Opposing The Parent Trigger Bill
Today we’re joining with Fund Education Now, the Florida PTA, and other pro-public education groups in opposing the misleading “Parent Empowerment Act” in the Legislature. The bill is a sneaky attempt to divide parents and undermine our public education system with an extreme drive toward unaccountable privatization of local schools.
Here’s the press release sent out this morning.
A broad alliance of Florida education advocacy groups including: Citizens for Strong Schools, 50th No More, Florida PTA, Fund Education Now, Marions United for Public Education, Save Duval Schools and Support Dade Schools announced in a joint statement today that they do not support the so-called “Parent Empowerment Act” HB 1191 by Michael Billeca – R/Miami Vice Chair K-20 Competitiveness Subcommittee.
“We want to be crystal clear. Our parent-driven alliance of education advocates does not support HB 1191, the so-called “Parent Empowerment Act.” by Representative Billeca. Reporters have been told by unauthorized sources that we support this scheme. We do not. Everything about HB 1191, including its misleading name, ”Parent Empowerment,” plays to a parent’s instinct to find something better for their child, especially when the school in question is struggling.
The “Parent Trigger” is a common ploy that has been attempted around the country. This legislation cynically uses parents and their love for their children as a tool to pull the “trigger” and hand their neighborhood school over to a private entity with no true guarantee of gaining anything better for the children. The net result is that schools are taken away from the jurisdiction of duly elected district officials and the physical property of the school is seized and handed over to a for-profit management company.
HB 1191 makes no provision for returning the school to the district, so the company essentially acquires an asset bought and paid for by taxpayers. The Florida taxpayer is robbed of a significant capital investment and the newly converted charter, which promised to “Empower Parents” answers to no elected official and often has a board that resides in another state and in some cases, another country. Much evidence exists that once the conversion takes place, these “Empowered Parents” might find that their child’s test scores don’t measure up. The “underperforming” child is “pushed out” and not even allowed to attend the school.
For these reasons, despite the name “Parent Empowerment,” HB 1191 does not earn our support.”
HB 1191 Facts:
- Allows the vote of 51% of the parents in “certain underperforming schools” to “trigger” or pave the way for the parents to request one of the state’s approved school improvement options. Underperforming is a wide definition that was broadened to include D schools as well as F schools and various percentages of performance scores within subjects.
- Allows minor students and parents to comprise the 51% in middle and high schools
- Allows parents who have no legal ability to negotiate the contract or details with the new management company to designate the option completely eliminating the districts voice
- Requires that all parents be notified of the option to attend virtual school
Stay Educated About Education
There’s a lot happening in public education right now. How do you stay on top of it all, and most importantly, find the stories that matter? We’re pleased to announce our new EdClips service to provide you with education news that matters to Marion County teachers, support personnel, parents, and all public education supporters.
Click here to sign up for free EdClips service.
Every second and fourth Thursday of the month, we’ll send you an email with several key education-related news stories that matter to you. We’ll keep you informed about the latest and most important news happening in public education, from the Marion County School Board, to the Florida Legislature, and to Congress. Here’s a sample of what you would see in your inbox:
Thanks for all you’re doing to stand up for our children and our future.
Speaking Out On Unfunded (And Unrealistic) Mandates
Marions United Vice-President Nancy Thrower has a problem with politicians in Tallahassee and Washington imposing unfunded and sometimes unrealistic mandates with no funding to implement them. This has been a long-running problem for public education, magnified significantly over the last decade by growing anti-public school sentiment among politicians in both capitals. Here’s an excerpt from Nancy’s op-ed in this morning’s Star-Banner:
Top-down policies and unfunded mandates from state and federal legislatures are not working. Local school boards and district staff are being forced to waste tremendous amounts of time trying to figure out how to keep the lights on five days a week.
Imagine how much more productive it could be if schools were free to focus on Job One — educating and then graduating functional contributing residents?
Be sure to read the rest.
The Vital Importance of Pre-K
On June 5th, Children’s Movement founder (and former Miami Herald publisher) David Lawrence, Jr. wrote the Star-Banner with a compelling argument for restoring funding to another neglected program in Florida’s education community – Pre-K.
Marions United’s Secretary Lorraine Fuller has a unique perspective on Florida’s Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) program. In addition to serving as a teacher in the Pre-K program over the summer, she teaches Kindergarten at Wyomina Park Elementary the rest of the year. She sees the children when they go into the program and then some of them when they enter our K-12 public school system. Lorraine wrote to the Star-Banner and her letter appeared this morning. Here’s what she had to say:
Thank you to David Lawrence Jr.’s article (“Restore state Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten funding,” June 5) addressing cuts for funding to Florida’s VPK program.
For the past five years, I have seen the benefits of the VPK program, both as a teacher of the VPK program and as a kindergarten teacher welcoming graduates of the program into my classroom each August. VPK prepares children by teaching them the readiness skills they need to be successful in kindergarten. It is a well-rounded program filled with literacy, hands-on math, science and social skills geared to prepare children for kindergarten.
There are high expectations in kindergarten. Five-year-olds are expected to read, write sentences and understand many math and science concepts by the end of their first year of school. When children begin kindergarten without the readiness skills they need, they quickly fall behind their peers.
As a community, state and country, it is our job to ensure our youngest students are ready to be successful in school. Programs such as Florida’s VPK help prevent students from falling behind before they even get started. Doesn’t it make more sense to use our dollars toward intervention instead of remediation?
Let us work toward narrowing the gap in education instead of watching it grow. Let us give our children the confidence and readiness skills to make a smooth transition into their learning in kindergarten.
I urge our governor and legislators to properly fund the VPK program and to be proactive in funding the education of our future leaders.
Like our K-12 public education system (and our higher education system as well), leaving our state’s VPK program without the funding it needs while preserving large sales tax exemptions and corporate tax breaks is wrong for our children, our community, and our state.
Scott Education Budget Hurts Marion County Children
We just sent out a press release this morning with our reaction to Gov. Scott’s proposed $3 billion in education funding cuts. We don’t believe that cutting such a large amount of funding out of our public schools at a time when they can least afford it is what’s in the best interest for Marion County children:
OCALA – Yesterday, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his $66 billion dollar budget for Florida. Included in the Governor’s proposal is a $3.3 billion cut in public education, a cut of $703 per student1. Nancy Noonan, President of Marions United for Public Education, released the following statement today reacting to Gov. Scott’s budget:
“Gov. Scott believes that the best way to balance Florida’s budget is on the backs of Marion County’s teachers, parents, and students. This is unacceptable to the coalition of citizens that make up Marions United for Public Education. Public education is more than a set of numbers on a balance sheet – it’s a fundamental social contract between Floridians and their government to ensure that democracy is reborn every generation. Gov. Scott is violating this contract with such draconian cuts at a time when Florida’s teachers, parents, and students simply can’t afford it.
“Marions United for Public Education renews its call for a fiscally responsible way of balancing Florida’s budget, and investing in Florida and Marion County’s public schools – our future. Florida gives up $12 billion annually in sales tax exemptions and corporate income tax loopholes2. It is reprehensible for Gov. Scott and the Florida legislature to consider cutting a penny from public education or consider laying off a single classroom teacher at a time when things like stadium skyboxes, yachts, and ostrich feed are sales tax exempt. It is long past time to close down these special-interest created loopholes, stop cuts to Marion County schools, and invest in our children’s future.
“In the coming weeks and months, Marions United for Public Education will work with our citizen coalition to educate Marion County’s legislators on these fiscal realities and fight for Marion County’s public schools and our children’s future.”
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1“Highlights of Gov. Scott’s $65 billion proposed budget.” St. Petersburg Times. 2/7/11.
2“Florida’s Fiscal Crisis: The Prescription.” The Florida Center For Fiscal and Economic Policy.
March With Us On MLK Day
Join us Monday, January 17th at 8:30am in downtown Ocala and join our parade marching group. Park at MLK Park (click here for a map) on Silver Springs Boulevard and take the shuttle to downtown Ocala. Marions United is spot #17 in the parade line. You can RSVP on Facebook here. If you’re not on Facebook, you can RSVP here.
As public education advocates, we celebrate both Dr. King and the citizen-led civil rights movement that made him such a powerful figure in the history of our country. The first major act of the civil rights movement was not a push for voting rights or economic freedoms. It actually began with the concerns of thirteen parents for their twenty children in Topeka, Kansas. Led by Oliver Brown, together they sued the local school district over their segregated school system. In 1954, the US Supreme Court unanimously sided with Brown in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, and began the long and difficult process of desegregating America’s public schools. The result of this struggle was dramatically expanded opportunities for all of America’s children.
The ensuing nationwide debate about what it truly meant to be an American citizen produced fresh battles against other forms of segregation. In 1957, a young, 26-year old pastor new to town was picked to lead a coalition of churches and lead a dramatic citywide bus boycott. Dr. King would go on to support critical fights in the civil rights movement leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Let’s honor Dr. King’s legacy together. Join us Monday, January 17th at 8:30am in downtown Ocala and march with us in the MLK Day parade.
“Wear Red For Public Ed” Teusday, January 4th
From our latest email: Next week begins the start of the second half of the school year, and also a very critical time for all Florida public schools. Governor-Elect Rick Scott has proposed a plan that would do away with Florida’s current public education system in favor a of a statewide private vouchers program.
Scott will be inaugurated governor next Tuesday, January 4th. Please join us and public education supporters throughout Florida by “Wearing RED for Public Ed” and show your support for our public schools.
So far, Gov.-Elect Scott currently has no plan for helping our public schools get the funding they need to help our children. We will be holding him accountable for this, in addition to his unconscionable private vouchers plan.
Lets start by “Wearing RED for Public Ed” next Tuesday, January 4th.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll be ramping up efforts to mobilize our fellow citizens here in Marion County to ensure our public schools are protected. Stay tuned.
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Note: If you’re on Facebook, you can RSVP for this event by clicking here.
Take Our Survey: Help Us Help You!
The election is over, and the new year will be here before we know it! Now is the time to get ready for what happens next. As a Marions United supporter, can you help us plan future campaigns and actions by filling out our survey? It should only take you 2-3 minutes.
As a grassroots organization powered by people like you, we’ve demonstrated that our all-volunteer movement can do quite a lot. Here’s what we were able to do this year alone, with your help:
- We launched an impressive petition drive, gathering more than 2,000 “Fund Our Future” petitions urging the Florida legislature to restore lost funding to our public schools.
- We quickly organized countywide opposition to Senate Bill 6, rallied close to a 100 people outside Speaker Larry Cretul’s office on SR 200, and helped pave the way for Gov. Crist’s veto.
- Marions United placed an unprecedented three Sunday op-eds in the Star-Banner, and was mentioned by various media outlets close to 10 times this year.
- This fall, Marions United sponsored two successful candidate forums and launched MarionVotes2010.com, an invaluable resource of candidate information for Marion County education voters.
We know you’re very busy this holiday season – we are too! However, just taking 2-3 minutes right now will provide a year’s worth of value to our efforts to design campaigns and actions that provide you easy and effective ways to make a difference for our schools and our children.
Click here to take the survey.
Thanks for all you’re doing for Marion County’s children!
Election Results
Earlier this week on Tuesday, the 2010 general election took place. On the ballot were all major statewide offices in Florida, in addition to all state house seats and half of all state senate seats as well as local school board seats. Finally, a handful of key ballot measures relating to public education were also on the ballot. Here are the results of races that had particular impact on public education here in Marion County:
Governor of Florida
Rick Scott (R): 48.87%
Alex Sink (D): 47.71%
Amendment 5*
Standards for Legislative Redistricting
Yes: 62.59%
No: 37.41%
Amendment 6*
Standards for Congressional Redistricting
Yes: 62.92%
No: 37.08%
Amendment 8*
Revision of Class Size Requirements
No: 45.51%
Yes: 54.49%
State Senate, District 14
Steve Oelrich (R): 53.83%
Perry McGriff (D): 46.17%
State House, District 22
Keith Perry (R): 60.69%
Jon Paugh (D): 39.31%
State House, District 24
Dennis Baxley (R): 64.43%
Michael Hageloh (D): 35.57%
School Board, District 4
Angie Boynton (NPA): 55.97%
Tom Patrick (NPA): 44.03%
School Board, District 5
Ron Crawford (NPA): 50.84%
Sharon Hagen (NPA): 49.16%
For more statewide results click here to go to the Florida Secretary of State’s Florida Election Watch page. For more local results, click here to go to the Marion County Supervisor of Elections results page.
*Note: Florida constitutional amendments require 60% approval to be ratified.
Announcing MarionVotes2010.com
We just launched www.MarionVotes2010.com – an online hub for Marion County education voters like you. On the site, you’ll find quick bios of all school board candidates, plus answers to our questionnaire. We think you’ll find all of this information very helpful as you decide who you’ll be voting for on August 24th and November 2nd.
The website also includes helpful links to vote by mail, vote early, and/or finding your polling place. Let us know what you think!
