Public Testimony
By Larry Keough

April 26, 2005, before the Senate Appropriations Committee. . .

I. Introduction

Good afternoon Mr. Chair and committee members. Mr. Chair, please let me know before I begin whether you would like me to speak to the strike all amendment or the individual amendments that are drafted to configure within the actual bill.

Note: The chair, Rep. Alexander, stated that I could address the strike all amendment and/or the individual amendments.

I speak in opposition of amendatory language that would require participating private schools to enroll students on a religious neutral basis. I voice that opposition on behalf of the Florida Catholic Conference, Florida Catholic School Community and the Florida Association of Christian Schools and Colleges.

Dr. Howard Burke of the Florida Association of Christian Schools and Colleges had an emergency and unfortunately cannot be here today. He asked me to convey on his behalf that the amendment, if adopted, would create a situation in which the state excessively entangles itself upon a religious entity. It is the position of the Florida Association of Christian Schools and Colleges that if this language were to be adopted onto the bill and this legislation is enacted, both the McKay Scholarship Program for students with Disabilities and the Corporate Tax Scholarship Program would be unconstitutional. And, as a result, the Florida Association of Christian Schools and Colleges would reconsider its participation in the school choice movement.


II. Florida Catholic Conference’s position

Now I would like to speak briefly about the Florida Catholic Conference’s position in respect to the amendatory language that would require schools to only enroll students on a religious neutral basis. It is our position that this amendment is not needed. The constitutionality of vouchers likely will be decided based on funding from the state to religious schools, not whether schools enroll children on a religious neutral basis.


III. Nationally norm referenced testing

Although we have advocated for participating nonpublic schools to be accredited by legitimate associations in which there is reputable third party oversight on the accrediting organizations and for teachers employed by schools in scholarship programs to minimally possess a bachelor’s degree and continue professional development in their area of expertise, the testing language probably serves as the litmus test for voucher accountability. We believe that the testing language gets us to where we need to be in the scholarship programs. That is, analysis by public universities in lieu of the Florida Department of Education or a not-for-profit research entity is a fair compromise that hopefully will build support for this key provision. If this language were to prevail, empirical evidence would supplant conjecture by determining in fact whether scholarship students are learning a year’s worth of knowledge on an annual basis. It would then follow that to a large extent, academic scholarship accountability would be effectively addressed.



Questions were posed to the Associate for Education following this testimony regarding opposition of an amendment that would allow Catholic schools to enroll based on religious neutrality. If you would like further information regarding this, please email nhalley@flacathconf.org.
 
 

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