OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS SAVING STATE DOLLARS
WHILE PROVIDING QUALITY EDUCATION
Tallahassee, FL (June
15, 2000) — The
Opportunity Scholarship Program has been widely publicized in the past year, but what is
far less known is the cost savings and other benefits generated by the program.
Rhetoric of fear has created a perception that the Opportunity Scholarship Program is
depleting public school resources. Actually, the opposite is occurring. In Escambia
County, the only area where students have been eligible to participate in the program,
four Catholic Schools are educating 48 Opportunity Scholarship students at considerable
lesser cost than if they had remained in public schools.
Catholic schools, on the average, were reimbursed $3,280 for tuition and fees for each of
the Opportunity Scholarship students for the 1999-2000 school year. The Escambia School
District received $4,650 for each of its students in operating revenue from the Florida
Education Finance Program (FEFP), "categoricals" such as transportation, and a
share of local discretionary taxes. As a result, the state actually retained $1,370 of
that funding for each Opportunity Scholarship student in Catholic schools for a savings of
$65,760. That total does not include potential savings in capital outlay expenses when
students on Opportunity Scholarships leave district schools.
Additional savings were realized through Title I federal program services. Although each
of the Opportunity Scholarship students in Catholic schools qualified for Title I funds
and actually generated more than $500 per student while in public schools during the
1998-1999 school year, not a single one of them received the services in the schools of
their parents’ choice.
Eligibility for Title I services is not based on whether a child attends a public or
nonpublic school. Title I is predicated upon a student’s qualifying for free and
reduced lunch, residing in an attendance zone of a public school that itself meets Title I
qualifications and standardized testing to determine if the student is in need of remedial
assistance.
Make no mistake, participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program is a monumental
sacrifice and commitment. It would be much easier for Catholic schools to exempt
themselves from the program. The plain-simple fact is Catholic schools do not need the
program to exist. Most Catholic schools are near or at capacity and have long waiting
lists for those who want to attend. The overwhelming majority of Florida Catholic schools
are operating in the black and performing very well.
But to refrain from participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program would be
inconsistent with the moral obligation and social justice aspect of Catholic schools to
reach out to all families. Many of the children in lower performing public schools are
at-risk because they are from impoverished families, in dire need of remedial assistance
and a quality education so the learning gap does not widen. Empirical evidence suggests
that the learning gap is a precursor for illiteracy, drop out, juvenile and adult crime.
At the heart of Catholic school-choice advocacy is social consciousness to prevent at-risk
children from becoming another statistic.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program is benefiting students on scholarships and creating a
sense of urgency for lower performing public schools to improve. Opportunity Scholarship
students have assimilated socially and achieved academically in Catholic schools, and
their parents have reported they are satisfied with their children’s education.
The program placates overcrowding by reducing the class size in lower-performing public
schools. And since the Opportunity Scholarship Program was signed into law last year,
Escambia School Superintendent Jim May said practice tests administered at the two
lowest-performing public schools indicate students are improving academically. In
Miami-Dade, school officials have begun shifting millions of dollars in federal funds to
increase intensive math and reading at schools receiving low grades and hire additional
teachers to work at the 26 public schools that are in jeopardy of being placed on the
state’s list of failing schools.
School officials in Broward County have begun spending millions of dollars for reduction
of first grade size in lower performing public schools. Beginning in July, lower
performing schools will receive a share of federal school-improvement money under Title I.
The money can be used to buy equipment such as computers or to hire more employees.
Lower performing public schools will be funded at record levels. Of the $868 million
increase in Florida’s education funding, lower performing public schools will receive
$17.25 million in lottery funds, $22.05 million to improve student achievement through
mentoring programs, and $12.25 million in bonuses to attract and retain outstanding
teachers. Other funding includes $3.4 million for "Challenge Grants" to match
private contributions to assist the lowest performing public schools, and $6.17 million
for students in lower performing public schools to access Advanced Placement (AP) and
college preparatory courses through the Florida On-Line High School.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program is achieving what school-choice advocates have
predicted all along: accountability and competition to improve Florida’s educational
system, which directly benefits children.
The facts fly in the face of rhetorical doom and gloom scenarios. The Opportunity
Scholarship Program is providing at-risk children a quality education in the schools of
their parents’ choice, saving state dollars and helping to improve lower performing
public schools.