Vouchers can work, with
safeguards
by Larry D. Keough, Associate for Education,
Florida Catholic Conference
(December 2003)
TALLAHASSEE - Nearly five years ago, the school-choice camp operated under the mantra that less is better in respect to accountability and regulation for private schools participating in statewide scholarship programs. Now, the school-choice movement is in a different place and time. Recent scandals allege that fly-by-night and storefront schools were established to receive scholarship dollars, not provide a quality education.
Understandably, there is a hue and cry for tighter controls on scholarship programs and participating private schools. No longer can representatives of "scholarship schools" cling to their private sector autonomy as rationale to head off accountability measures. The question isn't whether accountability should be placed on scholarship programs and participating private schools.
Gov. Jeb Bush and Education Commissioner Jim Horne announced in September that scholarship schools would have to complete the Sworn Compliance Form to document whether they are meeting applicable state laws.
In October, Commissioner Horne proposed new safeguards, one of which would require that corporate tax scholarship students participate in a standardized test and the scores be reported to a private third-party research entity. And draft language from the Senate Education Committee, in collaboration with the McKay Task Force, is under way to revise the McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities.
At issue is what defines reasonable accountability that ensures quality education for scholarship students without unfairly driving private schools from the programs.
The Florida Catholic Conference has proposed several provisions that meet the reasonable-accountability litmus test. Our proposed provisions would provide a baseline of quality through accreditation, prevent new schools from participating in the programs until their third year of existence, require parents to sign an affidavit if they believe their child is achieving academically, and force private schools to provide standardized assessments to McKay and corporate tax scholarship students. Our colleagues are concerned that these accountability proposals, particularly accreditation, would force the nonaccredited schools out of the programs. We are recommending a reasonable time line of three years from the date of obtaining candidate status to the initial accreditation visit. The school would then receive a two-year grace period, if needed, following the initial accreditation visit to correct any standard violations.
Oversight on the accrediting association not only is essential to avoid situations in which schools accredit themselves, but to ensure that the accrediting association is credible. We recommend that a third party serve as a gatekeeper to determine whether an accrediting association and its standards are reputable.
The accreditation provision would require all scholarship schools to petition to an accrediting association recognized by the Florida Association of Academic Nonpublic Schools, a FAANS counterpart, or by membership with the National Council for Private Schools Accreditation (NCPSA) in which scholarship schools could be awarded accreditation by the Commission of International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA). Through CITA, the NCPSA and regional accrediting commissioners maintain a check and balance to validate standards and conduct evaluations.
Before an accrediting association is officially recognized by FAANS, its philosophy and objectives, curriculum, school plant and facilities, faculty and administrative staff, school calendar and class hours, transfer of student records, financial records, library and media center, health and safety, nondiscriminatory policies, state laws and regulations and accreditation procedures, which include a self study, an onsite visitation, an accreditation designation and periodic reports, must be reviewed.
The aforementioned process provides each accrediting association with core principles to incorporate in its standards, which serve as a baseline of minimal compliance to ensure a safe and learning environment within a school. That process, however, allows for flexibility beyond the core principles to account for a school's mission, history and composition of students. For example, an accrediting association would have the flexibility to emphasize standards relating to adaptive learning, remediation and smaller class sizes when assessing a school for special needs students. Standards relating to academic acceleration/independent learning and technology in the classroom would be emphasized at a college-preparatory school.
If all participating schools were to be accredited as suggested, there would be assurance that the inner-city private schools, which are located in close proximity to the majority of eligible scholarship students, are minimally providing a baseline of quality. Absent accreditation, many scholarship students may continue their education in private schools that are no better than or possibly inferior to the public schools they attended.
That would be a travesty because school choice was founded in Florida on the premise that children who have not received a good start in life educationally within the public sector, ought to have the right to a better opportunity in the private sector. It follows that the state, by legislating the three statewide scholarship programs, has a responsibility to ensure that scholarship programs are utilizing public funds for children to achieve academically.
Voucher proponents have argued for years that choice is only controversial at the K-12 level. One possible explanation why choice is accepted at the post secondary level may stem from the fact there is precedent for institutions to be accredited before indirectly receiving the Florida Resident Access Grant, the Access to Better Learning and Education Grant Program, the Florida Private Student Assistant Grant Program and Title IV/Pell Grants. At the pre-K level, the state's Advisory Council has recommended that programs participating in Universal Pre-K must be nationally accredited and Gold Seal approved.
In order to protect children from fly-by-night operators and provide a credibility boost to the choice programs, the time is now for accreditation to be a program requirement. Some may say an accreditation provision is unfair for those nonaccredited schools already providing a quality education to scholarship students. But let's remember that legislation rarely, if ever, is enacted for those who are providing a model program or service that benefits the public. Legislative action is usually undertaken as a remedy when a relatively small percentage of the citizenry is not serving consumers well.
Larry Keough is the associate for education at the Florida Catholic Conference
and the legislative advocate for Florida Catholic schools, which are the largest
block of voucher schools in the state.
Opinion