A bill that would allow teachers and students to focus on mastery of grade-level skills rather than grades unanimously cleared the Senate Education Committee Tuesday.

Filed by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R- St. Petersburg), SB 226 would expand an existing “competency-based” pilot program to any school district that wants to participate. The program allows students to earn credits based on mastery of content and skills regardless of how much time they spend in the classroom.

A similar bill already has cleared one subcommittee in the House chamber.

Pinellas, Palm Beach and Seminole County school districts, as well as the University of Florida’s P.K. Yonge Development Research School, have been participating in competency-based learning since 2016, when the Florida Legislature permitted them to apply to the Florida Department of Education for waivers from state testing regulations.

Testifying Tuesday in support of the bill, P.K. Yonge director Lynda Hayes spoke about the school’s success, stressing that removing time requirements is a necessary step for schools in preparing students for graduation.

“If we are to really personalize and customize for our students, we need flexibility of time during the school day,” Hayes said. “Some students need more time in some classes and less time in others.”

Hayes pointed to P.K. Yonge’s more than 98 percent graduation rate and the fact that 96 percent of its students pursue postsecondary opportunities as proof of the program’s success.

The bill would allow participating schools to develop an alternative grading system in grades 6 through 12 as long as they continue to utilize a 4-point scale to determine grade point averages for college and scholarship applications.

Brandes filed a similar bill during the 2018 legislative session, which failed to get a hearing in the Senate Education Committee.

Committee chair Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah), an ardent supporter of educational choice, praised Brandes for re-introducing the bill this year.

“Thank you for helping bring us out of this agrarian calendar we seem to be stuck in,” Diaz said.

The bill received support at the committee hearing from both the left-leaning League of Women Voters and right-leaning Americans For Prosperity.

“Anytime you have the League of Women Voters and Americans For Prosperity on the same side of a bill, it may be a sign of the apocalypse,” Brandes said.

There will be at least one more committee stop for the bill before it is heard on the Senate floor. With full legislative approval, the expansion would go into effect for the 2019-20 school year.

TALLAHASSEE – In a 5-3 party-line vote, the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would eliminate a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income families.

The bill, SB 7070, creates the Family Empowerment Scholarship program. It includes other provisions related to a teacher bonus program and funding for social services at public schools.

“What we’re doing is trying to find common balance and make sure all students have the best education possible,” said committee chair Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah).

Diaz expressed concern that the definition of public education “keeps getting twisted.”

He added: “The reason we created public education in this country to begin with was because we had to have a populace that was educated and civic-minded that could be entrusted in continuing our republic. Our duty is to educate the children. Our duty is not to where they’re educated.”

Diaz said that philosophically, parts of the bill “bring us out of the 19^th century” and allow parents to provide direction for each child.

Unlike the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which is funded with donations from corporations that receive tax credits, the proposed Family Empowerment Scholarship program would be funded through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).

The value of the scholarships would be 95 percent of the district average per-student funding in the FEFP. Like the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, eligibility would be limited to students whose household income levels do not exceed 260 percent of the federal poverty level ($62,650 for a family of four). The program would be capped at 15,000 students in 2019-20. That cap would increase with the annual growth of public school students in the state.

“This bill (allows) us to address the waiting list for tax credit scholarships for parents who want to make the (proper decisions) for their child but can’t because of the waiting list,” Diaz said.

Sen. Janet Cruz (D-Tampa) spoke against the measure, saying funding is being diverted away from public schools.

“The struggling traditional public schools need funding to improve,” she said.
Ninety percent (of Florida families) choose to attend public schools. Where is the funding for what they choose?”

Cruz added: “We don’t need a new voucher program. The (state) constitution says we have to provide for public education, which the Legislature ignores year after year. I will not support dismantling funding for the public school system, and I think this bill is just that.”

Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland) disagreed, saying the bill will benefit parents, students and school districts.

“It doesn’t oppose public schools in any way,” she said, adding that the program would give parents the choices they need to put their children in the right educational environment.

Sen. David Simmons (R-Longwood) voted for the bill but expressed reservations about funding the new scholarship program through the FEFP, a concern shared by Sen. Bill Montford (D-Quincy), who opposed the bill. Simmons suggested wait-list families can be accommodated a different way.

“All we need to do is simply provide a credit,” he said. “Because there’s another $2.6 billion in taxes for which a credit can be given. All we need to do is say, ‘Certify that amount,’ and then that credit can be given.”

Several parents spoke in favor of the bill. Among them was Giselle Gomez of Ocala, a Realtor and single mother of Arturo Gomez III, 6, who currently is on the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list.

Gomez chose to pay out of pocket for Arturo to attend Redeemer Christian Academy, a private school, because she feared her son’s behavioral problems could not be properly addressed in a public school. While Arturo is happy and his behavior has improved at Redeemer, Gomez struggles to pay tuition.

“Being unable to make payments is embarrassing,” she said. “It makes me feel really bad as a mom.”

Gomez said that unlike many families who have the means to live near a neighborhood school that works for them, or who can afford a private school, she does not have those choices.

“I implore the Senate to end the waiting list so I and other moms don’t have to go through this,” she said. “A scholarship would make a world of difference to my son.”

Yahayra Marte, founder and administrator of Sunrise Academy in Orange City, told committee members it’s vital that the Legislature end the waiting list. Marte said she has waived tuition for 52 students and has reduced fees for 15 other waitlist students.

“That includes removing the requirement in the Senate bill that students on the current Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list must have attended a public school in the prior year in order to qualify for the new scholarship program,” she said. “Otherwise, it won’t benefit my 67 waitlist students.”

Among the public speakers who criticized the bill was Sally Butzin, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee, who said the new program would benefit only a “fortunate few” and divert money from public schools.

“I call this ‘education triage,’ ” Butzin said. “It’s a train bill, a take-it-or-leave-it, rather than (encouraging) debate. We oppose it, because it gives revenue for private and religious schools with no transparency, which is unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional, undemocratic, flawed logic and diverts resources to benefit only a few children.”

Enrollment in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship 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. (The program is administered by non-profits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

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. Step Up already has awarded more than 85,000 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.

Gov. Ron DeSantis last month proposed a state-funded “Equal Opportunity Scholarship” to eliminate the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list. The House has yet to release its bill that addresses the problem.

The new chairman of the Florida Senate Education Committee said Tuesday he wants to focus on expanding school choice.

“It is important to continue to meet the individual needs of every child,” said Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah. “My continued goal is to make sure that all parents have the best options available for their child. A full menu of parental choice options should be looked at.”

That menu, according to Diaz, should include expansion of education saving accounts, tax credit scholarships for low-income students, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning and vocational training. He also wants to revisit the issue of establishing a statewide authorizer for charter schools.

Diaz is newly elected to the Senate, but is an education veteran in the Capitol. He served six years in the Florida House of Representatives, with the last two as chairman of the PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. He spent nearly two decades working in Miami-Dade public schools before being hired as chief operating officer of Doral College.

Diaz helped craft two signature education laws that shaped education policy. HB 7069, among other things, created a new Schools of Hope grant program aimed at attracting high-performing charter schools to struggling areas. And HB 7055 created two scholarship programs: one for victims of bullying and violence and the other for struggling elementary school readers. The legislation also expanded a program giving principals more flexibility and greater authority over staffing, the curriculum and the budget.

Diaz was also instrumental in expanding the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students and the Gardiner Scholarship, which provide education savings accounts for students with special needs. Step Up For Students, which administers the scholarship programs, publishes this blog.

Now, as he takes the helm as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Diaz remains hopeful that the upcoming session may provide further opportunities to expand school choice options for more families. He also said school safety remains a top concern.

After the Parkland school shooting in February, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law increasing security measures at schools. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act requires all public schools to hire a school resource officer (SRO), a sheriff’s deputy or trained employee to carry a gun on campus.

Florida charter school officials are struggling to comply with the state’s new campus safety mandates, and Diaz said he supports expanding access to a guardian certification program that requires sheriffs’ department to train school personnel. But he does not support the recommendation of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission chairman Bob Gualtieri, who is Pinellas County’s sheriff. Gualtieri wants to equip school teachers with guns.

“Let’s get away from the arming teachers conversation, and let’s have a real conversation about how we provide special personnel to protect these kids,” Diaz said.

While some have speculated the House and Senate will differ on school choice issues in the upcoming legislative session beginning in March, Diaz disagrees.

“I think we are all in agreement that we need to do what is best for students in the state,” he said.

“The biggest challenge facing education is the fact the state continues to grow, and funding is going to be a challenge year to year because of the growing cost of health care and other items in the state budget. We need to continue to figure out how to effectively fund and provide opportunities for students.”

Diaz sees every session as an opportunity to be a game changer.

“I think the one difference in this session is you have a governor-elect who is going to come into office and has been clear about his bold stance on education,” Diaz said. “When you have that, it provides more of an opportunity for those changes to happen.”