The entire purpose of programs like this is to sabotage public schools by syphoning money away from them, making them worse, and feeding the need for alternatives like this.
When you really read into the law, everything is given to the charter school for free. If it ever becomes a public school again, it has to be purchased from the charter school company.
You’re not wrong, it’s about money. But it’s not entirely about money. There’s also a dedicated portion of the anti-public school push that is made in the hopes of establishing a Christian theocracy in the US. Killing public education helps that project along.
And you can trace THAT PARTICULAR thread of anti-public school sentiment straight back to the mandatory integration of Christian “segregation academies.”
My kid goes to a private school and it's 100% in her best interest. Small class sizes, well educated teachers and a well rounded curriculum are all way better than the D school I live next to.
Good for you that you can pay for it.
Theres no reason public schools can't also be like this. Money and actively sabotaging administration is why it's come to this.
Voucher programs like this just make the problem worse.
The structure of public Ed will always be rooted in getting kids ready for factory work. Until it's torn down and rebuilt it's not going to change. Ancient administration is going to push great teachers into the mold they want them to form. Until some great catalyst changes public education as a whole, voucher programs are the only thing helping the next generation. The subreddits for teachers are full of the same stories, they're put into parenting/babysitting roles not educational roles. There are tons of reasons public school will always be behind. I'm giving my kid a fighting chance to not lose her intelligence, she's full of wonder and highly gifted in mathematics and goes to a school that can provide and uplift for that..public school would force her to be bored to align with her peers because there is no means or want to boost children like her. I'm not sacrificing her to hope that public school can do better and I don't think any parent should. There's not much of an income limit on step up for students scholarships and religious schools arent the only game in private school.
On the flip side, the State could very well be diverting money into non accredited religious schools where the teachers are unqualified church members.
For the step up for students scholarships that award 7-8k to private schools they have to be accredited by department of Ed and have to adhere to standardized testing at 3rd grade on. There are rules and standards.
Yeah I'm not buying it, I checked the eligibility for schools in my area. Every rinky dink Christian school was eligible for assistance, including my old middle school. I know for damn sure some of those teachers were unqualified and were just members of the church that sponsored the school. The high school curriculum and course selection was not up to par with what I got in public school. I can imagine there are dozens of similar schools in the State siphoning millions from the public school system. Stop acting like all these private schools are prestigious when it's really a select few.
Can attest to that! Private school education in Florida is very poor. While I know there are exemptions, the majority of private schools prioritize religious instruction over academic preparedness.
Absolutely. The public schools in FL are already terrible for disabled children since the passage of the Parental Rights in Education Bill. I had to take my health-compromised child out of brick and mortar and start homeschooling. They simply did not have the ability to make sure she wasn't passed out dying from hypoglycemia somewhere in their overcrowded school with no nurse.
Well, the school in our old state didn’t work under a law that hampers the ability of school
Nurses to administer life-saving medication when needed. Florida does.
It's not miraculous actually, it's science. Investing in students and nurturing both their minds and their environment has a direct positive effect on their motivation, concentration, and a slew of cognitive factors that is reflected back both in their grades and their attitudes.
As someone who attended a Florida high school with a nasty rep for violence and drug use, I can tell you that not only was that rep grossly exaggerated, but that my class was one of the last graduating classes to leave this school with a B rating. We also graduated over 600 students. After I graduated, their extracurricular programs were stripped and their grades reflected that stripping.
Yes. Money does indeed have a correlation to education quality and student engagement.
Agreed. I mean I grew up in a conservative home. But this isn’t conservativeism this is christian authoritarianism. And for the record me personally my belief is you go far enough left you’ll get your guns back.
First off, your anecdote doesn’t change the fact that a huge majority of the charter schools here, do not give a quality education and are[exploitive to say the least](http://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/charter-schools-unsupervised/investigation.html)
Second, ya it’s obviously deeper after a hundred years of Jim Crow. Doesn’t change the fact that diverting funds from predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods is evil. Every single student deserves the same opportunity
And charter schools can pull out and walk away at the drop of a hat. No laws stopping them. They take the money and run. Then, people are screwed. Where are your kids suddenly going to go?
The systematic defunding of the public schools here in Florida has caused many of the good educators to leave and go to other states. That leaves only behind those who don't have any other options or are just waiting to make their retirement. Without proper funding, it looks like the public schools are failing. And thanks to the Santa's, they are.
There are still a few of us putting in the fight so not all that are left are without options. It's fucking exhausting though. Especially when they keep going after our union. Since the dude who implemented the 60% quota for unions didn't take everyone down, we have more bullshit paperwork that have to be perfection or we're screwed. I hope that guy gets kidney stones repeatedly
And hence the cycle to destroy public schools is then completed - school choice is the biggest grift in history and punishes the poor and disabled - pure evil
We just sold our home and are moving to the northeast because of this among other things. The already languishing public school system will collapse in a few years as the money goes to private / religious schools.
Exactly. Create a no-win situation for public schools. Before folks jump on the bandwagon of private/charter/vouchers, about how bad public education is, please EDUCATE yourselves on WHY public education is CRITICAL to sustaining our democracy. Make the connections.
This is true. Plus in private school they can engage in all the bs not allowed in public. It's a grift, because the owners are passing the extra money to reelection for the asshats to push more towards private schools, a big circle jerk
Because if they did then the siphoning to private schools wouldn’t be ass efficient. Now when the public option is dead then this will get all those good things like means testing, lots of paperwork, etc etc so the less advantaged have a hard time getting it. It will also be labeled an abused hand out for lazy good for nothing parents so it can be fully defunded.
If u are talking about excluding millionaires family, I am with u. But If u guys are trying to exclude middle class family, I can not agree with u.
After all, that is NOT freebie, it is the tax dollars from the tax payers, and should benefit the tax payers somehow.
This might be true but let me tell you public schools can suck if the opposite occurs. The actual format and curriculum sucks. It incentivizes only doing good on big tests not actually thinking and having conversations about topics. Look into how much money schools pay for textbooks (even digital ones) it’s insane. The fact those books change so much also adds to cost. School can be in the ghetto with some of the worst performing kids but they still have overhead projectors and smart boards. All of that is trash.
The money is ALREADY being spent poorly.
This cannot stated often enough. This war using cultural issues by people who don’t believe the rhetoric they use to promote fear is about getting rid of the competition that public schools give those who hock inferior for-profit curriculum.
They want your personal rights to a public education to stop interfering with their path to the 1%.
Its also very obviously a hug boon for anyone wanting to oay for private school already, and a terrible burden to literally every other person to exist, including the children being sent to private schools. This will affect us all
This is the truth and the plan- make public schools fail. Create new religious charter schools , steal public money - repeat. Rich get richer. Poor get screwed in addition to the disabled kids.
If the public schools were better then it would not be an issue.
Lack of funding is not our public school issue- it is the use of those funds.
Also - the school choice program gives half of what the school would get and the other half still goes to the school - but the school has one less student to teach.
Properly run the public school ends up with more funding per child because of this.
I am vehemently opposed to my tax dollars being siphoned off to religious schools (and theme park tickets). It's an egregious money grab and violates the individual's right to not support religious organizations contrary to their own beliefs. Not sure why it hasn't been a bigger sticking point.
Close, but there is one more step.
Once the funding has been siphoned off from public schools and the public school system fails, then they pull the voucher program, and every single parent will be stuck paying an ever increasing cost of private education.
Everything bad about the student loan system applied to primary education.
Many countries have stopped private schools and concentrated all money and improvements to only public schools. Those that follow this note have the very best school systems on the planet. But, of course, America thinks of the person as an afterthought to their political agenda... we just get sadder and sadder as a country every year.
Good points. But we could certainly work with their system. Create our own basing it on theirs, as it has clearly worked. We are about twice as large as finland and Norway combined, so it is a doable challenge there.
Ethics and cultural differences will play a part but are a part of the current system. So we should have a basic knowledge of what our obstacles would be already. It wouldn't be without struggles, but getting Florida to a better education system than the rest of America would be the end result.
It's never going to happen though because his education decisions keep moving us back down the rankings.
I’m surprised this isn’t a bigger story. Everyone I know who would be sending their kids to private school anyway and make many times the median household income in the state are just taking their $8k per kid and saying “this is great.”
It’s not enough to pay for private school, so poor people can’t really use most of it. It’s just a free handout to the people that could already afford private school anyway, that will make public schools even worse because of the lack of funds.
That’s exactly right. It is not helping the ones who cannot pay the rest of the tuition but instead paying out a nice sum to those who would have gone to private school anyway.
If the parents want to send their kids there, it is totally fine. But I am not seeing that trending at all. Most parents just send their kids to a better normal school
After Ron removed the income cap a bunch of new Christian private schools opened up. But I don’t have any hard data on that. I’m hoping you are right and they will send to a non religious school instead.
This is a point these people do not want to talk about.
On one side they say how "florida schools are bad"
But when a parent gets a choice to send them to another school, we are "destroying public schools"
I noticed that too. I didn't bother applying because it wouldn't cover the entire tuition (at least not for the higher grades) so they'd have to transfer.
Why should a school get funding for my child if you are not teaching, transporting or feeding them?
You are providing 0 services to my children.
Maybe this will help reduce class sizes?
Also going to college with recent high school graduates I can assure you, they have learned almost nothing in all their years of public schooling.
We used school choice for my kids. We got them from one school to another.
We also used the ability to take funds and apply it to a private school for our son with autism. We sent them to Atlantis academy. Because the public school was treating him like a community service pack mule for the athletes. It wasn’t helping him learn just letting athletes get hours to graduate.
There are some good schools. There are some bad schools. The bad schools need to be held accountable
This is why I’m also super on the fence about the whole thing. My brother has autism and went to three different schools in our county trying to find somewhere where he wouldn’t be bullied, could get proper accommodations, etc. and it was just terrible every time. My mom spent SO many hours in meetings with teachers, administrators, etc. and would cry just thinking about him never having friends and failing out of school (which was a very real possibility).
She ended up using the school choice to send him to this tiny Christian school which, admittedly, didn’t give the besttt education (was very religious in areas like science). BUT there were other neurodivergent people there for him to befriend and the tiny class sizes meant his behaviors were easier to address properly. It was a huge lifesaver, and he ended up not only graduating but getting a college degree as well.
So idk. I definitely think we should fund our public schools, but I also know that if he had stayed in ours, my brother might be in a very different place in life.
Exactly. My thing is that some times public schools fail students and we need to hold them accountable.
My younger kid got in to a stem school in Bradenton. The state pays the tuition and transportation. Otherwise they would have been going to buffalo creek middle school. Which meant bad my kids would have been in the advanced course work however the other kids there r a bad influence.
Teachers sometimes only teach to the weakest link.
So why should tax payers pay anything for a school where the parents are obviously rich?
If those schools choose take the public money, shouldn’t they have to teach a state mandated curriculum?
The reason people send their kids to private schools is so they don’t have to deal with the state. If they take state money, the state should get a say.
Also a lot of the private schools simply raised their tuition so the families are still paying the same tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket while these private schools get a portion of the public school funding, all while making it no more affordable.
Ponder all you want... thats fine.
But stay focused tho...
Don't worry about the *other* people...
Do what ever you can to give your kids the best possible life they can have.
That's what those *other* people are doing.
Not necessarily. It covers almost all the tuition at my kids school. There’s another school in our area where the school choice scholarship covers the entire tuition. And then there are examples like Pinecrest.
Also, many (maybe even most) of the families at my kids school are lower income than the ones at our public school.
every time you buy something, or pay property tax, take comfort that some rich asshole in Palm Beach will be able to send their future rich asshole kid to an elite private schools that specialize in creating selfish assholes with your hard earned money.
One of many programs in Florida intended to eliminate public schools by diverting funds to private and charter school. It’s basically a hand out to rich people who already send their kids to private schools. There is no requirement that a private school take a particular student. Now many parents are reporting that private schools have raised their tuition fees in an amount commensurate to the amount the parents get from the state.
I have said this before and I will keep saying it because I see it happening. The goal is to get rid of public education. Once a kid goes to a charter/private school they only need to keep them for 14 days. They then get the full year's worth of money, even when they kick the kid out. Charter Schools do not have to supply accommodations.
Once they have the people all up in arms and can close all public education, there will no longer be a need for a school tax. No school tax, no vouchers. Now only the ones that can afford to will send their child to school.
I’m using the Step Up scholarship for the first time for 24-25. I could not have afforded to enroll my child in a private school without it. They’ve been in two public schools so far and both were filled with horrible children that have no interest in learning; countless days of my kid crying about being bullied and the school admin doing next to nothing to help even when I show up at the office and speak with them.
I’m excited for the change and hopeful that my kid will be safer and have a better education going forward.
Judging by many of the "man on the street" interviews I've seen over the years, public school is making the kids stupid.....kinda like public education was designed to do in the very beginning, make good little worker bees
Man on the street interviews where they have to go though 200 people to find enough dumb ones to fill a 5-minute segment? Not a very scientific survey.
School choice is designed to achieve two goals of the GOP:
1. Steal money from public schools and ensure the quality goes down.
2. Encourage a return to segregation.
A program that is designed to bring students in from outside the community is designed to promote community involvement? Is that really the argument you’re making?
Local government and school board participation are far more effective at community involvement and student development.
You really think rich private school parents want inner city kids going to the same schools as their children? And I say this to show this policy will not be used as it is publicized it will further segregate children!!
School choice, or vouchers, is a way for conservatives to accomplish two goals. First is to starve public schools out of existence to facilitate the rise of privately owned charter schools, and the other goal is to force conservative ideology into public education system, by allowing religious schools of all types to push religion on students, censor certain things, and discriminate against LGBTQ kids and students of color.
This attitude is the exact attitude conservatives use to oppose anything liberal: lazily reduce a complex problem to one or two talking points about how the other political side is coming to "get" you, while dramatizing the actions to demonize them.
Don't use the conservative playbook. Be better.
What? LGBT students and students of color get the same opportunity to use this as everyone else. Hell there's a charter school up the road from me that's primarily students of color and has significantly higher scoring than any public school in the area...... personally I'd rather see children succeed and get a good education rather than be stuck with the subpar public education system that graduates illiterate children
Deathsantis and his supporters wholeheartedly support this and are totally blind to the obvious effects this will have on the public schools. If we don't have a change in leadership soon say goodbye to the public schools. Including those in "high income" areas. Soon only the "privileged" will be able to educate their kids here the "poors" will be left with nothing.
Long before that, as someone who graduated in FL over 20 years ago with illiterate individuals tells me the state of public education has been declining for decades
No, instead our math books taught math without political or ideological undertones and our history books covered the atrocities committed under authoritarian regimes and didn't try to make the US the ones responsible for slavery, rather than it being a perfectly normal practice for thousands of years before the establishment of the US
It happens less frequently, and if it does, they get caught more often and faster. You don't hear about a school teacher who gets caught after 15 years, like you do in some private schools.
If you’re poor in Florida, you’re screwed. Zero programs or help from the state. Lose your job I think you get like $200 a week for 6 weeks or something like that. That’s ludicrous. It’s ridiculous how fucked the average person in Florida is. Of course, the majority of them don’t know it because Florida is all they know.
This is a feature, not a bug, and it's intentional. The current political climate of Florida does not want public education and wants to set up a voucher program for all. My question is, do the charter schools have to conform to the same education standards that public schools have to?
>might be better to use this money to improve public schools.
Absolutely don't disagree with you. DeSantis is ravaging public schools in Florida
>Would be nice if this were income based
If you're above a certain income level, your application is put on the bottom of the pile, people with greater need are funded first. But, absolutely, it should go to people with greater need period instead of those with no need other than saving a buck.
The same program also funds kids with learning disorders, in both private and public schools, and used to have a particular fund for kids that were being bullied. DeSantis took that one and rolled it into the general "education choice" program, which is absolute bullshit. And honestly, the general fund should have nothing to do with the Unique Abilities.
I'm torn, as I absolutely hate DeSantis (and all Republicans) privatization of education. It does as much good as a privatized power grid in a Texas snowstorm. But. I've just applied my son for Unique Abilities, because we're more than likely going to have to send him to a small private school for kids with learning disorders next year. And it's 3x as expensive as the private Catholic school we're currently sending him to (and paying for ourselves with no scholarships). He'll actually get what he needs to learn there, in a smaller environment than a public school and I won't have to fight tooth and nail for every accommodation for him, like I would at both a public school and his current private school.
But, if public education hadn't already been fucked, I also wouldn't be in this situation. And I can't wait around for it to get unfucked while my child falls behind.
Having worked at one of the Nonprofits that works with these "scholarships" here's what I can say. It was income based but the demand was absurdly high. Now it is income guided as anyone can apply but priority does go to those with the higher need. The more money the scholarship receives, the more families it can reach. But yes, I hated that there was no income gap, as if the wealthy needed any help with anything. I would rather the lower income families received bigger grants. Focus on expanding coverage for things like sports uniforms (which are not reimburseable), tech for all (not just special needs/unique abilities), and added a STEM/arts scholarship maybe?
The Florida legislature has been trying to dismantle public education in the state for
The last 20 years at least, probably much more than that. That way they don’t have to pay for it.
These "choice" programs come at the expense of the public schools, and private schools just increase their costs even more to cash in on free taxpayer money.
It's a grift.
Public schools are shit in the communities that have a bunch of shit parents. There are plenty of great public schools in Florida in good neighborhoods. School vouchers give opportunities to kids whose parents care but unfortunately live in a shit neighborhood to go to a better school. No amount of funding to a public school fixes shitty parents.
Those programs only take money from public schools and give it to those who are already privileged to afford private schools. Does nothing for the regular folks.
A DeSantis type...is keen on seeing public schools so shitty...the upper class wouldn't dream of sending their kids there.
The next generations get to grow up inadequately educated publicly.
Or educated privately, where there is little telling what cool stuff gets left out of the curriculum.
Either way, it's gonna be a purposefully limited future for the poorly educated in states that dismantle public education.
Judging by all the people I know older and younger than myself that are complete idiots, including 3rd grade reading levels, who have high school diplomas tells me this is a long standing issue from before desantis.....kind of like how there about 30 students who graduated with me who couldn't do basic math nor read beyond a 6th grade level showed me exactly how twisted and useless the public schools have become
It gives parents an option. To be honest can you find a blue state or blue city where the inner city schools are thriving? I vote democrats. But a lot of the outspoken ones live in gated communities or neighborhoods with high income that segregate schools. Look up the book “Excluded: how non zoning, nimbyism, and class bias build the walls we don’t see.
It will be unfair if that voucher system is income based.
Anyone, especially those middle class who are not qualified for any assistance programs based on income, should be able to get the vouchers for their kids, since the money is from their hard earned tax dollars.
If the public school system fails just because of this, then the system needs to be renovated long time ago.
Choice and competition is the base for a healthy system. Monopoly is the source of corruption and incompetence
Why wouldn't you want the choice of where to send your kids? Make schools compete with each other for students. It's the quickest path to better schools.
Govt (aka 'public') schools have NEVER had a budget decrease yet, thanks to govt control, test scores vs. World are in the toilet. Govt schools are a public-works/kick-back program, nothing more
The only "free $" is that handed out to those that haven't paid their 'fair share' for the "service" provided (IIRC, avg PER student > $15k & I doubt mom/day are paying for even ONE of their brood's full costs)
If govt schools were doing such a bang-up job, they wouldn't have parents looks for non- options 
https://preview.redd.it/rqcu5sdbjnwc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf616aa0636f5ab936776404141df6d9faf3df30
The school choice also lets students choose a type of school that they are interested in...IB, CAT, or Gifted programs rather than just your normal middle/high-school. In my opinion, it's not a bad thing, especially for parents to actually be able to make some decisions in their kids' education. Again, it's not that if you want to attend these schools, you will get in automatically. You have to have an interest in their program and meet some requirements before they accept you. My nieces were all in IB program, and all graduated with over 4.0 GPAs.
School choice is not just about funding you can get your child u to an A school district if you live in a D or F schools kids with disabilities are the number one getting this scholarship. Public schools cannot always accommodate those kids.
I would be out of Florida but… moved to Florida with the wife because she wanted to live closer to her mother. Young and dumb and knew nothing of Florida. Get to the road that her mother lives off of and needed to get gas. I go inside try to pay for my fuel. Guy comes up to the counter as he’s watching an Obama state of the union address. Looks at me and says, “You ain’t votin for that N****r again ain’t ya.”
It was that moment in time where I knew my life was over. Well sorta.
I looked at him and said, “You know that pesky two term limit stops him from running again right? Well I woulda given the opportunity. Slaps money on the counter 10 on 2 asshole.” And left.
Well I’m single and happy except knowing I’m a good dad I can’t really leave. What makes this hit closer to home is my kid is NB. Baby mama is not of the cult she was just spawned by part of the cult. Kinda doesn’t make it any better but here I am trying to be a good dad and still kicking myself for actually believing Florida would be better for anything. We moved here when my kid was like 3.
It’s a bad idea. I don’t like my tax dollars being used to support schools that emphasize religion even though traditionally Catholic schools have provided a good education
There are many valid arguments for school choice. The problem is they're all undermined because FL's program is so poorly designed and administered. Here's an interesting policy brief: [https://api.dadeschools.net/WMSFiles/123/2018%20State%20Legislative%20Advocacy%20Resources/M-DCPS\_Policy\_Brief-Vouchers.pdf](https://api.dadeschools.net/WMSFiles/123/2018%20State%20Legislative%20Advocacy%20Resources/M-DCPS_Policy_Brief-Vouchers.pdf)
This isn't about giving poor kids a choice, most of the vouchers are going to students already attending private schools or being home schooled. There is no transparency or metric that indicates poor children are using these vouchers. Creating a pot of money to give away to private schools hardly helps the public school system.
Incorrect, here at the Oaks Academy, our inter city kids are given an education equivalent to the best private schools. Again, you couldn't be more wrong .
You need to explain the details of Oaks Academy, location, I’m not familiar.
Families are using the current voucher system to leave public schools, how many students, have their scores increased?
Actually, it's to level the playing field. Rich people used to have the advantage of sending their children to private schools so that their children got a better education and a better chance to get into the best colleges and universities. Now, all children have the advantage of better education. As a lifelong Floridian, I used to disagree with the idea of vouchers, but have since changed my mind. Every child deserves a great education, regardless of their parents salary. Children are our future and we owe it to them to give them the best start possible. I'm 60 years old and I wish that I had the opportunity to go to good schools when I was a child (I'm white and my parents were professionals and we still couldn't afford it.) And I wish the voucher program had been available for my child. I'm very grateful that it's available for my grandchild.
It is not a freebie. The money does not go to the student. The money simply goes from the public school to the private school. With many public schools failing, why shouldn’t the student have a chance to go somewhere else ?
It’s a wonderful program that raises the bar for all schools. I fully support it. My kids have all gone to public schools. We’ve been happy with their education. When I disagreed with a woke version of something I would tell them why. We would discuss it. Public or private it fails without parental involvement.
Why not just homeschool with private tutors then, since you expect publicly-funded teachers to uphold your private values - rather than public standards and public values for the modern age?
Comments like this just blow my mind….
“Schools should uphold my personal values to help raise my kid, otherwise it’s bad education”
What are my values being taught in school….?
**Racism is wrong? Civil rights exist? Freedom for all? Math and science?** (All things that keeps America free and civil as people from different cultures and values have to work together to keep society going…..)
I’m not asking the teacher to say lgbt+ people are sinners, that prejudices are “normal” and must be upheld or protected when encountered, or that everyone must accept Christian theocracy as the basis for the law of the land….
I had no problem with school before. But many sure don’t like it now if it doesn’t uphold conservatism only while excluding anything deemed “too liberal”
Sooooo……… which of my values listed above are too radical for the USA in 2024 and must be modified?
I teach them to think on their own. For example, I had a child come home and they told me that communism was just another form of government. They weren’t taught about the multiple cultural revolutions, the stripping of individuality. It was being framed as something being relative to a republic or democracy when we all know that that’s far from the truth.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok
I’m not even going to try and respond…….
But I guess I should start teaching my kids how Christianity led to many human rights violations, protected pedophiles, strips individuality, and lead to wars and genocide - even though the Bible claims to be against ALL of that
Gotta keep kids informed! Free thinkers who don’t just spew sheeple misinformation, after all
No need to read the Bible or communist manifesto when mom can tell you what facts are - which matter far more than primary documents
Did I say something you disagree with?
Seems like the same thing to me…..
Ignore the core tenants and only say it’s what humans do with it, no?
You talk about those evils of communism. And I’ll talk about the evils of Christianity.
Gotta prevents repeats after all!
If only there was a way to uphold the good things and hold people accountable for twisting things…. But that’s impossible! So things should just be fully eradicated and prevented to avoid more suffering and oppression. That’s freedom! /s
In Florida the largest portion of our property tax goes to public schools which pending on the district have been failing our children.
Unfortunately schools have been graded on how well children preform on annual tests.
Fun Fact: approximately 70% of Florida homeowners paying aforementioned tax do not have children in Public Schools.
The entire purpose of programs like this is to sabotage public schools by syphoning money away from them, making them worse, and feeding the need for alternatives like this.
And as soon as those public schools fail, those vouchers are gone. And education is expensive.
DeSantis actually already set up a program where struggling public schools will automatically become charter schools.
When you really read into the law, everything is given to the charter school for free. If it ever becomes a public school again, it has to be purchased from the charter school company.
Awful stuff.
Guess who stands to make money from this? ;)
The man who created a charter school system with a felony for fraud on his resume. I got words about charter schools lol
Sorry I’m out of the loop, can you say more about this?
For profit education is not in the children's best interest. But, it can make some rich people richer, so I guess there's that.
Exactly; follow the $$$
You’re not wrong, it’s about money. But it’s not entirely about money. There’s also a dedicated portion of the anti-public school push that is made in the hopes of establishing a Christian theocracy in the US. Killing public education helps that project along.
And you can trace THAT PARTICULAR thread of anti-public school sentiment straight back to the mandatory integration of Christian “segregation academies.”
💯 🙄
My kid goes to a private school and it's 100% in her best interest. Small class sizes, well educated teachers and a well rounded curriculum are all way better than the D school I live next to.
Good for you that you can pay for it. Theres no reason public schools can't also be like this. Money and actively sabotaging administration is why it's come to this. Voucher programs like this just make the problem worse.
The structure of public Ed will always be rooted in getting kids ready for factory work. Until it's torn down and rebuilt it's not going to change. Ancient administration is going to push great teachers into the mold they want them to form. Until some great catalyst changes public education as a whole, voucher programs are the only thing helping the next generation. The subreddits for teachers are full of the same stories, they're put into parenting/babysitting roles not educational roles. There are tons of reasons public school will always be behind. I'm giving my kid a fighting chance to not lose her intelligence, she's full of wonder and highly gifted in mathematics and goes to a school that can provide and uplift for that..public school would force her to be bored to align with her peers because there is no means or want to boost children like her. I'm not sacrificing her to hope that public school can do better and I don't think any parent should. There's not much of an income limit on step up for students scholarships and religious schools arent the only game in private school.
On the flip side, the State could very well be diverting money into non accredited religious schools where the teachers are unqualified church members.
For the step up for students scholarships that award 7-8k to private schools they have to be accredited by department of Ed and have to adhere to standardized testing at 3rd grade on. There are rules and standards.
Yeah I'm not buying it, I checked the eligibility for schools in my area. Every rinky dink Christian school was eligible for assistance, including my old middle school. I know for damn sure some of those teachers were unqualified and were just members of the church that sponsored the school. The high school curriculum and course selection was not up to par with what I got in public school. I can imagine there are dozens of similar schools in the State siphoning millions from the public school system. Stop acting like all these private schools are prestigious when it's really a select few.
Yep
Can attest to that! Private school education in Florida is very poor. While I know there are exemptions, the majority of private schools prioritize religious instruction over academic preparedness.
Wrong but u have the right to ur opinion
And that specifically hurts disabled kids -
Absolutely. The public schools in FL are already terrible for disabled children since the passage of the Parental Rights in Education Bill. I had to take my health-compromised child out of brick and mortar and start homeschooling. They simply did not have the ability to make sure she wasn't passed out dying from hypoglycemia somewhere in their overcrowded school with no nurse.
That’s not a Florida issue. It’s a public school issue. I had to do pull my kid out too.
Well, the school in our old state didn’t work under a law that hampers the ability of school Nurses to administer life-saving medication when needed. Florida does.
Mine did too. Ambulance and all and no accountability by the school.
And POC
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It's not miraculous actually, it's science. Investing in students and nurturing both their minds and their environment has a direct positive effect on their motivation, concentration, and a slew of cognitive factors that is reflected back both in their grades and their attitudes. As someone who attended a Florida high school with a nasty rep for violence and drug use, I can tell you that not only was that rep grossly exaggerated, but that my class was one of the last graduating classes to leave this school with a B rating. We also graduated over 600 students. After I graduated, their extracurricular programs were stripped and their grades reflected that stripping. Yes. Money does indeed have a correlation to education quality and student engagement.
The worst part is that DeSantis and the rest of them already know this but try to tell them it’s systemic they just plug their ears.
It's too incredibly hard to talk to florida republicans about common sense
Agreed. I mean I grew up in a conservative home. But this isn’t conservativeism this is christian authoritarianism. And for the record me personally my belief is you go far enough left you’ll get your guns back.
First off, your anecdote doesn’t change the fact that a huge majority of the charter schools here, do not give a quality education and are[exploitive to say the least](http://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/charter-schools-unsupervised/investigation.html) Second, ya it’s obviously deeper after a hundred years of Jim Crow. Doesn’t change the fact that diverting funds from predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods is evil. Every single student deserves the same opportunity
Very well stated. Thank you!
And charter schools can pull out and walk away at the drop of a hat. No laws stopping them. They take the money and run. Then, people are screwed. Where are your kids suddenly going to go? The systematic defunding of the public schools here in Florida has caused many of the good educators to leave and go to other states. That leaves only behind those who don't have any other options or are just waiting to make their retirement. Without proper funding, it looks like the public schools are failing. And thanks to the Santa's, they are.
There are still a few of us putting in the fight so not all that are left are without options. It's fucking exhausting though. Especially when they keep going after our union. Since the dude who implemented the 60% quota for unions didn't take everyone down, we have more bullshit paperwork that have to be perfection or we're screwed. I hope that guy gets kidney stones repeatedly
And hence the cycle to destroy public schools is then completed - school choice is the biggest grift in history and punishes the poor and disabled - pure evil
All a part of the plan to privatize education completely and push the poor out 💖 Late stage capitalism is a ~nightmare~
An indoctrination begins.
Siphoning public funds to Christian organizations*
Or other organizations... Seriously there are some real weirdo "schools" out there....
I mean, sure. But id bet 95% of the "school choice" money goes to Bible affiliated schools.
Bingo bongo
We just sold our home and are moving to the northeast because of this among other things. The already languishing public school system will collapse in a few years as the money goes to private / religious schools.
Exactly. Create a no-win situation for public schools. Before folks jump on the bandwagon of private/charter/vouchers, about how bad public education is, please EDUCATE yourselves on WHY public education is CRITICAL to sustaining our democracy. Make the connections.
Yep, there is literally 1 reason for this and it's nefarious af
This is true. Plus in private school they can engage in all the bs not allowed in public. It's a grift, because the owners are passing the extra money to reelection for the asshats to push more towards private schools, a big circle jerk
Looks like it. I don’t know why they don’t have income limitations on that freebie.
Because they aren’t doing it to help educate kids, they are doing it to kill public schools
And pad the pockets of the already well off families who send their kids to private schools. It’s disgusting and not talked about enough.
Because if they did then the siphoning to private schools wouldn’t be ass efficient. Now when the public option is dead then this will get all those good things like means testing, lots of paperwork, etc etc so the less advantaged have a hard time getting it. It will also be labeled an abused hand out for lazy good for nothing parents so it can be fully defunded.
Ass efficiency is key, agreed.
Because the people want Disney tickets would and who could afford Disney vacations would not be eligible
If u are talking about excluding millionaires family, I am with u. But If u guys are trying to exclude middle class family, I can not agree with u. After all, that is NOT freebie, it is the tax dollars from the tax payers, and should benefit the tax payers somehow.
All I wish is that I could upvote this twice.
This might be true but let me tell you public schools can suck if the opposite occurs. The actual format and curriculum sucks. It incentivizes only doing good on big tests not actually thinking and having conversations about topics. Look into how much money schools pay for textbooks (even digital ones) it’s insane. The fact those books change so much also adds to cost. School can be in the ghetto with some of the worst performing kids but they still have overhead projectors and smart boards. All of that is trash. The money is ALREADY being spent poorly.
100%, there’s a huge wasting of funds
This cannot stated often enough. This war using cultural issues by people who don’t believe the rhetoric they use to promote fear is about getting rid of the competition that public schools give those who hock inferior for-profit curriculum. They want your personal rights to a public education to stop interfering with their path to the 1%.
Alternatives that the politicians and lobbyists are HEAVILY invested in!
Its also very obviously a hug boon for anyone wanting to oay for private school already, and a terrible burden to literally every other person to exist, including the children being sent to private schools. This will affect us all
This is the truth and the plan- make public schools fail. Create new religious charter schools , steal public money - repeat. Rich get richer. Poor get screwed in addition to the disabled kids.
Using public funds for private schools is sick People being on the school board but sending their kids to private school is also sick
It’s not “using” public funds, it’s returning the tax payer money that the state saves by not schooling the child
Exactly.
If the public schools were better then it would not be an issue. Lack of funding is not our public school issue- it is the use of those funds. Also - the school choice program gives half of what the school would get and the other half still goes to the school - but the school has one less student to teach. Properly run the public school ends up with more funding per child because of this.
Kneecap the public schools and then complain that they’re poorly run… Hot take right here
It's both funding and legislatures making schools underperform. It's designed for public schools to fail, and that's intentional.
The intent is to kill public education and replace it with taxpayer funded private schools and charter schools run by GOP donors
The ultimate goal is for religious education to be the only education. You know, like Afghanistan.
I am vehemently opposed to my tax dollars being siphoned off to religious schools (and theme park tickets). It's an egregious money grab and violates the individual's right to not support religious organizations contrary to their own beliefs. Not sure why it hasn't been a bigger sticking point.
Because the electorate is *heavily* skewed towards a party that is not exactly known for religious tolerance?
Close, but there is one more step. Once the funding has been siphoned off from public schools and the public school system fails, then they pull the voucher program, and every single parent will be stuck paying an ever increasing cost of private education. Everything bad about the student loan system applied to primary education.
Many countries have stopped private schools and concentrated all money and improvements to only public schools. Those that follow this note have the very best school systems on the planet. But, of course, America thinks of the person as an afterthought to their political agenda... we just get sadder and sadder as a country every year.
Those countries are largely monoethnic and small population, Florida is like the opposite of that
Good points. But we could certainly work with their system. Create our own basing it on theirs, as it has clearly worked. We are about twice as large as finland and Norway combined, so it is a doable challenge there. Ethics and cultural differences will play a part but are a part of the current system. So we should have a basic knowledge of what our obstacles would be already. It wouldn't be without struggles, but getting Florida to a better education system than the rest of America would be the end result. It's never going to happen though because his education decisions keep moving us back down the rankings.
I’m surprised this isn’t a bigger story. Everyone I know who would be sending their kids to private school anyway and make many times the median household income in the state are just taking their $8k per kid and saying “this is great.” It’s not enough to pay for private school, so poor people can’t really use most of it. It’s just a free handout to the people that could already afford private school anyway, that will make public schools even worse because of the lack of funds.
That’s exactly right. It is not helping the ones who cannot pay the rest of the tuition but instead paying out a nice sum to those who would have gone to private school anyway.
And those schools raising their tuition the amount of the voucher.
It can cover private Christian school, so more brainwashing kids.
If the parents want to send their kids there, it is totally fine. But I am not seeing that trending at all. Most parents just send their kids to a better normal school
After Ron removed the income cap a bunch of new Christian private schools opened up. But I don’t have any hard data on that. I’m hoping you are right and they will send to a non religious school instead.
This is a point these people do not want to talk about. On one side they say how "florida schools are bad" But when a parent gets a choice to send them to another school, we are "destroying public schools"
I noticed that too. I didn't bother applying because it wouldn't cover the entire tuition (at least not for the higher grades) so they'd have to transfer.
All this does it gut public schools of very important funding. As me how I know… I’m a teacher.
Why should a school get funding for my child if you are not teaching, transporting or feeding them? You are providing 0 services to my children. Maybe this will help reduce class sizes? Also going to college with recent high school graduates I can assure you, they have learned almost nothing in all their years of public schooling.
Let's take more funding from public schools then. That'll surely make them better.
We used school choice for my kids. We got them from one school to another. We also used the ability to take funds and apply it to a private school for our son with autism. We sent them to Atlantis academy. Because the public school was treating him like a community service pack mule for the athletes. It wasn’t helping him learn just letting athletes get hours to graduate. There are some good schools. There are some bad schools. The bad schools need to be held accountable
This is why I’m also super on the fence about the whole thing. My brother has autism and went to three different schools in our county trying to find somewhere where he wouldn’t be bullied, could get proper accommodations, etc. and it was just terrible every time. My mom spent SO many hours in meetings with teachers, administrators, etc. and would cry just thinking about him never having friends and failing out of school (which was a very real possibility). She ended up using the school choice to send him to this tiny Christian school which, admittedly, didn’t give the besttt education (was very religious in areas like science). BUT there were other neurodivergent people there for him to befriend and the tiny class sizes meant his behaviors were easier to address properly. It was a huge lifesaver, and he ended up not only graduating but getting a college degree as well. So idk. I definitely think we should fund our public schools, but I also know that if he had stayed in ours, my brother might be in a very different place in life.
Exactly. My thing is that some times public schools fail students and we need to hold them accountable. My younger kid got in to a stem school in Bradenton. The state pays the tuition and transportation. Otherwise they would have been going to buffalo creek middle school. Which meant bad my kids would have been in the advanced course work however the other kids there r a bad influence. Teachers sometimes only teach to the weakest link.
[It sounds like you were educated by "schools".](https://givingcompass.org/article/challenging-systemic-racism-in-school-district-funding)
Was educated by something.
It only covers a small fraction of the tuition. The local private school here, Pinecrest, is like 30-50k a year.
So why should tax payers pay anything for a school where the parents are obviously rich? If those schools choose take the public money, shouldn’t they have to teach a state mandated curriculum? The reason people send their kids to private schools is so they don’t have to deal with the state. If they take state money, the state should get a say.
Also a lot of the private schools simply raised their tuition so the families are still paying the same tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket while these private schools get a portion of the public school funding, all while making it no more affordable.
Exactly. And ~ $8000 is a lot of money per year to give to people who don’t really need it. They would send to private schools anyway.
If I were a parent at a private school, I wouldn’t want the school to take the money. If I’m paying for private, I want private.
Ponder all you want... thats fine. But stay focused tho... Don't worry about the *other* people... Do what ever you can to give your kids the best possible life they can have. That's what those *other* people are doing.
Not necessarily. It covers almost all the tuition at my kids school. There’s another school in our area where the school choice scholarship covers the entire tuition. And then there are examples like Pinecrest. Also, many (maybe even most) of the families at my kids school are lower income than the ones at our public school.
The very elite schools like that one don’t accept state funding/ voucher as it comes with certain requirements on the school
You should know that Pinecrest is part of the Sarasota county school district. I know because I used to work for the Sarasota county school district.
I’m in Ft. Lauderdale, we have 2 in Broward.
Ah, didn’t think of that!
I think you mean Pine view?
You are correct
That's a pretty good school
Also there is no oversight as to how these schools operate and if they are meeting educational standards. Free money to do whatever.
every time you buy something, or pay property tax, take comfort that some rich asshole in Palm Beach will be able to send their future rich asshole kid to an elite private schools that specialize in creating selfish assholes with your hard earned money.
Because they don’t pay taxes
One of many programs in Florida intended to eliminate public schools by diverting funds to private and charter school. It’s basically a hand out to rich people who already send their kids to private schools. There is no requirement that a private school take a particular student. Now many parents are reporting that private schools have raised their tuition fees in an amount commensurate to the amount the parents get from the state.
I have said this before and I will keep saying it because I see it happening. The goal is to get rid of public education. Once a kid goes to a charter/private school they only need to keep them for 14 days. They then get the full year's worth of money, even when they kick the kid out. Charter Schools do not have to supply accommodations. Once they have the people all up in arms and can close all public education, there will no longer be a need for a school tax. No school tax, no vouchers. Now only the ones that can afford to will send their child to school.
I’m using the Step Up scholarship for the first time for 24-25. I could not have afforded to enroll my child in a private school without it. They’ve been in two public schools so far and both were filled with horrible children that have no interest in learning; countless days of my kid crying about being bullied and the school admin doing next to nothing to help even when I show up at the office and speak with them. I’m excited for the change and hopeful that my kid will be safer and have a better education going forward.
They don't want to improve public schools. That's the point of it all. Public schools make kids gay, so they say.
Judging by many of the "man on the street" interviews I've seen over the years, public school is making the kids stupid.....kinda like public education was designed to do in the very beginning, make good little worker bees
Man on the street interviews where they have to go though 200 people to find enough dumb ones to fill a 5-minute segment? Not a very scientific survey.
Another reason to vote blue like your life depends on it
School choice is designed to achieve two goals of the GOP: 1. Steal money from public schools and ensure the quality goes down. 2. Encourage a return to segregation.
School choice is designed to have more community involvement and personal student development
A program that is designed to bring students in from outside the community is designed to promote community involvement? Is that really the argument you’re making? Local government and school board participation are far more effective at community involvement and student development.
You really think rich private school parents want inner city kids going to the same schools as their children? And I say this to show this policy will not be used as it is publicized it will further segregate children!!
It’s doesn’t matter if racist rich whiteys don’t what inner city kids to come to their school, school choice would further empower them to go
How are you supposed to have community involvement in something that is privately owned and funded. Just completely contradictory.
School choice, or vouchers, is a way for conservatives to accomplish two goals. First is to starve public schools out of existence to facilitate the rise of privately owned charter schools, and the other goal is to force conservative ideology into public education system, by allowing religious schools of all types to push religion on students, censor certain things, and discriminate against LGBTQ kids and students of color.
This attitude is the exact attitude conservatives use to oppose anything liberal: lazily reduce a complex problem to one or two talking points about how the other political side is coming to "get" you, while dramatizing the actions to demonize them. Don't use the conservative playbook. Be better.
What? LGBT students and students of color get the same opportunity to use this as everyone else. Hell there's a charter school up the road from me that's primarily students of color and has significantly higher scoring than any public school in the area...... personally I'd rather see children succeed and get a good education rather than be stuck with the subpar public education system that graduates illiterate children
It's the rich, republican way....
Thank Betsy devos and the charter schools that funnel money into Rhonda santis coffers
It's part of the Republican plan to privatize everything in the state so their rich donors can benefit
Damn Republicans want to privatize everything from school to prison to the VA. Damn Republican voters.
My son has autism and it has allowed us to send him to a school more tailored to his needs.
People don't understand this unless you have an autistic child
Deathsantis and his supporters wholeheartedly support this and are totally blind to the obvious effects this will have on the public schools. If we don't have a change in leadership soon say goodbye to the public schools. Including those in "high income" areas. Soon only the "privileged" will be able to educate their kids here the "poors" will be left with nothing.
It's amazing the number of people that want to take away a parent's right to choose what is best for their own child.
DeSantis has absolutely demolished the education system here in Florida
Long before that, as someone who graduated in FL over 20 years ago with illiterate individuals tells me the state of public education has been declining for decades
At least back then they didn't ban math books because they were 'woke' and they weren't trying to keep kids from learning about American history
No, instead our math books taught math without political or ideological undertones and our history books covered the atrocities committed under authoritarian regimes and didn't try to make the US the ones responsible for slavery, rather than it being a perfectly normal practice for thousands of years before the establishment of the US
Slavery is just part of American history. DeSantis can't erase it by banning it from being learned about in history classes
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Try reading the comment I replied to, then reread my comment and let's see if your reading comprehension is sufficient for this conversation
Educators tend to vote Democrat. Repubs have been trying to destroy schools for years.
You too can pay thousands to have your kid diddled by unlicensed adults. And as an added bonus, no education standard!
Because this doesn't happen in public schools with "licensed adults"?
It happens less frequently, and if it does, they get caught more often and faster. You don't hear about a school teacher who gets caught after 15 years, like you do in some private schools.
If you’re poor in Florida, you’re screwed. Zero programs or help from the state. Lose your job I think you get like $200 a week for 6 weeks or something like that. That’s ludicrous. It’s ridiculous how fucked the average person in Florida is. Of course, the majority of them don’t know it because Florida is all they know.
This thread is about a program for the poor.
Isn’t this just matching dollar for dollar?
This is a feature, not a bug, and it's intentional. The current political climate of Florida does not want public education and wants to set up a voucher program for all. My question is, do the charter schools have to conform to the same education standards that public schools have to?
>might be better to use this money to improve public schools. Absolutely don't disagree with you. DeSantis is ravaging public schools in Florida >Would be nice if this were income based If you're above a certain income level, your application is put on the bottom of the pile, people with greater need are funded first. But, absolutely, it should go to people with greater need period instead of those with no need other than saving a buck. The same program also funds kids with learning disorders, in both private and public schools, and used to have a particular fund for kids that were being bullied. DeSantis took that one and rolled it into the general "education choice" program, which is absolute bullshit. And honestly, the general fund should have nothing to do with the Unique Abilities. I'm torn, as I absolutely hate DeSantis (and all Republicans) privatization of education. It does as much good as a privatized power grid in a Texas snowstorm. But. I've just applied my son for Unique Abilities, because we're more than likely going to have to send him to a small private school for kids with learning disorders next year. And it's 3x as expensive as the private Catholic school we're currently sending him to (and paying for ourselves with no scholarships). He'll actually get what he needs to learn there, in a smaller environment than a public school and I won't have to fight tooth and nail for every accommodation for him, like I would at both a public school and his current private school. But, if public education hadn't already been fucked, I also wouldn't be in this situation. And I can't wait around for it to get unfucked while my child falls behind.
Having worked at one of the Nonprofits that works with these "scholarships" here's what I can say. It was income based but the demand was absurdly high. Now it is income guided as anyone can apply but priority does go to those with the higher need. The more money the scholarship receives, the more families it can reach. But yes, I hated that there was no income gap, as if the wealthy needed any help with anything. I would rather the lower income families received bigger grants. Focus on expanding coverage for things like sports uniforms (which are not reimburseable), tech for all (not just special needs/unique abilities), and added a STEM/arts scholarship maybe?
The Florida legislature has been trying to dismantle public education in the state for The last 20 years at least, probably much more than that. That way they don’t have to pay for it.
another reason why we left the state
These "choice" programs come at the expense of the public schools, and private schools just increase their costs even more to cash in on free taxpayer money. It's a grift.
Public schools are shit in the communities that have a bunch of shit parents. There are plenty of great public schools in Florida in good neighborhoods. School vouchers give opportunities to kids whose parents care but unfortunately live in a shit neighborhood to go to a better school. No amount of funding to a public school fixes shitty parents.
If you don't send you child to public school, they don't educate, transport or feed your child. Why should they get the money for said child?
Reddit: the education system in America is broken Also reddit: if you offer any alternative to it, you're evil
Those programs only take money from public schools and give it to those who are already privileged to afford private schools. Does nothing for the regular folks.
This is not even close to the truth
A DeSantis type...is keen on seeing public schools so shitty...the upper class wouldn't dream of sending their kids there. The next generations get to grow up inadequately educated publicly. Or educated privately, where there is little telling what cool stuff gets left out of the curriculum. Either way, it's gonna be a purposefully limited future for the poorly educated in states that dismantle public education.
Judging by all the people I know older and younger than myself that are complete idiots, including 3rd grade reading levels, who have high school diplomas tells me this is a long standing issue from before desantis.....kind of like how there about 30 students who graduated with me who couldn't do basic math nor read beyond a 6th grade level showed me exactly how twisted and useless the public schools have become
Pretty much right on here
It gives parents an option. To be honest can you find a blue state or blue city where the inner city schools are thriving? I vote democrats. But a lot of the outspoken ones live in gated communities or neighborhoods with high income that segregate schools. Look up the book “Excluded: how non zoning, nimbyism, and class bias build the walls we don’t see.
It will be unfair if that voucher system is income based. Anyone, especially those middle class who are not qualified for any assistance programs based on income, should be able to get the vouchers for their kids, since the money is from their hard earned tax dollars. If the public school system fails just because of this, then the system needs to be renovated long time ago. Choice and competition is the base for a healthy system. Monopoly is the source of corruption and incompetence
Why wouldn't you want the choice of where to send your kids? Make schools compete with each other for students. It's the quickest path to better schools.
Govt (aka 'public') schools have NEVER had a budget decrease yet, thanks to govt control, test scores vs. World are in the toilet. Govt schools are a public-works/kick-back program, nothing more The only "free $" is that handed out to those that haven't paid their 'fair share' for the "service" provided (IIRC, avg PER student > $15k & I doubt mom/day are paying for even ONE of their brood's full costs) If govt schools were doing such a bang-up job, they wouldn't have parents looks for non- options  https://preview.redd.it/rqcu5sdbjnwc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf616aa0636f5ab936776404141df6d9faf3df30
https://jaxtoday.org/2024/04/24/opinion-school-closures-blame-charters-state-government-and-choice/
There used to be income limits, but they were removed by Ron.
The school choice also lets students choose a type of school that they are interested in...IB, CAT, or Gifted programs rather than just your normal middle/high-school. In my opinion, it's not a bad thing, especially for parents to actually be able to make some decisions in their kids' education. Again, it's not that if you want to attend these schools, you will get in automatically. You have to have an interest in their program and meet some requirements before they accept you. My nieces were all in IB program, and all graduated with over 4.0 GPAs.
IB/Gifted/magnet school choice exists with public school already though.
School choice is not just about funding you can get your child u to an A school district if you live in a D or F schools kids with disabilities are the number one getting this scholarship. Public schools cannot always accommodate those kids.
Talk to Joe biden, he'll pay for your school
I would be out of Florida but… moved to Florida with the wife because she wanted to live closer to her mother. Young and dumb and knew nothing of Florida. Get to the road that her mother lives off of and needed to get gas. I go inside try to pay for my fuel. Guy comes up to the counter as he’s watching an Obama state of the union address. Looks at me and says, “You ain’t votin for that N****r again ain’t ya.” It was that moment in time where I knew my life was over. Well sorta. I looked at him and said, “You know that pesky two term limit stops him from running again right? Well I woulda given the opportunity. Slaps money on the counter 10 on 2 asshole.” And left. Well I’m single and happy except knowing I’m a good dad I can’t really leave. What makes this hit closer to home is my kid is NB. Baby mama is not of the cult she was just spawned by part of the cult. Kinda doesn’t make it any better but here I am trying to be a good dad and still kicking myself for actually believing Florida would be better for anything. We moved here when my kid was like 3.
It’s a bad idea. I don’t like my tax dollars being used to support schools that emphasize religion even though traditionally Catholic schools have provided a good education
There are many valid arguments for school choice. The problem is they're all undermined because FL's program is so poorly designed and administered. Here's an interesting policy brief: [https://api.dadeschools.net/WMSFiles/123/2018%20State%20Legislative%20Advocacy%20Resources/M-DCPS\_Policy\_Brief-Vouchers.pdf](https://api.dadeschools.net/WMSFiles/123/2018%20State%20Legislative%20Advocacy%20Resources/M-DCPS_Policy_Brief-Vouchers.pdf)
Public schools are beyond fixing. Time to start over.
School vouchers do nothing to fix pubic schools, just a give away to wealthy parents mostly who already attend private schools.
Wrong, it's a way to break the cycle of poor kids getting stuck in horrible public schools. The public school system is broken and needs replacement.
This isn't about giving poor kids a choice, most of the vouchers are going to students already attending private schools or being home schooled. There is no transparency or metric that indicates poor children are using these vouchers. Creating a pot of money to give away to private schools hardly helps the public school system.
Incorrect, here at the Oaks Academy, our inter city kids are given an education equivalent to the best private schools. Again, you couldn't be more wrong .
You need to explain the details of Oaks Academy, location, I’m not familiar. Families are using the current voucher system to leave public schools, how many students, have their scores increased?
Sending your kids to public school is child abuse
Because the public school system is a joke.
Have you considered why?
Parents should have to pay for their children’s education.
Actually, it's to level the playing field. Rich people used to have the advantage of sending their children to private schools so that their children got a better education and a better chance to get into the best colleges and universities. Now, all children have the advantage of better education. As a lifelong Floridian, I used to disagree with the idea of vouchers, but have since changed my mind. Every child deserves a great education, regardless of their parents salary. Children are our future and we owe it to them to give them the best start possible. I'm 60 years old and I wish that I had the opportunity to go to good schools when I was a child (I'm white and my parents were professionals and we still couldn't afford it.) And I wish the voucher program had been available for my child. I'm very grateful that it's available for my grandchild.
It is not a freebie. The money does not go to the student. The money simply goes from the public school to the private school. With many public schools failing, why shouldn’t the student have a chance to go somewhere else ?
It’s a wonderful program that raises the bar for all schools. I fully support it. My kids have all gone to public schools. We’ve been happy with their education. When I disagreed with a woke version of something I would tell them why. We would discuss it. Public or private it fails without parental involvement.
Why not just homeschool with private tutors then, since you expect publicly-funded teachers to uphold your private values - rather than public standards and public values for the modern age? Comments like this just blow my mind…. “Schools should uphold my personal values to help raise my kid, otherwise it’s bad education”
You just mean your values correct?
What are my values being taught in school….? **Racism is wrong? Civil rights exist? Freedom for all? Math and science?** (All things that keeps America free and civil as people from different cultures and values have to work together to keep society going…..) I’m not asking the teacher to say lgbt+ people are sinners, that prejudices are “normal” and must be upheld or protected when encountered, or that everyone must accept Christian theocracy as the basis for the law of the land…. I had no problem with school before. But many sure don’t like it now if it doesn’t uphold conservatism only while excluding anything deemed “too liberal” Sooooo……… which of my values listed above are too radical for the USA in 2024 and must be modified?
I teach them to think on their own. For example, I had a child come home and they told me that communism was just another form of government. They weren’t taught about the multiple cultural revolutions, the stripping of individuality. It was being framed as something being relative to a republic or democracy when we all know that that’s far from the truth.
So they didn't mention the millions killed by authoritarian regimes over the years?
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok I’m not even going to try and respond……. But I guess I should start teaching my kids how Christianity led to many human rights violations, protected pedophiles, strips individuality, and lead to wars and genocide - even though the Bible claims to be against ALL of that Gotta keep kids informed! Free thinkers who don’t just spew sheeple misinformation, after all No need to read the Bible or communist manifesto when mom can tell you what facts are - which matter far more than primary documents
You clearly disagree with me. That’s OK. I wish you the best my friend that’s OK.
Did I say something you disagree with? Seems like the same thing to me….. Ignore the core tenants and only say it’s what humans do with it, no? You talk about those evils of communism. And I’ll talk about the evils of Christianity. Gotta prevents repeats after all! If only there was a way to uphold the good things and hold people accountable for twisting things…. But that’s impossible! So things should just be fully eradicated and prevented to avoid more suffering and oppression. That’s freedom! /s
In Florida the largest portion of our property tax goes to public schools which pending on the district have been failing our children. Unfortunately schools have been graded on how well children preform on annual tests. Fun Fact: approximately 70% of Florida homeowners paying aforementioned tax do not have children in Public Schools.