majority of Florida students still attend district schools, so we can safely infer that those district schools perform far better than they did before the advent of choice in the 1990s.

The headline: Families who enrolled their children at a new Jewish day school in South Florida were forced to temporarily seek other options after local zoning and permitting issues delayed the school’s opening.

Behind the headline: A new law granting universal K-12 scholarship eligibility to all Florida families has created record demand. More families are leaving states like New York, slowing growth in Jewish schools there and fueling a boom in demand for Jewish schools in Florida.

Between the lines: Bet Midrash Ohr Ha-Chayim Ho-Kadosh had planned to open the K-8 private school last month on the first four floors of the Home Tower, an 18-story building in the South Florida city of Hollywood. But first, officials had to seek a special land use exception from the city officials. A charter school next door used to occupy the same space in the Home Tower that Bet Midrash plans to use, which would make it seem like a slam dunk.

Not so fast: City planners recommended approval of the special exception, but with conditions. Those included updating a traffic study, getting a road access permit from the Florida Department of Transportation, busing all students, and staggering pickup and drop-off times with the neighboring charter school. Bet Midrash agreed to all of it.

Yes, but: Despite the staff recommendation and a federal law preventing local governments from placing undue land-use burdens on religious institutions, the city Planning and Development Board voted it down 5-2. The reason? Concerns about traffic congestion. The board also said school leaders failed to provide a complete traffic study, which the planners said was okay if they submitted an updated one.

Big picture: A law passed in 2022 reined in local government rules that blocked new charter schools. It allowed charter schools to skip certain land use hurdles if they were housed in churches, museums, libraries, colleges or universities, community service centers, theaters, cinemas, or if the proposed location had recently housed another school or child care center as long as the sites met health, safety and welfare standards.

If Bet Midrash were a charter school, these changes would have helped it get a local government green light.Why it matters: Despite skyrocketing demand, private school founders still face many barriers to getting their doors open. Finding a suitable location and being able to afford it is formidable, says Eric Oglesbee, director of the Drexel Fund, a national nonprofit that supports new schools in underserved areas. That’s especially true for first timers without deep pockets or pre-existing local government relationships.

“Single founders are often bootstrapping their way to opening a school. They don’t have connections to have conversations (with local officials) ahead of time,” he says. “You can rack up thousands of dollars on a prospective site…and find that it falls through.”

What’s next: Bet Midrash is expected to appeal the planning board’s denial to the Hollywood City Commission, which could hear the matter as early as Sept. 20. Meanwhile, the school remains closed while it works out unrelated health and safety permitting issues with local officials.

 

The Teach Coalition Office of Jewish Education Policy and Research released a study last week on enrollment in New York Jewish Day Schools. Enrollment growth has slowed, and after exploring multiple potential causes, they concluded that a primary driver has been Florida attracting young families:

"We therefore conclude that slowing enrollment growth in New York is likely because Jewish families are moving to other states…We cannot definitively answer why Jewish families appear to be leaving New York. However, since 2015 we have observed the highest Jewish kindergarten enrollment growth in states with a combination of lower cost of living, lower tuition costs, and/or government sponsored K-12 scholarships. It therefore seems likely that the high costs of living and Jewish education is driving young families out of New York…Indeed, California – which like New York has cost of living and tuition rates considerably higher than the national average – also saw a decline in Jewish kindergarten enrollment since 2015."

I suspect this trend is just getting warmed up. I’m aware of reports of families moving to Arizona from California and elsewhere in part to participate in K-12 choice programs. Governors have competed fiercely for companies for decades, but now that competition has trended to include a competition for residents and taxpayers.

The governors of Alabama and Texas have announced their support for taking their states green on the above unofficial “rubusto choice” map. If you are the parent of young children, and you find yourself in a gray state, a readily available solution would be to move to a state that is willing to put you in the education driver’s seat. Life is short; best to take control of it.