Charter schools hit 5,000 mark nationwide

That's according to the Center for Education Reform, a group that likes charter schools a whole bunch and keeps good tabs on the numbers.

According to its latest stats, released today, Florida has 413 charters and they enroll 131,183 students - which is about 5 percent of all students.

Florida ranks No. 3 in both number of charters and enrollment, CEP figures show.

Pinellas school choice application period coming up soon

Parents, the application period for Pinellas school choice programs (magnets, fundamentals, career academies) for the 2010-11 school year is just around the corner, from Jan. 9 to Jan. 29. And this year, there's a new wrinkle -- an online application process. Read all the details here.

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Pinellas politicians: We want more fundamental high schools

Say this for the fundamental school crowd: They're well connected.

St. Petersburg Mayor Elect Bill Foster (above left), Pinellas County Commissioners Ken Welch (above right) and Nancy Bostock, Dunedin Mayor Dave Eggers, Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris and St. Petersburg City Councilmember Wengay Newton are all featured on a new handout that members of the Fundamental Schools Advocacy Network passed out at this morning's school board meeting - and all of them are saying they want more fundamental high schools in Pinellas.

Application period set for Pinellas school choice programs

Pinellas parents: The application period for magnet, fundamental and career academy programs for the 2010-2011 school year begins 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, and ends Friday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. New this year – parents will apply online using the Student Reservation System (SRS) rather than the phone system used in previous years. For more information, click here.

Pinellas fundamental school advocate to get award

Bud Zimmer, better known as "Mr. Fundamental" for his passionate support of Pinellas' fundamental schools, will be honored at today's school board meeting by a newly formed parents group.

The Fundamental Schools Advocacy Network (FAN) is giving Zimmer its first annual "Bud Light Award" (which is what Zimmer calls the informal "Bud Light" flashlights be bestows on others) for being instrumental in establishing the first fundamental school in Pinellas in 1976 and pushing for more ever since. There are now more than 7,000 fundamental seats at nine schools. The schools stress parental involvement and are routinely among the district's top academic performers.

"Bud motivates, encourages and when necessary, prods parents, teachers, administrators and School Board members alike in his advocacy for our students and our fundamental school program," FAN member Jean Willingham said in a written statement this morning. "He is a researcher, statistician, reporter and advocate ... "

Is virtual school a social wasteland?

The Wall Street Journal carries a piece today that explores the issue of social isolation in the growing field of virtual schooling.

Students may outperform their peers academically, the experts say.

"The disadvantage is that you may not learn to work with other people quite as well," said Elizabeth Birr Moje, an expert on online education at the University of Michigan.

Many virtual schools, including Florida Virtual, have looked for ways to deal with this issue, the WSJ notes. They offer clubs and camps that meet both online and in person, for instance. Some even schedule school dances.

This year, all Florida school districts began offering virtual programs in kindergarten through high school. Just wondering: What are your local virtual schools doing to make sure students make social, as well as academic, connections?

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Pinellas County student enrollment tops projections

Pinellas County schools lost considerably fewer students than expected this year, according to the district's 10-day count. The district projected it would have 102,550 students; on Tuesday, it had 103,302 - a difference of 752.

The numbers are still down from last year's 104,658, but a slower loss rate in Pinellas is welcome news to a district where funding woes have been made worse by declining enrollment.

Does credit go to more seats in fundamental schools? More seats in gifted programs? A lousy economy driving private school parents back to public schools? All of the above?

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Pinellas bus stop complaints spawn petition drive

Steamed about the bus stop situation in Pinellas? The folks behind this petition are.

Should Gibbs High become a fundamental school?

Sound like a long shot? It might be. But that has not deterred Bud Zimmer, a.k.a. Mr. Fundamental, from pitching it relentlessly in recent weeks, most recently in an e-mail to superintendent Julie Janssen and School Board Chairwoman Peggy O’Shea. “The teachers, parents and students will love it,” he writes.

At the Tiger Bay Club last week, Janssen said the district needed to look at the possibility of another fundamental high school program. But she told the Gradebook after her remarks that converting Gibbs into a fundamental school was not on the radar.

“What would you be saying to those families? That if you’re not involved, your kids can’t come here?” she said. “You can’t penalize children for their parents’ behavior.”

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Florida lawmakers look to give tax credits to businesses that back career ed

It's still not a fully formed idea, but some key Florida lawmakers are exploring a way to expand the corporate tax credit scholarship program -- which helps poor children escape underperforming public schools -- to support career and technical education.

State Rep. Will Weatherford, a Wesley Chapel Republican who chairs the House workforce appropriations committee, told the Gradebook that he and others are working on a bill that would take a percentage of the money that goes to the voucher program and give it to county education foundations. The caveat would be that the money must support workforce programs.

No one knows how much money might be available or what the details would look like. But "there's some appetite to look at that," Weatherford said. "There could be some baby steps" in the coming months.

Jon East, spokesman for the group that oversees the voucher program, told the Gradebook that his organization is highly supportive of the concept and will help to draft legislation.

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Hillsborough district, teacher group team with voucher organization for training

Here's a collaboration you might not have expected.

Step Up For Students, which oversees Florida's corporate tax credit scholarship program (vouchers to some of you), has joined forces with the Hillsborough school district and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association to improve the training of teachers at the private schools where voucher students end up.

Step Up For Students plans to provide at least $100,000 to help create professional development modules for those teachers.

Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia said in a release that the partnership makes sense for the community. “Ultimately, we all want to help teachers get better, wherever they’re teaching our kids,” Elia said.

HCTA president Jean Clements agreed. “This is not a competition. It’s about all of us doing our best to help children who come from very difficult circumstances. I can’t ignore the legitimate needs these children have.”

How's that for commitment to school choice?

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The schools Pinellas parents want out of ... and in to

We all know it’s true: Some schools are so popular, parents might camp out to get in. Others couldn’t pay their parents to stay. Here is the list of requests made by more than 3,000 Pinellas parents during last month’s open enrollment period. The requests, tallied by school, were provided by the district at The Gradebook’s request. They include first requests only. Here are some of the stand outs:

Among kindergarten parents:
Plumb Elementary. Wanting in: 34. Wanting out: 3.
Shore Acres Elementary. Wanting in: 16. Wanting out: 0.
Seminole Elementary. Wanting in: 1. Wanting out: 22.
San Jose Elementary. Wanting in: 2. Wanting out: 2.

Among grades 1-5:
Dunedin Elementary. Wanting in: 73. Wanting out: 20.
Leila Davis Elementary. Wanting in: 42. Wanting out: 6.
Sandy Lane Elementary. Wanting in: 7. Wanting out: 57.
San Jose Elementary. Wanting in: 11. Wanting out: 39.

Among middle schools:
Seminole Middle. Wanting in: 87. Wanting out: 7.
Meadowlawn Middle. Wanting in: 81. Wanting out: 5.
Dunedin Highland Middle. Wanting in: 8. Wanting out: 82.
Pinellas Park Middle. Wanting in: 6. Wanting out: 30.

Among high schools:
St. Petersburg High. Wanting in: 177. Wanting out: 17.
Seminole High. Wanting in: 119. Wanting out: 3.
Tarpon Springs High. Wanting in: 6. Wanting out: 92.
Dixie Hollins High. Wanting in: 11. Wanting out: 71.

In Pinellas, Lakeview Fundamental Elementary is No. 1

And Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary is No. 2, at least according to the number of points they received under the state's grading system, which is based on scores and gains on the FCAT.

Mr. Fundamental, Bud Zimmer, notes the rankings in his most recent "fundamentalgram." It shows how Lakeview, Tarpon Springs and the other fundamental schools rank against other schools statewide. It also shows how those rankings have fluctuated over the past four years.

We annually report school grades, but we don't often report on the points behind them. Maybe we should. If you want to see how the rest of the schools in Pinellas rank against each other, click here. (We plucked the info from the Department of Education's school grade site.)

A weekend interview about Florida's voucher program with Northwestern U. researcher David Figlio

Florida has the largest education voucher system in the country. And up to now, no one has been able to quantify whether children who use the vouchers to go to private schools get better schooling than those who stay behind. Northwestern University professor David Figlio finally has put some data to the question, and has concluded -- at least for now -- that those who leave perform no better or worse than those who don't. He spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about his research, his next steps, and his views on the spin that voucher advocates and opponents have given to his work.

What exactly prompted you to take a look at the way the voucher results are turning out?

Well, I've had a very longstanding interest in both school choice in general as well as the education of disadvantaged kids. This is the largest school voucher program in the United States, so in that regard I think it's a question of considerable national interest. And given that the vouchers are aimed specifically at low-income kids -- or kids from low-income families, that is -- it's targeting a key target population that is of direct interest to me. So to me it was very natural for me to think about what is happening to these schools, who is using the voucher programs, what schools are they choosing to go to, and is the voucher program leading to increased competition with the public schools, and are the kids doing better in the voucher program. Some of these questions I've investigated, and others I'm in the process of investigating now.

Poll: School vouchers

A new report shows that Florida students who use vouchers perform no better than those who don't. Should Florida continue the program?
Yes, the vouchers cost less than public school
No, the vouchers don't lead to better results

(Photo from Education Next)

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How much do we really spend per student in Florida?

Is it really about $7,000, as the St. Petersburg Times and every other Florida newspaper says? Or is it more in the $12,000 range?

In a recent email to the Gradebook, relentless voucher die-hard Andrew J. Coulson of the Cato Institute says obviously it’s the latter. By his calculations, which include federal money and construction dollars, it was about $12,000 in 2007-08.

The bigger figure makes corporate tax credit vouchers, which cost the state $3,950 each, look like an even better bargain, Coulson says. (He sent his email after reading Tuesday’s St. Peterburg Times story about vouchers.) But his point about per-pupil spending, and whether the figures most frequently used are the most accurate, matters beyond the voucher debate.

Don't rush to judgment on vouchers, researcher says

Education researcher Jay Greene was briefly quoted in today’s St. Petersburg Times voucher story, but he expounds at length on his blog.

“The problem is that the standard for success when it comes to school choice is that it has to produce a quick fix or critics deem it a failure and declare: 'We really ought to reconsider why we’re doing it.’ No one demands that every other education policy produce huge gains in a single year or they should be ‘reconsidered.’ Yes, promoters of policies may make unrealistic promises to get them adopted, but the standard for success should be long-term progress, not promises made by politicians."

On his blog, Sherman Dorn says expect vouchers to stay but not expand much.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Florida voucher students learning no more, no less than public school students, study shows

Florida students using corporate tax credit vouchers to attend private schools are making about the same academic progress as their peers in public schools, according to the results of a long-awaited studyobtained by the Gradebook this morning.

Depending on the spin-o-rama we all know is coming, the results either show that 1) vouchers have failed to deliver improved academic success, or 2) voucher kids are doing just as well as public school kids at far less cost to taxpayers.

The report, authored by former University of Florida economist David Figlio, compared the test score gains of voucher students vs. similar students in public schools. Voucher students do not have to take the FCAT, but legislation passed in 2006 and signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush required that they take a comparable standardized test so comparisons could be made. Figlio used test results from 2006-07 as a baseline to compare against results from 2007-08.

At a first glance, Figlio’s findings do not appear to be a direct hit for either side. And Figlio, now at Northwestern, urges caution because of technical considerations: “Because the retroactive 2006-07 test score collection was imperfect, it will be necessary to wait until the collection of 2008-09 scores before one can determine whether program participants’ gains are larger, smaller, or about the same as public school students’ gains.”

But Figlio’s secondary findings do put a dent in one of the arguments advanced by voucher critics – that vouchers will hurt public schools by cream-skimming the best students out. In fact, the opposite appears to be true. Writes Figlio:

“Program participants are more likely to come from lower-performing public schools prior to entering the program. In addition, they tend to be among the lowest-performing students in their prior school, regardless of the performance level of their public schools.”

We’ll post more results and reaction soon.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Crist signs tuition differential, corporate tax credit scholarship bills

Once upon a time (a year ago), Gov. Charlie Crist strenuously opposed tuition hikes at Florida's universities, even as the schools' leaders begged for more. Today, the governor signed a bill letting the universities raise tuition into law.

The governor also put his pen to new rules for corporate tax credit scholarships, known as vouchers to some critics. The program is gaining more widespread support as it becomes easier for low-income families to participate.

Finally, Crist closed off public access to dependent information of public employees. Thank Joel Chandler, who pressed the Polk school district to release such information, for the new exemption to the Sunshine Law.

Corporate tax credit scholarships: Enhancing Florida's public education?

In a new op-ed piece for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Florida School Choice Fund president Doug Tuthill argues that the voucher program for Florida low-income students is but one more option in a growing and diverse education menu including everything from IB to pre-K.

He cites the growing number of African-American and Democratic lawmakers who support the initiative as proof of the program's value.

"This growing bipartisan majority is embracing an expanded definition of public education that now includes a plethora of options for the state's 2.6 million students," Tuthill writes, also mentioning the studies that show the scholarship program saves Florida millions.

The point, he says, is to give all families -- not just wealthy ones -- education choices. Who could be against that? Right?

Of course, many disagree, saying the state should not be pulling scarce resources out of public schools to give to any private ones. Now it's your turn. Which side of the argument do you support?

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A weekend interview with John Kirtley, founder of Florida's corporate tax credit scholarships

Florida lawmakers again this year broadened the state's corporate tax credit scholarship program, which provides vouchers that allow low-income students to attend private schools. This time, the law changed to allow insurance companies to participate in the program and to make it easier for families to apply for the program. Along the way, the number of Democrats backing the idea continued to grow. Tampa businessman John Kirtley, who created the program and runs the group that implements it, spoke via e-mail with reporter Jeff Solochek about the successes the program has found.

Why do you think Florida needs to keep broadening participation in the corporate tax credit scholarship program?

In the past, we had insurance companies that wanted to participate but couldn't, because they pay insurance premium taxes instead of corporate income taxes. So that's why we wanted to expand the eligibility to that particular tax.

Regarding broadening children's participation in the program, our desire is very simple. We want economically disadvantaged children to have every possible education tool available to them and for the parents to be able to choose the school that works best, regardless of who runs it. We won't rest until every low-income family has that right. Most low-income parents are very satisfied with their assigned public school, because most public schools do a great job against great odds. But there are always going to be some children who need a different learning environment in order to thrive.

When you helped create the program, did you envision it working as it does now? Why or why not?

I really had no preconceived notions as to how it would work. I just had a desire to help low-income families have more educational options. Now, after being in the parental choice movement for over 10 years, I have a much better understanding of the role the program can play. This program is not a silver bullet to solve our challenges in K-12 public education. It is a crucial element of K-12 reform, but only one element. Many public school districts have done a great job creating more options for low-income children. I am very encouraged when I see what's being done in places like Dade, Hillsborough and Okaloosa. There you see excellent charters, magnets and career academies – and innovative partnerships with private entities like Embry Riddle University. However, some low-income children only thrive in school environments that can be accessed with the Tax Credit Scholarship. To ensure genuine equal opportunity, these schools must be a part of the mix.

What is the meaning of the increasing support of groups that initially opposed the idea?

Voucher bill headed to governor's desk

The folks that bring you Florida's corporate tax credit scholarships took no time in announcing the Senate's 26-11 passage of HB 453, which would permit insurance companies to participate and make it easier for families to apply.

Unlike in the House, where half the Democratic members backed the measure, Senate Democratic support was more muted. But Step Up For Students leaders took heart in the fact that half the legislative Black Caucus and the entire Hispanic Caucus voted for the bill.

Way back in the beginning (2001), the concept was created with just one Democrat on board.

“It’s so gratifying to see how far we have come politically,” Step Up for Students founder John Kirtley (in the yellow shirt) said in a news release. “The more that people know about our program, the more they can see that we’re a partner with public schools, that our goal is to help public education fulfill the promise of equal opportunity.”

Currently, about 23,400 low-income families use the scholarship program to send their children to about 1,000 different private schools.

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A weekend interview with Skardon Bliss, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools

As Florida lawmakers fight over the state's education budget, the fate of Florida Virtual School has come into play. Proposals call for the distance learning program to scale back its course offerings, and would allow other private providers to step into the void. Several groups, including home school parents and independent schools, have risen to oppose the changes. FCIS executive director Skardon Bliss spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about his organization's perspective on Florida Virtual School.

What part of the Florida Virtual legislation are you most concerned with?

There are really two parts. That is where the funding is set up so it will be in competition with private providers who are basically curriculum programs rather than actual teaching with certified Florida teachers behind them. So it will be the quality of the program which the private providers will be able to offer less expensively because they don't have the staff and the Florida requirements. And with the funding streams from the Florida school districts, they get to keep what's left of the FTE from what they pay any one of the private providers or the Virtual School. Obviously they're going to go with the cheapest program to keep the most money for the districts. Also, this bill limits the Florida Virtual School to the core curriculum.

What's wrong with that? I've heard a lot of people complaining about that.

Well, the core curriculum is just English, math, the basic requirements for graduation. They wouldn't be able to offer the elementary programs, they wouldn't be able to offer all kinds of extra things, fine arts and stuff like that they do.

And those things benefit the students in ways that their schools can't provide? Is that the argument?

Young Pasco petitioner snags an important signature

Gov. Charlie Crist signs Jessica Howard's petition seeking a change in the state's virtual education law. Courtesy of the Howard family.

Pasco County second-grader Jessica Howard got some important support this week for her request to amend Florida law to allow her to use the state's distance learning program without enrolling in a public school first.

Gov. Charlie Crist put his name on the dotted line when Jessica visited Tallahassee this week seeking to turn her grassroots idea into reality. Some key lawmakers said they'd try to add her proposal to legislation during conference discussions.

It will be interesting to see if Crist will sign a bill containing the idea, which past lawmakers rejected as potentially too expensive, if it ever crosses his desk.

Even more Democrats voting for vouchers

Last year, a surprisingly big handful of Democrats in the Florida House voted for an expansion of corporate tax credit vouchers. This morning, 21 did – which is about half of the Democratic caucus. It seems like we’ve written a variation on this story several times, but as long as the number of Florida Democrats supporting vouchers continues to grow, that’s news, isn’t it?

HB 453, which would expand the funding base for tax credit vouchers, passed 94-23. The Senate version is still pending.

The Tampa Bay area Dems who voted yes are Bill Heller, left, and Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg; Janet Long of Seminole; and Betty Reed and Mike Scionti of Tampa. Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg voted no.

 - Ron Matus, state education reporter

Need a voucher? Apply now

Florida's expanding corporate tax credit scholarship program has plenty of money to go to low-income students who wish to attend a private school next year.

And now is the time to apply.

Step Up For Students provides annual scholarships worth up to $3,950 that can be used at more than 1,000 private schools throughout the state. To qualify, families must meet the requirements that make them eligible for the federal free lunch program.

Know someone who might want to participate. There's more information at www.stepupforstudents.org or by calling 1-866-406-6923. There's $118 million available, first come, first served.

Differentiated accountability for voucher schools?

In Florida, we have differentiated accountability for public schools. Maybe we should also take a more nuanced approach to private schools that accept vouchers, suggests the Fordham Institute in a new report that looks at the issue broadly and not specifically from a Florida angle.

Call it the more-vouchers-more-scrutiny approach.

If private schools accept a lot of vouchers, maybe those students should have to take the FCAT. If too many of those students fall short, Fordham suggests, maybe those schools should be barred from getting any more vouchers:

"This approach respects the independence of schools that participate in a limited way in voucher programs. Yet it also acknowledges that private schools that survive predominantly on public funds – whether direct or indirect – are closer to being public schools, and thus should face increasing levels of public transparency and accountability."

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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More love for Florida Virtual School

The latest praise for the Florida Virtual School comes in the form of a cover story in the summer issue of Education Next magazine, out today. “Savvy leadership, strong political support, and a series of well-timed decisions around growth have helped FLVS become the country’s most successful virtual school, and perhaps one of its most important reform stories as well,” says the story, written by Bill Tucker, managing director at the Education Sector think tank.

The story offers an inside look at the school’s history; insights from everybody from former Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan to FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow; and factoids that haven’t circulated much in the Florida media, including recent jumps in black and Hispanic enrollment. It also notes that the school is facing new challenges in terms of growth and support.

“The school was surprised at the end of 2007 when key state Senate committee leaders convened a two-day workshop to hear from a variety of additional virtual school vendors, researchers and district officials,” Tucker writes. “While every legislator and speaker at the hearing expressed strong admiration and support for FLVS’s programs, it was clear that FLVS was no longer driving the agenda.”

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Guest post: Florida should allow private-school vouchers

Money is tight. Florida needs to do more with less. Former New York educator Dan Insdorf, who has written columns for the Winter Haven News-Chief, suggests the answer lies in vouchers. They cost less than public school education, he argues in a guest column that takes shots at much of the education establishment.

On his site schoolvoucherpetition.com, Insdorf goes so far as to advocate changing the Florida Constitution to say give all Florida students a voucher worth 75 percent of a public school education. Check out what he has to say and then let the discussion begin:

It costs approximately $14,000 per year to send a child to a Florida public school. Graduation rates average 60% to 70% with 50% of those entering college needing remedial education.  President Obama and Vice President Biden send their children to private school as do 50% of Florida elected officials. The average private/parochial school tuition is $6000.

A simple solution to the current budget crisis is to offer parents of public school students a $6000 voucher.

This would save Florida Counties 50% of the cost of educating our young people and the quality of the education would be vastly improved.  

If vouchers for all grades would not be acceptable, vouchers for high school are an absolute must.  Academic high schools are a big waste of time and money and do not properly serve their population.

FAQ on Pinellas school choice

While most of what you’ve been hearing lately about the Pinellas school district has concerned money woes and budget shortfalls, officials in the student assignment office have been moving forward in assigning children to schools for the 2008-09 academic year. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions parents have about the process.

Q. Can I still apply for a magnet, fundamental or career academy program?
A. The application period for magnets, fundamentals and career academies has ended, as has the acceptance period. Families on a waiting list for one of the programs could still get a call letting them know their child has been accepted.

Q. So what’s happening now?
A. The district is in the first of two open enrollment periods. This first open enrollment period, which runs through Friday , is only for parents of students in grades K-4 whose children are in their non-zoned, or “choice” school and wish to stay there.

Q. What do parents need to do to stay at their non-zoned school rather than move to their neighborhood school?
A. They must log on to the student reservation system through the district’s Web site, www.pcsb.org, using their home computer or the community computer at any school. They’ll need the password the district already has mailed to them and their child’s ID number and date of birth.

Be them scholarships or vouchers, bill moves forward

Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, made an impassioned defense before the House PreK-12 Policy Committee today for HB453, his bill to expand a state school choice program that provides scholarships to children from low-income families.

Saying the Corporate Income Tax Credit Program has saved the state $40 million with nearly 24,000 students participating, Weatherford said, "I can't think of a better program in the state of Florida when it comes to education."

Plenty of people in attendance appeared to disagree with that sentiment, including Democratic committee members Martin Kiar of Davie and Dwight Bullard of Miami.

Voucher supporters say Florida bolsters their case

Whether you like vouchers or not, you should know there is a growing body of research about them in Florida –- and that some researchers point to that research as proof that vouchers help public schools.

Greg Forster, a senior fellow at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, highlights 10 Florida voucher studies (and other studies from other states) in this new report. Among its findings:

"Contrary to the widespread claim that vouchers hurt public schools, (this report) finds that the empirical evidence consistently supports the conclusion that vouchers improve public schools. No empirical study has ever found that vouchers had a negative impact on public schools."

There’s plenty of back and forth on all this, of course. Last year, other researchers accused the Friedman Foundation of distorting the conclusions of one of those reports.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Are charter schools hurting private schools?

We're not sure. But this Sunday's St. Petersburg Times story made us wonder. As reporter Rita Farlow pointed out, private school enrollment in Pinellas County dropped nearly 10 percent between fall 2006 and fall 2007, and has dropped 20 percent since its peak in 2004.

The trend is about the same statewide, with private school enrollment dropping from a peak of 381,346 in 2004 to 335,211 in 2008. There's no doubt the economy is a factor, and so are fewer students, period. But here's a stat worth chewing on: Between 2004 and 2008, the number of charter school students in Florida rose from 67,512 to 105,239.

"Yeah, there has been some impact," Skardon Bliss, executive director of the Tampa-based Florida Council of Independent Schools, told the Gradebook. But it's not confined to charter schools, he said. There are also more public school choices in terms of magnet schools, fundamental schools and IB programs.

Parents leaving private schools for public schools frequently say they're leaving not only because of finances but because "the charter school down the road, or the IB school down the road, is just as viable," Bliss said.

Hmmm. Has anybody out there looked at this more closely? The Jebbies are often blamed for undermining public schools with vouchers. But the Jeb/voucher crowd also pushed charters. Could it be they were actually hurting private schools more?

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Voucher bill is filed

After last month’s OPPAGA report, was there any doubt that Florida lawmakers would push for a voucher expansion this year? HB 453, filed today by Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, would do that in several key ways.

It would expand the potential funding base for the Florida Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program by including insurance premium tax credits and, more important, some sales tax credits. It was not immediately clear how much broader the funding base would be with those additions.

The bill would also require -– if a scholarship funding organization requests it -- that the Florida Department of Education notify all families in a particular district whose children are eligible for free or reduced lunch that they are eligible for tax credit scholarships. The SFO would pick up the tab if it’s a communication beyond “any normal correspondence with eligible households.”

East Hilsborough gains IB school

Here's welcome news to families living in east Hillsborough:

School officials are planning an International Baccalaureate program at Strawberry Crest High, which opens in August. This marks the first IB high school in east Hillsborough.

But not everyone in the eastern county is getting a break from the long drive. Students living in the South Shore area will stay zoned for the IB program at King High School in Temple Terrace.

The district has more details on the IB boundary lines by middle school attendance zones. The first application period for all choice programs, including the IB magnet, opened today.

Strawberry Crest is the fourth high school in Hillsborough to gain a popular IB program. A maximum of 125 students will be admitted in each ninth-grade class until the program is full. Hillsborough will have to apply for IB status, as it has in the past.

"We don’t anticipate any problems at all," said Susan King, Hillsborough's magnet supervisor. "Been there, done that."

-- Letitia Stein, Times staff writer

Now take that, voucher critic

We know, we know. We’ve already devoted some space to the back-and-forth over the OPPAGA report on vouchers (four posts so far, including a recent guest post by Doug Tuthill). But in this op-ed in today’s Orlando Sentinel, Tuthill responds specifically to arguments about poor families and private school participation that were made in this earlier op-ed by University of Colorado Professor Kevin Welner.

Essentially, Tuthill argues, OPPAGA’s assumption that the vast majority of voucher kids would have gone to public schools had they not gotten vouchers is on the mark, given their average family incomes ($24,543), the average tuition ($5,000) and other factors. We’re assuming by how many of you responded to previous posts that there is a big appetite for voucher news. So please, read, cuss, cheer, vent, hurl -– and better yet, post.

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Voucher report: An alternate point of view

Critics have made their voices heard on OPPAGA's recent analysis of the savings that education vouchers bring to Florida.

Guest blogger Doug Tuthill, president of the Florida School Choice Fund, offers a different perspective:

"The numbers are hard to refute.

Florida taxpayers saved $38.9 million last year while also providing different learning options to 21,493 children from poor and working class families. But that finding, issued [two weeks ago] by the respected state Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, should not be interpreted as a competitive threat to traditional public schools.

What the savings actually mean is that one vital option for low-income students is not financially compromising any of the other opportunities available to 2.6 million public school students. That's good news for all educators and taxpayers.

The Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program, now in its seventh year, was created to help students who are at the greatest risk of failing. Children who come from impoverished homes face enormous obstacles, and we owe them our best collective efforts.

More criticism of voucher report

Last week’s OPPAGA report on corporate tax credit vouchers got a double-barrelled blast of criticism today. Kevin G. Welner, director of the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, argues in this op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel that OPPAGA’s report – which concluded vouchers were saving the state money – is based on “numbers out of thin air.”

The report assumes 90 percent of CTC voucher students would have attended public schools had they not received a voucher. “The defense of this guess is tucked away in the report’s appendix,” Welner writes. CTC vouchers “are available only to low-income students, so according to the report, it’s ‘reasonable to assume a high percentage of low-income students would not be able to afford private school without a scholarship, and therefore, would attend public school in absence of the program.’ But the reality is that Catholic schools in urban areas sometimes enroll 60 percent to 70 percent low-income children.”

On his blog, USF Professor Sherman Dorn cites Welner’s piece, riffs in more detail on the fixed-cost argument and concludes, “Essentially, the analysis is a simplified (and data-thin) calculation of the impact on state government, not the impact on total revenues and services.”

Vouchers, school funding and the fixed-cost argument

It was surprising this week that more voucher opponents didn't raise the fixed-cost argument in criticizing OPPAGA's conclusion that vouchers are saving the state money. But a St. Petersburg Times reader (responding to this Times story) did in this feisty e-mail. Here's a taste:

"Having two degrees in economics I am somewhat familiar with fixed and variable costs which is the heart of the deficiencies contained in this study by the OPPAGA i.e. the overwhelming costs of the public schools are fixed. The variable costs of supporting 475 students vs. 400 students is negligible."

Should OPPAGA have looked at that argument in the funding equation, too? The office says it was constrained by language in the legislation.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Report: Vouchers save taxpayer money

Want to save Florida money at a time when school budgets are being slashed? Offer more vouchers to poor kids. So suggests a new report from the Florida Legislature's well-respected research arm.

The Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability says the state saved $38.9-million last school year through its corporate tax credit voucher program, which allowed 21,493 low-income students to attend private school at taxpayer expense. The reason: simple math.

The value of a voucher -- $3,950 now and $3,750 last year -– is far lower than the roughly $7,000 it takes to educate a student in public school. OPPAGA based its calculations on an annual per-pupil spending figure of $6,106 -– lower than the current $6,852 touted by the Florida Department of Education.

"While the report reduces the amount of corporate tax revenues received by the state, it produces a net fiscal benefit," says the report, which was released this morning. "This occurs because state education spending for students who receive scholarships is reduced by more than the amount of revenue lost."

Don't forget about magnet schools

With charter schools hogging the spotlight, people have lost sight of the good that magnet schools do in offering choice and promoting diversity, says “The Forgotten Choice? Rethinking Magnet Schools in a Changing Landscape,” a report released this morning by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

“In this age of ever-growing educational choice, magnet schools and, perhaps more specifically, their desegregation objectives, are the forgotten choice, symptomatic of the movement away from desesegration among all public schools,” the report says.

The report recommends that school districts continue to support magnets by upping funding, providing free transportation for magnet students and developing better outreach to parents. It also suggests more training for teachers to teach in racially diverse schools, something the St. Petersburg Times touched on in this recent story.

Crist out front on vouchers

We know this isn't new news. And we don't want to overdo the voucher posts. But it's worth noting that nearly halfway through Gov. Crist's term, vouchers are one of the few parts of the Jeb Bush education program that Crist has embraced beyond statements in press releases.

Crist was in a Jacksonville church yesterday, before a predominantly black audience, for the fifth annual Step Up for Students rally to support corporate tax credit vouchers.

"We are no longer just competing with other states in this great nation, but with other countries as well," he said in a press release from the governor's office. "Step Up For Students Scholarships are helping us diversify our education system to achieve greater results and provide our children and future workforce with a world-class education."

The scholarships are "an example of what we need to do to adapt public education to a new century," he said in another release sent out by the Florida School Choice Fund. For more on the event, see this Florida Times Union story and video.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter (Photo of Crist with student Denisha Merriweather and Step Up For Students founder John Kirtley, courtesy of Step Up For Students)

Voucher blitz coming

Expect to hear more soon about how public schools aren't up to snuff and how vouchers are the solution. The Alliance for School Choice will launch a national campaign tomorrow aimed at recruiting 10,000 new supporters by January, in time for many state legislative sessions, including here in Florida.

A press release says the "School Choice Works" campaign will include a barrage of radio and online advertising, and will "shine an unprecedented spotlight on the failures of many public schools in America." Alliance spokesman Andrew Campanella tells the Gradebook that Florida is among the targeted states. "We want to keep the momentum there going," he wrote in an e-mail.

Voucher supporters have had a lot to cheer about in Florida in the past year, including the expansion of corporate tax-credit vouchers, the shifting alliances among Democratic lawmakers and some high-profile converts.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Do tigers eat vouchers?

Doug Tuthill, the former Pinellas teachers union president who’s now Mr. Voucher (he’s the new head of the Florida School Choice Fund), will take his case to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club next week.

Here’s what the club’s promo says: “Has Doug Tuthill gone bonkers? Has he sold his soul to the devil? How could the former president of the Pinellas County Teachers Union and former voucher critic now be heading the organization raising money for the state’s $118 million corporate tax-credit voucher program? … Is it as simple as one critic of Tuthill says, that it is ‘amazing how a fat paycheck can change your tune?’ What has caused this ‘born again’ experience?” To read more about Tuthill's hiring, see this St. Petersburg Times story here.

The event is Wednesday from noon to 1:15 p.m. It’s open to the public, $20 for members, $25 for non-members. For more information call (727) 822-0611 or email rsvp@tigerbay.org.

Voucher critics = chickenhawks?

Are Democrats who oppose vouchers but send their own kids to private schools as bad as Republicans who support wars but don’t send their own kids to fight? That argument is raised about Barack Obama (who sends his kids to private school) in this Rocky Mountain News op-ed.

For a survey of where Florida lawmakers send their kids to school, see this 2005 St. Petersburg Times story here. (It found Democrats with school-age children are more likely than Republicans to send their kids to private schools.)

McCain wants to take Florida voucher nationwide

To help students with special needs, John McCain says he would use Florida's McKay vouchers as a starting point for other states to develop their own programs that allow parents to choose public or private schools, with federal funding following the child. This story offers a bit more about what both McCain and Barack Obama would do for students with disabilities.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Looking beyond public vs. private

Jon East, the former Times editorial writer turned voice of Florida's voucher movement, chimes in with an op-ed that popped up in the Gainesville Sun after our This Morning's News roundup was completed.

In it, East makes the case that "not every private option is an attack. In some cases, and scholarships for low-income children is surely one, the intent is merely to give disadvantaged students another tool to succeed."

He calls for folks on both sides of the argument to find some common ground for the good of those students:

To me, the old fight over private school choice is a distraction to our collective effort to lift up children in poverty. This year a third of all Democrats and a majority of the Black Caucus voted to expand the program. They agree that poor kids aren't public or private. They are simply in need, and they deserve all of our best efforts.

To read the column in full, click here.

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Driven toward vouchers

Put him down as another convert. Mark Howard, executive editor of Florida Trend magazine (which is owned by the St. Petersburg Times), says he wasn't always a fan of vouchers. But Howard writes in this column that he has been pushed "steadily, if reluctantly, toward the choice camp" by what he has learned about public schools, including through his own kids' experiences:

"Perhaps the strongest argument for more choice in public education is the degree to which the public schools already have introduced elements of choice -– International Baccalaureate programs, magnet schools, 'fundamental' schools, alternative schools and charter schools. My daughter has thrived in an International Baccalaureate program that I would choose over any private education I could purchase in Pinellas County. To a large degree, market pressure –- the threat that large numbers of middle-class and other parents would abandon the system –- led to those innovations."

Howard also writes: "If a privately operated public charter school wastes money or is ineffective, it has to do better or it closes. The same, however, is never true of the publicly operated school around the corner. And so blindingly incompetent teachers at my son's middle school can teach pretty much what they choose, once tenured, with impunity."

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Another take on voucher report

A Cato Institute study that used international evidence to argue that vouchers make school systems better is based on faulty analysis and suspect studies, says a review by the Think Twice project. The Gradebook wrote about the report a few weeks ago because author Andrew J. Coulson pointed to Florida's corporate tax credit scholarships as the type of voucher system linked to better results.

The Think Twice review, by Clive Belfield, co-director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at Columbia's Teachers College, also said Coulson's conclusions were off base because the systems he surveyed "are so different from the U.S. as to make comparisons questionable."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Hillsborough reopens choice

Hillsborough parents and students who still have an interest in transferring schools have one more shot this year.

The district will have another application period to get into elementary and middle magnet schools, career and technical education programs, and schools that have available seats. You can submit your request between Sept. 22 and Oct. 3.

Applications will be available online at choice.mysdhc.org  beginning Monday.  Parents also can get additional information by visiting the district choice Web site here, and they can call the Choice Information Line at (813) 272-4692.