Upon the heels of the Florida
Supreme Court decision striking down the Opportunity Scholarship
law, proponents of school choice are rallying to protect the state’s
other two K-12 scholarship programs.
According to Florida’s justices, the Opportunity
Scholarship program violates the constitutional requirement that the
state provide a uniform system of public schools because the private
schools participating in the program are not subject to the level of
regulation imposed on public schools.
According to officials at the Florida Catholic
Conference, lawmakers will need to address that same lack of
accountability in private schools that participate in scholarship
programs serving students with disabilities and children in
low-income families.
“We were preparing for a ruling that would declare
Opportunity Scholarships unconstitutional on the basis that there is
no systemic accountability provision in the program,” said Larry
Keough, the conference’s associate for education.
Over the last several legislative sessions, the
conference has supported bills that would require private schools
receiving scholarship funds to participate in an accreditation
program, similar to the one administered by the conference for the
state’s Catholic elementary, middle, and high schools.
Scholarship Information from
The Florida Catholic Newspaper
While the Opportunity Scholarship
Program was the first school-choice program enacted by
the state, it was also the smallest, serving
approximately 700 elementary, middle, and high school
students.
McKay Scholarships, funded with state
revenue, allow the parents of more than 15,000 Florida
students with disabilities to send their children to the
public or private schools of their choice.
With the help of private contributions
to the Corporate Income Tax Scholarship Fund, almost
13,500 students in low-income households have
transferred to other schools that their parents felt
best suited the needs of their children. Corporations
are allowed to receive a tax credit on their
contributions to the scholarship fund from their state
corporate income tax payments.
The recent Supreme Court ruling had no
immediate impact on these programs, but it did leave
them open to a constitutional challenge on the same
grounds that were the basis for striking down
Opportunity Scholarships.
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Every parochial school in Florida is reviewed
periodically to ensure that it meets certain standards that are
designed to promote educational excellence.
“One of the reasons we’ve lobbied for accreditation
is because it’s a private version of state regulation,” said Keough.
The conference’s accreditation system was put in
place in the 1970s, during another public debate over school
accountability. According to Thomas A. Horkan, founding executive
director of the conference, a growing scandal over abuses among
private colleges and vocational schools prompted some in the
Legislature to demand state licensing of all nonpublic schools, from
kindergarten through college.
“We adopted an accreditation program to meet any
requirements that the Legislature might enact at a future date,”
said Horkan. “The dioceses also wanted to make sure that all our
parochial schools met standards that would be set by the
accreditation program.”
Although a state licensing program for parochial
schools never materialized, Horkan said that the accreditation
program is one of the conference’s finest accomplishments.
According to Keough, some supporters of the state’s
K-12 scholarship programs opposed accreditation as a costly state
mandate.
“Many of them believe that a parent’s choice is the
ultimate accountability, and as such, no other accountability is
needed,” he said.
Conference officials are meeting with legislative
leaders in an attempt to work out differences lingering from last
year’s failed attempt to impose accountability standards on private
schools accepting scholarship dollars. Unresolved issues include
criminal background checks, random financial audits of scholarship
schools and testing.
Last year’s Senate bill would have forced all school
personnel having direct contact with children to undergo state and
federal criminal background checks while the House would have
required state screening only. The House also opposed random reviews
of school financial records by state auditors.
Keough said that the conference supported the
Senate’s more stringent version of accountability, which parochial
schools already meet.
“We’re going to continue to work with leadership to
find ways to make sure these kids on scholarships can keep them,” he
said.
