John Kirtley with quite a tale about compliance issues for schools in Florida that accept voucher students:

Despite the fact that a large percentage of public schools in Florida cannot pass their fire inspections (see article below), there emerged a cry from choice opponents in the press and the legislature for proof that private schools participating in these programs are complying with these laws. Earlier this year the Florida Department of Education issued a reasonable (in my opinion) request of private schools: please send in to us a sworn statement indicating that you are compliant with these laws. Every year the DOE will demand proof of compliance (fire inspection reports, clean background checks, etc) from one third of the schools. The DOE set a preliminary deadline of May 1^st for schools to comply, with a final deadline of July 1^st.

We knew that getting the schools to pay attention to this process and these deadlines would be a challenge. Schools are busy enough with the job of educating children and making payroll. Remember also that we have about 1,500 private schools in Florida participating in the two programs, some with only one or two students. Four weeks out from the May 1^st deadline, there were 1,330 schools that had not complied. These schools serve 10,698 tax credit students and 11,022 McKay children. You can imagine the scandal the Florida press would have made of such numbers: “More than half of voucher kids attend illegal schools”.

It certainly goes to show that getting a voucher program passed isn't even HALF the battle...

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From John Kirtley:

Dear Friends of School Choice,

I thought you might be interesting in hearing about our recent experience dealing with “compliance” issues in Florida. Florida may prove to be a unique environment—as it has in other areas like the press---but it is possible that other states with choice programs may to some degree experience similar issues.

In order for private schools to participate in the two remaining private school choice programs—McKay Scholarships for special needs children and the corporate tax credit scholarship program for low income children—private schools must be complaint with all laws pertaining to private schools. These laws include some expected ones (fire safety, health inspections, etc)---and they also include some unexpected ones (scoliosis testing of children, radon testing of buildings, fingerprinting and background checks of the owner).

Despite the fact that a large percentage of public schools in Florida cannot pass their fire inspections (see article below), there emerged a cry from choice opponents in the press and the legislature for proof that private schools participating in these programs are complying with these laws. Earlier this year the Florida Department of Education issued a reasonable (in my opinion) request of private schools: please send in to us a sworn statement indicating that you are compliant with these laws. Every year the DOE will demand proof of compliance (fire inspection reports, clean background checks, etc) from one third of the schools. The DOE set a preliminary deadline of May 1^st for schools to comply, with a final deadline of July 1^st.

We knew that getting the schools to pay attention to this process and these deadlines would be a challenge. Schools are busy enough with the job of educating children and making payroll. Remember also that we have about 1,500 private schools in Florida participating in the two programs, some with only one or two students. Four weeks out from the May 1^st deadline, there were 1,330 schools that had not complied. These schools serve 10,698 tax credit students and 11,022 McKay children. You can imagine the scandal the Florida press would have made of such numbers: “More than half of voucher kids attend illegal schools”.

With great cooperation from the DOE, the scholarship funding organizations (SFOs) went to work. The SFOs, which now number only two in Florida, serve just the tax credit program, but most schools serve both programs---so the SFOs have good working relationships with almost all the schools. The SFOs hired temporary additional staffers, and they all put in tremendous extra effort calling the schools and urging them to meet the compliance deadline.

By the preliminary May 1 deadline, the number of non-compliant schools had been reduced to 734, serving 2,762 tax credit and 2,926 McKay children. It understandably took the DOE a few weeks to sort through the avalanche of paper, and with three weeks of the final July 1 deadline we learned that we still had 586 schools with 594 tax credit children and 841 McKay. Back in came the temporary staffers for more calls to schools. By July 1, the final numbers were 51 non-compliant schools with 159 tax credit and 105 McKay children.

The Florida press will probably still spin this as a failure, though the number of students at non-compliant schools equals 1% or less of both programs (they will not be allowed to go back to those schools but won’t lose their scholarships). However, we know what a great success this effort was. I want to thank the great staff (both permanent and temporary) of the SFOs that worked so hard to make this happen. Credit also goes to Virginia Gentles, head of the choice office at the Florida Department of Education; she went against the wishes of her staff and demanded that the information on non-compliant schools be constantly given to the SFOs. This enabled us to hone in on those still not complete.

Our challenge begins anew: In July Gov. Bush signed into law the scholarship accountability bill we fought for three years to pass. The law raises the bar for compliance. Now all school personnel with student contact must be fingerprinted and checked. All scholarship students must take a norm referenced test and the results reported to a third party research entity chosen by the state. With over one thousand schools, we know ensuring compliance with the new law will be a huge challenge. But we have to meet it.

It will be interesting to see if other states that join the school choice fraternity face similar issues. If anyone would like to discuss our experience in more detail, please do not hesitate to call or email.

Thank you,

John Kirtley

 jfk@jfkintampa.com

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Schools given time for repairs

By Mary Shanklin
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 20, 2003

Acknowledging that Orange County schools have made progress in correcting fire-safety violations, State Fire Marshal Tom Gallagher has extended a Jan. 31 deadline for completing repairs.

In May, Gallagher ordered the district to fix hundreds of fire hazards that had gone untended at local schools, including inadequate exits, inoperable alarms and dangerous kitchen conditions.

Now that the district has addressed all of the most dangerous violations cited by inspectors, Gallagher will let the district gradually fix conditions that threaten property at 59 campuses slated for renovations, according to a letter sent to the district Wednesday.

The most common remaining problem concerns portable classrooms that are too close together or have no access to fire hydrants.

At a news conference Friday, Superintendent Ron Blocker said students and teachers in those portables were not at risk because they had alarms, drills and evacuation systems.

The district also has developed a system to alert officials when schools skip state-required safety drills.

Last school year, a third of Orange County's public campuses missed at least one mandatory drill.

Even though the district has fixed most of the violations, it continues to staff "fire watchers" at 14 schools that continue to have safety concerns.

Other actions the district has taken include hiring a fire marshal, putting together a find-and-repair team that will survey campuses for code violations and fix them immediately, and completing 102 of 180 school safety inspections.

In the next three years, the district plans to repair or replace bleachers that were flagged as being unsafe by fire inspectors.

Earlier this year, the Orange County School Board approved $20 million to repair problems outlined by fire and health inspectors.

Mary Shanklin can be reached at 407-420-5538 or mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com.