Rebuttal to Orlando Sentinel editorial

Below is an email and letter to the Orlando Sentinal from John Kirtley, rebutting the editorial the paper published (below).

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I thought your email base might be interested in just how ridiculous the Florida press is. See the editorial below, and see the pictures. Doesn’t look like a Republican crowd to me.

Also, they seem to like competition, just not a lot. Attached is a report from Harvard that showed just how effective real competition was at raising performance in failing schools. Schools that faces actual empowered parents improved much faster than those that didn’t.

Finally, the reason that there are only 700 kids in the OSP—there are only a dozen “failing” public schools in the state (out of about 3,000). This in a state where we graduate half our minority children. Plus, those parents had about a week on average to learn the grade of their kid’s schools and sign up. No problem filling the other two programs.

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Dear Mike,

I read your column regularly, and I recall one from last year where you wrote about the possibility of a constitutional amendment regarding school choice. I thought you would be interested in the following update.

As you know well, our state Supreme Court issued a decision in January saying that the Opportunity Scholarship Program violated the constitutional requirement of a “uniform system of public schools”. All 700 children in the program have to leave their chosen schools next Fall. The ruling was so broad that it now threatens at least two other programs: the McKay Scholarship Program under which 16,000 special education children attend private schools, and a tax credit program for companies that donate to scholarship funds that allow poor families to pay private school tuition. Over 15,000 children use that program, and the average household income is $22,000 (60% from single parent homes). It may also threaten charter schools.

Last Wednesday over 4,000 parents, children and administrators came to Tallahassee to support Governor Bush’s call for the legislature to place an amendment on the ballot this November.  They traveled from as far away as Miami—those from that city boarded buses at midnight the night before for the eight hour trip. The march began at the Tallahassee Civic Center, and went the five blocks up to the courtyard of the capitol. I have attached one photo of just some of the crowd marching up the street.

They carried signs of their hometowns and signs saying “SOS--Save Our Students”, the theme of the rally, which was sponsored by the Black Alliance For Educational Options (BAEO), the Hispanic Council For Reform and Educational Options (HCREO), and others.  Led by a drum corps from a choice school, the crowd marched into the courtyard of the capitol. The Master of Ceremonies, Bishop Harold Ray, is the leader of a dynamic church in West Palm Beach that also has a school that serves scholarship children. He also happens to be a lawyer who once argued a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

First to speak was Former Senate President John McKay. He was followed by a McKay parent and an OSP parent, who gave moving testimony of empowerment. Governor Bush followed, and he demanded that the legislature to place the amendment on the ballot. Bishop Ray closed with words worthy of the civil rights movement. He called this rally the beginning of a revolution. After the rally parents and children visited legislators, including 14 Senators. Especially interesting were visits to African American Democrat Senators who have adamantly opposed choice in the past. Senator Siplin from Orlando has 2,174 children on the three programs, and he received a visit from many people from his district. This meeting was filmed if you are interested. I attached a photo of another meeting where parents me with Sen. Hill of Jacksonville, who has 2,609 scholarship children in his district.

The amendment is also necessary to protect the state’s taxpayer funded pre-k program, where thousands of children now attend faith based providers, and also Bright Futures and Florida Resident Access Grants, where college students do the same. The Florida Supreme court avoided the Blaine issue, and the ACLU has already stated they will sue on the pre-k program (see the attached letter they sent to President Lee and Speaker Bense). It is curious that the ACLU hasn’t yet filed suit, when they sued the day the OSP bill was signed into law by Gov. Bush. Could it be because they are afraid to file their suit prior to the election and this issue being on the ballot?

I think this issue will be at the forefront of the 2006 Governor’s race in Florida. It will expose the fault line identified by columnist John Tierney in today’s New York Times (see below). The majority of our scholarship families are African American and Hispanic. Not only does the Democratic party risk losing African American support, they are at great risk of losing Latino support on this issue. Under the coordination of HCREO, the President of the Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce took six of his board members to last week’s rally and lobbied the legislature in favor of the amendment. With him was the head of the state’s largest alliance of Latino ministers.

Jim Davis has already announced his opposition to these programs. Both Republican candidates are strong supporters. Rod Smith hasn’t said.

The Orlando Sentinel’s editorial on the subject (also below) said “These vouchers are popular with the conservative Republican voters, as witnessed by the thousands of people who rallied at the Capitol last week.” Do they think the people in these pictures of the rally are Republican voters? They should know that polling shows that school choice is overwhelmingly popular with African American and Latino voters. The reason that only 700 are on the program is that there only about a dozen schools in the state that are rated “FF”—and parents have historically had a one week window to sign up for the program. Witness the 30,000 children in the other programs.

Your editorial board seems in favor of some competition, just not a lot. I guess they haven’t read the Harvard University study on how much the OSP improved the Double F schools (attached).

Mike, I hope you find this issue of interest. Please contact me with any questions you might have.

Thank you,

John Kirtley

Florida Alliance For Choices In Education

(813) 310-7122

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Forget vouchers

Orlando Sentinel editorial, February 20, 2006

 

Our position: Gov. Bush has more worthy things to worry about in his last year in office.

Gov. Jeb Bush seems determined to tarnish his own laudable legacy of education reforms by tying them to the millstone of private-school vouchers.

Mr. Bush, whose A-Plus Plan for Education has brought true accountability to Florida's schools and boosted student performance, is mounting an effort to revive vouchers after the state Supreme Court wisely ruled them unconstitutional last month.

These vouchers are popular with the conservative Republican voters, as witnessed by the thousands of people who rallied at the Capitol last week. But they are not popular with Floridians -- only 700 students took them to escape failing schools.

What has worked is choice among public schools. That's real competition that helps students.