Erica Florea was fed up. The Jupiter, Fla., mother had feuded for months with her daughter鈥檚 middle school over her special education needs. Florea believed Jessica, who has dwarfism and epilepsy, also had autism.
But the school system, Florea said, had missed the diagnosis and was not providing the supports she insisted her daughter needed. So, before school resumed in the fall of 2015, she took a friend鈥檚 advice and applied for one of Florida鈥檚 publicly funded voucher programs to help pay tuition expenses for Jessica to attend a private school.
With a taxpayer-funded McKay Scholarship worth nearly $6,000, Florea pulled Jessica out of a public school system that faces some of the most stringent accountability in the country and entered into a largely unregulated private school sector with wide latitude over who it admits, who it kicks out, and few requirements for informing the public on how it serves students who are attending its schools with the help of taxpayer funds. This despite the fact that the state鈥檚 private schools collected nearly $832 million last year for tuition expenses, paid for by public money and tax-credits for businesses.
In the Florea family鈥檚 two-year odyssey through Florida鈥檚 private school choice programs that has followed, the first school Jessica attended closed down. Another refused to enroll her because she was too far behind academically. And a third school expelled her midyear in a dispute over bullying.
鈥淭he private schools get to do whatever they want, but they鈥檙e taking the state鈥檚 money,鈥� said Florea.
A Sound Investment?
Nowhere has private school choice been embraced as much as in Florida, a state that has led the charge in rewriting the rules of traditional education in recent years. With 140,000 students using vouchers or tax-credit scholarships, more children attend private schools there with the help of the state鈥檚 three private school choice programs than in any other state. States across the country have adopted many of Florida鈥檚 policies both on school choice and public school accountability. And U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos holds up Florida as a model for the rest of the nation.
Plans from President Donald Trump and DeVos to create a federal private school choice program have hit roadblocks, but there鈥檚 a strong push to create new voucher programs in some states and expand existing programs in others. That鈥檚 raising critical questions over how well vouchers and other similarly-styled policies serve students and whether there are guardrails in place to ensure the public money being sunk into private school choice is a sound investment.
Findings from a string of recent studies in Indiana, Louisiana, and Ohio border on alarming, showing that students who attend private schools with the help of public money may end up doing worse after they leave their public schools.
But school choice advocates vigorously argue that parental demand for private school choice proves that it鈥檚 working. Excessive state oversight, they contend, undermines private schools鈥� ability to be flexible. And there鈥檚 no better system of accountability than the market-style kind that comes from giving parents the freedom to choose schools.
Critics counter that a lack of state oversight puts voucher students鈥攎any from poor families or with disabilities鈥攁t serious risk of falling even further behind.
Florida鈥檚 first foray into private school choice started in 1999, and its oldest, continuously operating program is the McKay Scholarship, which provides tuition vouchers of up to $7,000 to students with qualifying disabilities. When families use a voucher to enroll in private school, they give up, knowingly or not, most of the protections that federal law requires for special education students. If a private school decides not to admit a student, or to ask a student to leave, there鈥檚 little legal recourse for parents to challenge those decisions.
鈥淧arents apply to a private school, they say, 鈥榊es, we will take your child,鈥� and the parent un-enrolls from the district and is basically out on their own,鈥� said Michelle R. Davis, a special education expert and consultant based in Florida. 鈥淭here is no oversight.鈥�
It鈥檚 a tradeoff parents in Florida and other states have made in pursuit of a better education for their children, including Erica Florea.
One Family鈥檚 Odyssey
Jessica, 14, looks like a child who has grown up on the beach. She has wavy, sun-streaked hair and a broad smile. She also has deep scars on her ankles, knees and thighs from two leg-lengthening surgeries, the second of which put her in a wheelchair for eight months last year.
鈥淪he loves life,鈥� Florea said of her daughter. 鈥淪he loves the beach. There鈥檚 nothing she won鈥檛 try.鈥�
But school has not come easy.
Getting the McKay Scholarship, Florea said, gave the family new hope for Jessica, who first enrolled at Jupiter Academy, a private school near their home. But halfway into her first year, Jupiter Academy announced it would close. The next school, Jupiter Christian School, took McKay recipients, but did not admit Jessica. She tested behind grade level and the school couldn鈥檛 meet her needs, officials told Florea.
So, for the third time in less than year, the family began a search for a new school. They landed at Providence Education Group, a small school on the second floor of a shopping center above a sandwich shop. Providence鈥檚 assessment of Jessica鈥檚 skills found she was reading at a 4th grade level and doing math at a 3rd grade level.
At Providence鈥檚 suggestion, Jessica switched for the 2016-17 school year to Florida鈥檚 newest private school choice program鈥攖he Gardiner Scholarship, which gives students with more severe disabilities roughly $10,000 a year and more flexibility over how they spend the money. Initially, Florea was pleased with Jessica鈥檚 progress. But her optimism evaporated when, she said, students began making fun of Jessica鈥檚 small stature.
Things went downhill as Florea complained about the bullying and accused the Providence staff of ignoring the problem. She took matters into her own hands, confronting one of the students she believed was harassing her daughter. (Officials at Providence Education did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)
In late spring, Providence officials told Florea that Jessica was no longer welcome. Its director emailed some readings and assignments for Jessica to complete, and told Florea her daughter would have to finish the school year at home.
鈥淚 said fine, that鈥檚 probably best, but you need to provide a teacher,鈥� to support Jessica鈥檚 home study, Florea said. 鈥淚 never heard back. I sent email after email. Text after text.鈥�
In May, she emailed a complaint to Step Up for 69传媒, the nonprofit group that administers the Gardiner scholarships on behalf of the state, but Florea said she never got a response. Ron Matus, the director of policy and public affairs for Step Up for 69传媒, told Education Week that the group had forwarded Florea鈥檚 complaint to the state because 鈥渋nvestigating those kinds of allegations is outside our charge as a scholarship funding organization.鈥�
In July, Florea sent her own complaint to the state department, which responded by explaining that private schools are solely responsible for 鈥渟tudent regulation, dismissal, and expulsion policies,鈥� and therefore, the school had not violated any laws or rules.
State officials also told Florea to consider switching private schools, and that she check schools鈥� accreditation status before enrolling Jessica. The state then said it would forward Florea鈥檚 complaint to Step Up for 69传媒.
Few Regulations
Despite a bulging roster of Florida students attending private schools with the state鈥檚 help, there鈥檚 scant data and information available to show how they do.
That laissez-faire approach to regulating the private schools stands in stark contrast to the state鈥檚 unsparing rules for public schools.
Private schools receiving state aid don鈥檛 have to track or tell the state how many students graduate from their schools, nor how many are bullied, expelled, or drop out鈥攕ome of the most basic measures of student success.
Private schools do not receive letter grades based on how well students perform on state standardized tests as their public school peers do, and they are not required to be accredited by an independent agency.
A several instances of private schools fudging health and safety records, and hiring staff with criminal backgrounds. The state was often slow to catch the misdeeds and respond, the newspaper reported.
Officials in Florida鈥檚 education department declined to provide an agency official who could answer Education Week鈥榮 questions about the lack of regulations for the state鈥檚 private-school choice programs. Instead, they cited four state statutes outlining that private schools participating in a scholarship program must:
- Meet requirements regarding Florida antidiscrimination rules, fire and building safety, and screening staff for criminal backgrounds;
- Hire teachers with a bachelors鈥� degree, unless they have three years of teaching experience or an 鈥渆xpertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in subjects taught鈥�;
- Prove that they are fiscally sound by getting a letter of credit from a bank, unless they have been open for three years, in which case they are not required provide proof of fiscal soundness.
Florida statute explicitly states that the state does not 鈥渞egulate, control, approve or accredit鈥� private schools.
No Accreditation Required
The vast majority of Florida鈥檚 private schools are not accredited.
Absent a stamp of approval from the state, accreditation鈥攁 multiyear process carried out by agencies that conduct independent evaluations of schools鈥攑rovides a way for private schools to prove that they meet certain fiscal, curricular, and, in some cases, religious standards.
Of 2,124 private schools participating in the state鈥檚 private school choice programs, only 629鈥攆ewer than 30 percent鈥攁re accredited, according to an Education Week analysis of state data.
States use accreditation to help regulate private schools that receive public funding, and nearly half of private school choice programs nationally require participants to be accredited, according to the American Federation for Children.
But for many schools, said Robyn Rennick, the president of a group that advocates for private schools participating in the McKay program, going through accreditation is impractical and burdensome, especially for smaller schools.
And as many proponents of private school choice and experts on accreditation point out, there鈥檚 a wide range in quality among accreditation groups and most public schools are not required to be accredited.
While Florida鈥檚 public school accountability system is viewed as among the toughest, its hands-off approach to private-school choice programs is not contradictory, said Patricia Levesque, the chief executive officer of the Foundation for Excellence in Education and Jeb Bush鈥檚 deputy chief of staff for education while he was Florida鈥檚 governor. The main source of oversight and accountability in private schools are parents who regulate them with the choices they make, she said.
鈥淭he goals of choice are not to turn private schools into public schools,鈥� said Levesque, whose organization was working in more than 20 states last year alone to pass bills related to private school choice.
In many ways, Florida is in the middle of the regulatory pack compared to other states, according to the . Indiana and Louisiana have stricter rules for private schools taking vouchers. Like its public schools, Indiana gives grades to private schools receiving taxpayer money based on test scores. 69传媒 that perform poorly get booted from the voucher program.
Louisiana also requires private schools in its voucher program to take the state test, and it doesn鈥檛 allow them to pick which students they admit.
Levesque points to the nationally norm-referenced tests students are required to take in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program that shows low-income students in the program score about average when compared to their peers of all income levels, nationally. And a new study from the Urban Institute found that students participating in the tax-credit scholarship program enrolled in college at higher rates than their peers in traditional public schools.
Those studies are proof that Florida鈥檚 private school choice programs are working, said Levesque. That, and the swelling demand for scholarships.
鈥楶recious Little Evidence鈥�
Indeed, there are many stories of families who have been happy with their voucher experience. Ebony Smith of Tampa says the state鈥檚 tax-credit scholarships鈥攖he largest of Florida鈥檚 private school choice programs鈥攈as been pivotal for her family. She used the scholarships鈥攎eant for low-income families and funded by corporations that get generous tax credits in exchange for their donations鈥攖o send her three daughters to private school.
鈥淲e did not live in an area where the public schools were good,鈥� said Smith, a single parent and third-generation teenage mother. Her oldest daughter recently graduated from Bard College. Her other two daughters currently attend college in Florida. 鈥淲e broke the cycle of teen parenthood in my family, and hopefully, we鈥檒l break the cycle of poverty,鈥� Smith said.
But new research on vouchers in Indiana, Louisiana, and Ohio is complicating an already complex debate over private school choice. More regulation and oversight doesn鈥檛 necessarily guarantee students will do better in private schools, nor do low test scores dampen parental demand.
鈥淚f anything, it looks like that ... kids might do worse,鈥� said David Figlio, the dean of the Northwestern University鈥檚 School of Education and Social Policy, whose study of Ohio vouchers for low-income children in low-performing schools found they performed significantly worse on state tests than peers who were eligible for vouchers but stayed in public schools.
鈥淭here are possible explanations: they鈥檙e getting a worse education ... they鈥檙e getting a different form of education鈥攁nd I don鈥檛 think we really know the truth,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I think there鈥檚 precious little evidence so far that these kids do better academically.鈥�
Erica Florea, Jessica鈥檚 mom, has all the evidence she needs to persuade her that private school choice isn鈥檛 working. Jessica is now back in public school where, Florea says, she is thriving with the support she requires.
鈥淪o, three years later, after all this drama, she was properly diagnosed and has the proper resources,鈥� Florea said.
