On a Wednesday morning in early January, a day after he turned 20, Josep Amiguet walked into a classroom inside Matherly Hall on the edge of campus for his intermediate microeconomics class, his first as a student at the University of Florida.

“OK,” he remembers thinking, “I’m here.”

It took three years of laser-like focus on his studies at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami and three semesters of work at Santa Fe College in Gainesville before Josep reached his goal of enrolling at Florida and studying economics.

“It really was a good feeling,” he said.

Josep’s path to Florida wasn’t as straight as he would have liked. A poor year academically as a freshman at Columbus, which he attended on an education choice scholarship, forced the South Miami native to play catchup during his final three years at the private Catholic high school.

He was not accepted to Florida after graduating Columbus in the spring of 2020. So, he attended Santa Fe to work on an associate degree, graduating in December 2021.

He reapplied to Florida and was accepted, receiving the confirmation email last November while studying for a psychology exam.

“It was a cool moment,” he said.

What wasn’t cool, Josep will tell you, was what he called the “below staller” grades on his report card as a Columbus freshman and the weeks he spent in summer school.

“Why am I here?” he remembered asking himself.

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For Leidiana Candelario, moving from the Dominican Republic to Miami at age 8 was a major lifestyle transition.

It didn’t go very well at first — until an education choice scholarship changed everything.

Leidiana was miserable in her assigned elementary school, describing herself as an “outcast.” Her unfamiliarity with English made her a target of bullying.

“Every weekday I anxiously waited to go home from school, as home became my shelter,” she says.

Home for the family of five was a small room behind her father’s shop. Those cramped quarters were preferable to the misery she was enduring in school. But her future was grim.

“I was unable to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” she says.

A ray of hope appeared in the form of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students, administered by Step Up For Students. After her parents applied and were awarded the scholarship, they now had options:  They could afford to send Leidiana and her two sisters to the school they chose because it was the best fit for their needs – La Progresiva Presbyterian School.

“The moment my father, with excitement in his eyes, told me ‘Mi hija, nos dieron la beca!’ (“My daughter, they gave us the scholarship!”), I knew the best of changes would come,” Leidiana said.

At La Progresiva, Leidiana blossomed. No longer an outcast, she was warmly received, and thrived. The school’s principal, Melissa Rego, is a former public school teacher who also is the daughter of Cuban exiles. The student body includes many descendants of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Dominicans. More than two-thirds don’t have parents who attended college.

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Editor’s note: This article appeared Thursday on washingtonexaminer.com.

Republican lawmakers introduced twin bills in Congress Thursday that would establish a federal school choice program by enacting a $10 billion tax credit program to fund education scholarships.

The Educational Choice for Children Act was introduced by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) in the House of Representatives and by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in the Senate, and it has several high-profile co-sponsors, including Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Steve Daines (R-MT), as well as Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jim Banks (R-IN), Burgess Owens (R-UT), and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

“Our children’s education is the key to America’s future success," lead sponsor Walorski said in a statement exclusively provided to the Washington Examiner. "Every child should have the opportunity to live the American Dream — regardless of their ZIP code or socioeconomic background.

“Offering families school options will help millions of children access the best possible education for them. As we look to our nation’s future, this investment will restore power to parents and equip every American child to thrive.”

The legislation would create a $10 billion federal tax credit program to incentivize donations to scholarship-granting organizations that would then be used to cover expenses related to public and private K-12 education.

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Editor’s note: This commentary from William Mattox, a resident fellow at the James Madison Institute and a reimaginED guest blogger, originally appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of Education Next.

 My son Richard has the chutzpah of Hank Greenberg, the greatest Jewish baseball player of all time. So, soon after we moved to Florida, Richard tried out for the baseball team at Tallahassee’s Leon High, even though he didn’t go to school there.

Richard was considered a home schooler at the time, but “hybrid schooler” would have been more accurate: He took classes from an online provider, a small private school, and a performing arts program.

Richard made the team, and by midseason lots of new baseball buddies were hanging around our house on weekends. Soon we discovered that Richard wasn’t the only “hybrid student” on the ball club that year.

Leon’s first baseman spent his mornings taking online courses through the Florida Virtual School, the knuckleball pitcher was taking a “dual enrollment” English class through the community college, and the left-handed pro prospect had enrolled in a financial management course at a local college (in case he was drafted).

Moreover, one of Leon’s outfielders had figured out an ingenious way to get a music education few families could afford out of pocket. This kid took mostly music classes at Leon by day and then several online courses at night and during the summer. He ended up being a four-time All-State musician and getting a college offer from Juilliard.

When I first encountered all these hybrid students, I figured there must be something in the water at Leon High. But I came to realize that many of these unconventional schooling options were the by-product of reforms former governor Jeb Bush had initiated, especially the creation of the Florida Virtual School.

The rise of hybrid schooling bodes well for students whose needs, gifts, interests, and learning styles do not align with the factory school model of the 20th century, and for parents who know that no school can maximize the potential of every child every year in every way.

There is a Magic School Bus, but no magic school.

Customized education is good for all kids and not just for academic reasons. Several years ago, Richard entered a local talent competition structured much like American Idol. Different singers would perform at big community gatherings and then people would vote for the ones they considered the best.

Richard kept advancing week after week, until on the night of the finals, one of the organizers took me aside and said, “I don’t get it. You guys just moved here a year or so ago, and yet Richard seems to have a really strong base of support.”

As Richard’s proud papa, I wanted to tell this guy, “Of course, Richard’s got lots of support—he’s the best one.” But I knew what this guy was getting at, so I explained, “See that guy over there? That’s Richard’s drama teacher at Young Actors Theatre. He gets all his thespian friends to vote for Richard.”

Then I said, “See that family over there? They know Richard from baseball. Those kids over there took classes with Richard at the classical Christian school. The college students way back there know Richard from Young Life youth ministry. And those kids over there are in the AP classes Richard is taking at Leon.”

The contest organizer realized that Richard’s social network was far larger than he’d expected. What I marveled at was how diverse his friendship network was. Gay. Straight. Christian. Non-Christian. Jocks. Thespians. Nerds. Cool kids. Richard’s friends reflect the diversity of his hybrid-schooling life.

Now, I’m not so naive as to think that hybrid schooling will eradicate high school cliques or classroom bullying. But customized schooling can offer kids a far richer, and more varied, social experience than they might otherwise get.

And when you add these social benefits to the educational advantages of customized schooling, you can see why I’m glad that Jeb Bush and other reformers had the Hank Greenberg–like chutzpah to change the way Florida does education.

Editor’s note: This commentary from Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy based in Michigan, appeared Monday on the center’s website.

There is an understandable challenge in writing about Michigan’s attempt to expand parental choice in education. Until recently, journalists who cover state issues and debates have had little reason to investigate the larger movement, even as Michigan remains surrounded by states that have adopted private education choice programs.

Providing accurate coverage of Student Opportunity Scholarship accounts is also complicated by the policy’s numerous moving parts. The proposal is designed to give parents greater flexibility and meet many students’ educational needs. It is also carefully crafted to clear the formidable legal barrier the state maintains through its “Blaine Amendment.” Grasping the full mechanics of the proposal takes significant effort.

As time goes on, though, there’s less justification for labeling the proposal as a “voucher-like” program, as a recent Bridge Michigan article describes it. (Chalkbeat Detroit earlier had to correct misrepresentations in its description of the proposal.)

The term “voucher” elicits a negative reaction from a sizable segment of voters otherwise favorable to choice. Yet Michigan’s proposal differs from school vouchers in two key respects: Funds come from incentivized private donors rather than a government treasury and unlike vouchers, they can be used for a wide variety of educational expenses, rather than just private school tuition.

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Editor’s note: This article appeared Monday on City & State Pennsylvania’s website. You can read the Commonwealth Foundation’s full plan here.

A Harrisburg free-market think tank unveiled its 2023 legislative agenda this week, which proponents say is backed by polling data and could help revitalize the commonwealth – if lawmakers adopt its recommendations.

The Commonwealth Foundation’s “Better Pennsylvania” plan proposes a raft of reforms to how the state approaches education, tax policy, criminal justice and labor unions, among other topics.

“It’s a 23-point agenda that equips lawmakers and state officials with a very practical roadmap to get Pennsylvania back on the right track, restore hope to our citizens across the Commonwealth, and set us on a better path that allows all Pennsylvanians to flourish,” said Jennifer Stephano, the Commonwealth Foundation’s executive vice president.

The policy plan includes a slate of recommendations that have become hallmarks of the think tank’s work in state government. The plan calls for an expansion of the state’s tax credit scholarship programs, the creation of restricted-use Education Opportunity Accounts, and a report card-style grading system for public schools.

The Commonwealth Foundation also calls for the implementation of spending limits on state government, replacing certain tax credits with broader business tax cuts and pulling the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon pricing initiative.

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On this episode, reimaginED Senior Writer Lisa Buie talks with Shawn McCormick, a Florida law enforcement officer, husband, and father of four. McCormick’s children became eligible for a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options after the passage of House Bill 3, which extended eligibility to law enforcement families regardless of household income.

Among the bill’s incentives:

• A $5,000 signing bonuses for new law enforcement officers who live in Florida or current officers transferring from out of state; officers must complete training and work two years to qualify for the bonus
• Coverage of tuition, fees, and up to $1,000 of eligible education expenses for trainees enrolled in a law enforcement officer basic recruit training program through the creation of the Florida Law Enforcement Academy Scholarship Program
• A reimbursement program that will pay for up to $1,000 of equivalency training costs for certified law enforcement officers who relocate to Florida or members of special operations forces who become full-time law enforcement officers in Florida

“I learned about (the expansion of scholarship eligibility to law enforcement officers) through one of the teachers at our school. They were very excited to ask me if I knew about it. I thought, ‘That’s great, but there’s no way I would qualify, or it would work out for me.’ Once I started to do a little research into it, I was dumbfounded.

“It was a blessing … it’ll allow me to have more time for my kids. It translates into a nicer, more friendly dad who is around more often, less stressed. You blink your eyes, and your kids are grown, and I’m realizing that every minute I can spend with my kids and not working is huge.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

• The pivotal childhood experience that inspired McCormick to pursue a law enforcement career
• Why McCormick and his wife chose Catholic schools for their children
• Sacrifices the McCormicks had made to afford tuition on a law enforcement salary
• How McCormick learned about his eligibility for the scholarship
• How receiving the scholarships will affect McCormick’s career and family life 

Editor’s note: This commentary, which references Florida’s school choice programs, appeared Thursday on wirepoints.org.

Leading into Chicago’s most violent Memorial Day weekend in five years – leaving 42 wounded and nine dead  – the city suspended days off for cops and played up neighborhood hang-outs with live DJs.

For teens and very young adults at risk as perpetrators or victims of violence, the idea was “give them something to do.” It didn’t work. The dismaying body count included two mass shootings. After the holiday weekend’s tragedies, one Chicagoan said, “The root issue is lack of opportunities. You got a lot of young people that don’t have parental help.”

Now we’re getting warm. How to create opportunity is debated fiercely. Perhaps that’s as it should be. But really, we’re running out of time. So let’s just say it: Opportunity for at-risk kids has to include full-on, raging K-12 school choice. So that children from low-income households can benefit from high-expectations learning and get on a path to career and life success.

Without that shift in priorities, things will continue as they are. No one can claim urban violence will quickly or fully cease once stronger school choice programs such as school vouchers take hold in Illinois.

But we need to make pathways to successful adult life wider and longer. No one could be happy with the baseline conditions. Eighty percent of Chicago homicide victims are blacks and 70% or more of known perps are Black, according to Chicago Police data. Black population in the city has declined 34% between the 1.2 million of 1980 and the nearly 800,000 of 2021.

Together, parents, students, teachers, and school administrators are responsible for academic outcomes. In Chicago Public Schools, those outcomes are bleak, though. Only 17% of K-8 black students in CPS and 25% of Latino students can read at grade level, according to 2019 State Report Card data.

With results like that, you wouldn’t expect anyone to get high marks, including teachers.

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Editor’s note: This commentary from Jesse Ramos, community engagement director at Americans for Prosperity-Montana, appeared Sunday on missoulian.com.

In my last column, I advocated for an education system where the money we spend on each student follows them, allowing them to prioritize their individual needs.

I have been told I am being naive and idealistic. Such an approach would cost too much. We would have to tear down the current education system. These criticisms are common defenses of the status quo.

Montana already has the foundation for a better education system. While there is much work to be done, Montana is already moving in the right direction.

Montana’s Tax Credit Scholarships program has been around since 2015, but the program was severely underutilized and overly constrained until last year. Tax credit scholarships provide an opportunity for more Montana families to choose an education that fits the unique needs of their children by providing a tax credit-funded scholarship.

Tax credit scholarships allow Montana taxpayers the choice to have a portion of their taxes allocated to a student scholarship non-profit. That organization then provides those funds to families to choose the right school for their children. Everyone wins.

These tax credits provide the opportunity for personalized education — which has historically only been afforded to the wealthy — to any Montana family that can get access to funds. Tax-credit scholarships allow students to succeed in the classroom and empower them to be better citizens.

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Denisha Merriweather, director of public relations and content marketing at the American Federation for Children and founder of Black Minds Matter, made another guest appearance this week on the Ricochet Audio Network.

On this episode, Merriweather, a former Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipient, shares with Ricochet hosts Andrew Gutmann and Beth Feeley the life-changing impact a quality education had on her life.

The former political appointee at the U.S. Department of Education also discusses the recent Old Parkland Conference, self-described as a gathering to discuss alternative proven approaches to tackling the challenges facing Black Americans today, which featured Clarence Thomas, Glenn Loury, Jason Riley, Ian Rowe and Shelby Steele.

You can listen to the podcast here.