Under the guise of greater “school choice”, several bills to overhaul public education in Florida await Gov. Rick Scott’s signature, having passed the Legislature earlier this month.
The slew of bills which include, expansion of virtual schools, charter schools and voucher programs, in reality will undermine and undercut public education, by siphoning off taxpayer money to private schools.
But that’s exactly the intention.
In the past, whereas the public school system stood as an institution that unified Americans, giving equal opportunity to middle-class and low-income students who wanted to learn, under Scott’s expanded voucher program, education would become even more Balkanized than it already is, with the help of taxpayer dollars.
The issue of vouchers is not new and has always been unpopular with the American people. According to thinkprogress.org, between 1966 and 2000, voucher programs were put up for a vote in states 25 times, and voters rejected the program 24 of those times.
But with little debate inside the Florida Legislature or for that matter outside, Republican lawmakers returned to former Governor Jeb Bush’s playbook to force through sweeping educational reforms.
It matters not that voucher programs have produced mixed results in other states. In Cleveland, voucher programs have proved to be less effective than supporters argue and in Milwaukee, the result was a huge budget shortfall, leaving public school districts scrambling for funds, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
But Florida is not alone as there has been a rapid expansion of voucher programs across the U.S., backed by right-wing millionaires and billionaires, bankers and industrialists, lobby shops and hard core ideologues, who pretend to want to save public education by creating vastly unequal offerings, using public money to support a private school model.
And who are some of these right-wing millionaires and billionaires mounting the assault on America’s public schools? Here’s a sampling:
- Dick Devos, son of billionaire Amway co-founder and owner of the Orlando Magic, Richard DeVos. The DeVos family has had a long history of undermining public education. He has poured millions of dollars into right-wing causes, including providing substantial support for numerous “school choice” groups.
- Betsy DeVos, wife of Dick Devos, and who had been even more aggressive than her husband, pouring millions into numerous voucher front groups across the U.S.
- The Walton Family Foundation (WFF)–The Wal-mart backed WFF is one of the most powerful foundations in the country and have showered millions into groups such as, Florida School Choice Fund, Foundation for Educational Choice and Friends of Educational Choice.
Florida’s Constitution requires a high quality education system and a level of state funding that supports this goal. In 2010, the state ranked almost at the bottom (49th) in terms of eduction spending, had a high school graduation rate of 45th in the country, and ranked below the national average in the percentage of young adults with a degree or enrolled in college.
The Legislature recently slashed education spending by $1.8 billion in the 2011-2012 budget and when coupled with the sweeping changes planned to public education, it is clear that the vast majority of students are having their constitutional rights violated by Scott and his Republican wrecking crew.
Disinvestment in education and expanding voucher programs, are surely not the way to build a strong and unified Florida.
