Education Week - April 17, 2019 - 16

Awash in Private School Vouchers,
Florida Presses for Even More
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

the idea. The most supportive age group was 18- to
29-year-olds, according to the poll, which had a margin
of error of 4.3 percentage points.
Demand for the state's existing vouchers remains
high, according to Step Up for Students, the state's
largest administrator of vouchers. The group says
13,000 students are on the waiting list for the state's
tax credit scholarships. However, overall enrollment
has dropped since last year, in part, because corporate
donations are down and Step Up says it can't afford to
send as many students to private schools.
The state offers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to corporations that donate to the program.

Requirements Cause Confusion
Meanwhile, a program created last year that offers,
among other things, vouchers to students who are
bullied in their public schools, has had a slow start.
Called Hope Scholarships, the program draws on
sales tax revenues on new cars to help pay for eligible students to attend private school. Car buyers
are given an option to direct some of the taxes they
would pay on new vehicles to the Hope Scholarships.
Although Florida officials projected as many as
7,000 students would participate this school year,
only a little more than 200 students have been
awarded scholarships. Some school districts have
raised concerns over whether families can receive
a voucher even if their child was not bullied.
When a student complains of bullying, state law
requires schools to investigate the incident. The
new voucher law requires districts to notify the

parents of the student who claimed to be bullied
that they have the option to apply for the special
voucher.
What's confusing some districts is whether an investigaton must conclude that bullying occurred before a student is eligible for the voucher, said Brian
Moore, a lawyer for the Alachua County schools. His
district decided to note on the form if a claim could
not be verified.
"[I]t is not up to us to decide how the scholarship
funding organizations process the forms," Moore
said in an email to Education Week. "On the other
hand, we also don't want to create records that say
an incident of bullying occurred ... if it did not actually happen."
The Florida education department issued a directive last month saying districts must inform
families of the voucher program even if the bullying
claim cannot be substantiated.
While the vouchers for bullied students haven't
gained widespread traction, that doesn't mean the
program won't eventually flourish, said Levesque.
She pointed to Florida's voucher program for students
with disabilities launched in 1999.
"It started as a pilot project in one county in Sarasota, and in the first year, only two students participated," she said. "Now there are about 31,000 students participating in the program."
Coverage of how parents work with educators, community
leaders, and policymakers to make informed decisions
about their children's education is supported by a grant
from the Walton Family Foundation. Education Week
retains sole editorial control over the content of this
coverage.

K-12 Funding
Has Legislators
Bearing Down

by 2024, but would commit no new
state aid for schools. Several proposals were killed at the last minute during last year's legislative
session after lawmakers couldn't
agree on new spending patterns.
The state's legislative session ends
May 8.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

2030, but they have committed to
attempting to replace the entire
funding formula next year.

MASSACHUSETTS
Hundreds of parents, teachers,
and advocates packed a hearing in
late March at the state capitol on
school funding. Three bills coursing through the legislature could
alter the way the state distributes
its K-12 money for the first time
in more than 25 years. One bill,
pushed by Gov. Charlie Baker, a
Republican, would provide $1.1 billion more for schools over the next
seven years and give the state's department of education more oversight of underperforming schools.
Another, dubbed the Education
PROMISE Act, would implement
several spending provisions that
a bipartisan state-appointed commission recommended last year,
and add $1 billion over a yet-tobe determined number of years.
And a third, much looser proposal,
named "An Act Relative to Updating the Education Foundation
Budget," pledges that the state
will replace its funding formula

OHIO
In the middle of this year's session, a task force made up legislators, district superintendents, and
school finance officers proposed
what it called the "Fair School
Funding Plan." Districts had long
complained that the state's existing formula doesn't distribute
money to the districts most in
need of state aid and that it unfairly punishes districts that have
a significant number of students
who transfer to charter schools.
The proposal would, according to
its architects, provide more money
to districts serving more-impoverished students. But it quickly
ran into trouble when lawmakers
calculated that wealthier districts
would stand to gain more per pupil
that poorer districts. The plan
would require the state to increase
overall state funding for schools
by 10 percent over the next two
years. Legislators were still debating components of the bill as of late
last week. The state's legislative
session runs throughout the year.

NEVADA
With both the legislature and
governorship now under Democratic control, lawmakers are
gathering steam to replace a school
funding formula that is almost 50
years old. At this point, proposals
haven't been formalized into a bill,
those close to the process have told
local media. The approaches being
debated would not increase the
amount of money the state contributes to public schools, but would
change which districts get more
money. Currently, every district
gets the same amount of money, no
matter what type of students it's
educating. Those crafting the legislation are considering giving more
money to schools that teach students who require more resources
to educate, such as impoverished
students, English-language learners, and those with disabilities. Reports suggest the legislation will be
rolled out in the coming weeks.

TEXAS
Lawmakers are barreling through
the lawmaking process on House
Bill 3, which would upend Texas'
decades-old "Robin Hood" funding
formula, which takes money from
property-rich districts and distributes it to property-poor districts.
The bill would increase per-pupil
spending to $6,030 from $5,140
and increase school spending by
$9 billion over the next two years.
The bill gained more support from
districts and teachers after a provision was included to tie teacher pay
and a portion of districts' revenue
to test scores. If passed, the state's
property tax would decrease and
districts would rely more on sales
and oil tax revenue.
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Education Week - April 17, 2019

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