Florida School Boards Association
Your Jan. 3 editorial, “An encouraging Voucher Victory,” fails to correctly explain the basics of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Vouchers divert money from the public school system by allowing corporations to fund the voucher program instead of paying taxes to the state. A corporation may receive tax credit for up to 100 percent…
Letter to the Editor in response to the editorial “Encouraging voucher victory” posted on January 3, 2015 Religious freedom? In your Jan. 3 editorial “Encouraging voucher victory” you mention that you fail to see how Florida’s Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship scheme violates the separation of church and state. I became a plaintiff in this case…
Reprinted with permission, South Florida Sun Sentinel. By Wayne Blanton I am grateful to the South Florida Sun Sentinel for its insightful, balanced, and responsible editorial on Nov. 29, “Court Review of School Vouchers Long Overdue.” I found Doug Tuthill’s combative response to the editorial surprising since I invited Tuthill to meet with me, and…
Time for courts to review Florida’s expansion of school voucher program. Florida’s courts must review the state’s school voucher program after this year’s massive expansion by the Legislature. The Florida School Board Association and the Florida Education Association — the teachers union — are among the plaintiffs challenging the legality of the program, which provides…
At least seven groups of applicants with ties to failed or floundering charter schools are seeking second chances and public money to open 18 more. Odds are, most will prevail. School districts say that they can’t deny applicants solely because of past problems running charter schools. State laws tell them to evaluate what they see…
TAMPA, Florida – As the debate over school choice continues to divide Florida educators, 10 Investigates found new ways charter schools companies are profiting off education. Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are authorized by – but not operated by – each school district. For each student who “chooses” a charter, his or her…
With parents and students no longer tied to neighborhood schools, the Miami-Dade County public school district offers more options to keep kids in the public system. When classes start Monday, more than half of the students in Miami-Dade County will stream into a school they and their families picked themselves. With charter schools, magnet schools…
More Florida students soon will be eligible for private-school vouchers under controversial legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott. Here are the details: Q. What does the new law do? The new law expands the Tax-Credit Scholarship Program, which already provides private-school scholarships to low-income students, from $4,880 to $5,272. That means parents…
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s school voucher program is no longer just for low income families. It’s been expanded to now include the middle-class. This comes at a cost to tax-payers and some say public schools will pay the ultimate price. Colleen Wood has two children that attend one of Florida’s highest ranking public school districts;…
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC Florida) is disappointed that Gov. Rick Scott signed voucher expansion provisions for private schools in SB 850 into law, something that affects Latino students who are trying to learn English disproportionately in the state. In doing so Governor Scott ignored the issues raised by so many parent,…