Nearly three years after landmark legislation gave Sunshine State families the flexibility to choose from an expanding number of learning options, 75% of its 67 school districts now offer a la carte services.

In a recent Johns Hopkins University Homeschool Research Lab podcast, Keith Jacobs, director of provider development at Step Up For Students, explained how putting parents in control of their children’s education dollars is changing the way Florida students learn.

“In every major service offered in human experience, the need for customer service is evident,” said Jacobs, a former public school teacher and administrator. “So, when you’re talking about education, we’ve gone from government-sponsored, government-funded within the public school sector to now families being empowered with the money and the opportunity and the knowledge to make a decision on which a la carte model they feel is most valuable for their child. It’s no longer, ‘I have to go to my neighborhood public school based on the ZIP code we live in.’ They want that level of customization.”

 Last year, roughly  80,000 students were funded in the Personalized Education Program, which allows parents to design customized learning for their children who are not enrolled full time in public or private schools. Another scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, allows parents the choice between full-time private school or customized homeschool plans. Last year, about half of the more than 150,000 students who participated in the
UA  option chose homeschooling.

“There are many different ways for families to experience homeschool education in Florida,” Jacobs told host Christy Batts, a senior research data analyst at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Institute for Education Policy.

Jacobs has spent nearly two years helping school districts expand learning options for students who receive funding through education savings accounts. These accounts allow parents to use funds for tuition, curriculum, therapies, and other pre-approved educational expenses. That includes services by approved district and charter schools.

Jacobs said 51 of the state’s 67 public school districts have agreed to offer some form of unbundled services. Those can be in-person or virtual, core classes or extracurricular activities.

Jacobs sees the fact that more than 50% of families in Florida exercise some form of choice as a big motivator for school districts to innovate. When it comes to developing their own offerings, Jacobs said his team at Step Up lets district leaders take the lead.

  “We try to meet them where they are,” he said.

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On this episode, senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Nina Rees, president and chief executive officer of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Founded in 2005, the alliance’s stated mission is to ensure all children have access to a high-quality public education regardless of their ZIP code.

Rees discusses the recent study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, also known as CREDO, that showed over time, charter schools outperformed district-run schools in their communities and narrowed the achievement gap.

“If there was ever a doubt as to the effectiveness of charter schools, in their ability to close the achievement gap, this study definitely proves that gap can be closed and it's just a matter of doubling down and investing more in building these great schools in more places.”

Rees also discussed Oklahoma’s recent approval of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School, which, if it survives

Nina Rees

a court challenge, would be the nation’s first religious charter school.

Rees’ organization issued a statement disagreeing with the decision, arguing that the law has established that charter schools are public schools therefore required to operate as secular institutions. A coalition that includes Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Education Law Center filed a lawsuit challenging the virtual charter school, which is set to open in 2024.

Episode details:

• How charter school authorizers’ focus on performance led to better education outcomes
• Why differences between Florida’s and New York’s education choice options make the Sunshine State stronger despite more modest gains cited in the CREDO charter study
• Why diversity among school founders will allow the charter school movement to remain intact despite the controversy and legal battle surrounding Oklahoma’s approval of a religious charter school

The post podcastED: National charter school movement leader talks about charter performance and Oklahoma’s approval of a religious charter school appeared first on NextSteps: Step Up For Students.

St. Isidore of Seville is the patron saint of technology and the internet.

On this episode, senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma.

Founded in 2017 by Oklahoma's Catholic bishops, the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma serves as the official voice of the Catholic Church in Oklahoma on matters of public policy. The Conference operates at the intersection of faith and politics.

Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma

Farley has served as the primary spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa as the two organizations applied to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School. Named for the patron saint of the internet and technology, St. Isidore made history on June 5 when the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved it by a 3-2 vote as the nation’s first religious charter school. The decision is expected to result in litigation, as supporters and opponents each threatened a court challenge depending on the outcome.

Farley offers some background about the reasons and purpose of a Catholic virtual charter school. He also offers an argument for why such a school passes constitutional muster.

“In the context of a private virtual school, we would still have to charge tuition, and that becomes, for some folks, a non-starter. They simply can't afford anything. But secondarily by partnering with the state, again, it opens up all kinds of possibilities that a tuition-based program wouldn't be able to afford. That's one of the primary features of a charter program is that the state's going to fund innovation.”

Please note: Since this podcast was recorded, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Charter Day School v. Peltier, a North Carolina dress code case in which one charter school argued that it is a private actor. The court's refusal to hear the case was hailed as a win by many charter school advocates, who argue charter schools are public. But it leaves the constitutional status of overtly religious charter schools in limbo.

Episode Details:

• The Catholic Church’s commitment to education choice
• How a virtual school could help the church could offer more educational options to students in rural areas of Oklahoma
• Why Catholic leaders thought it made more sense to start a religious charter school instead of a virtual private school
• The three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that led church leaders to consider establishing the nation’s first faith-based charter school
• Why church leaders think a faith-based charter school would constitutional muster
• Responses to opponents’ arguments that charter schools are public schools and that if approved, faith-based schools would have to sacrifice their religious values

The post podcastED: Advocate says nation’s first religious charter school will fill important niche appeared first on NextSteps: Step Up For Students.

Her older son, Alexander, 15, was diagnosed at age 2 with severe autism spectrum disorder and currently receives the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities. His younger brother, Miles, 13, attends a charter school. The different uses of education choice earn Luther and her kids the title “multiple choice family.”

Luther discusses how she felt after Alexander, at the time a third grader, qualified for what was then the Gardiner Scholarship and how it helped her design a customized plan at home for him and later allowed her to send him to a private school for students with autism.

As a sibling, Miles qualified for what was then an income-based scholarship. Luther used it to pay private school tuition until Miles began attending a charter school, which, though privately run, is publicly funded. Florida law classifies charter schools as public schools.

Luther loved what the private specialty school offered Alexander, but as a single parent, she will not be able to cover the difference between tuition and what the scholarship pays next year. So, she plans to use scholarship for a customized home-based program.

“It helps you have accessibility to so many resources, and it covers so many of the expenses that it takes to homeschool your kid. With technology nowadays, you have to have laptops and computers and cell phones, or tablets of some kind to help them. And it really helps to cover those things so that you feel like you're still giving your child the best opportunity to learn, just like their peers.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

• How Luther has used previous scholarship funds to design a learning plan for Alexander
• How this military family’s frequent moves affected their children’s education over the years
• How the MyScholarShopProgram allowed Luther to easily make pre-approved online purchases necessary for her son’s education
• How a charter school was a better fit than a private school for her younger son

The post podcastED: ‘Multiple choice’ Florida mom grateful for K-12 scholarship, robust education choice laws appeared first on NextSteps: Step Up For Students.

A new offering from Florida Virtual School, Artificial Intelligence in the World, will guide students through the concepts, tools, and building blocks of artificial intelligence and provide them with a broad overview of how AI is used in decision-making and problem-solving worldwide.

On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Amy Heflin, senior manager for STEM curriculum at Florida Virtual School. Heflin discusses a new high school course program in artificial intelligence and how it will offer students a foundational knowledge of AI and its applications.

Her interview comes a day after FLVS, the nation’s first statewide internet-based virtual school, unveiled its first course, AI in the World, which is part of a progression of industry-focused classes that also include courses in hospitality and entrepreneurship.

Amy Heflin

“We try to impress upon students that studying AI requires analytical, critical thinking skills, things that we use on a daily basis, and that can be useful in any field. Learning about AI will help students develop their problem-solving abilities. They'll become better equipped to handle complex issues.”

EPIDOSE DETAILS:

Topics and hands-on activities covered in the course

The types of students for whom the course is designed

The role that University of Florida faculty members played in developing the curriculum

How the course fits into FLVS’s overall computer science program, which includes a new AP computer science principles course

Heflin’s desire to help students embrace AI rather than fear it

A sneak peek at the next AI course, Applications for Artificial Intelligence

RELEVANT LINKS:

Florida Department of Education among first to adopt K-12 AI education program

FLVS.net

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Rachel Hayon Sabbah, at the lectern, was among advocates who spoke in favor of HB1 in March, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, far right, signed the historic legislation into law.

On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Rachel Hayon Sabbah, a nurse and mother of four daughters, including two who receive the Florida Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities. Her eldest daughter, Elisheva, 8, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and younger daughter Ahavah, 4, has experienced speech delays.

Hayon Sabbah, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, spoke at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of HB 1, which expanded scholarship eligibility to all Florida students and converted all traditional scholarships to education savings accounts. The legislation also allowed the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities to expand its annual growth rate from 1% to 3% of the state’s total exceptional student education population, excluding gifted students, to eliminate the need for waitlists.

Rachel Hayon Sabbah and three of her four daughters

Ahavah, who was on the waitlist, recently was awarded a scholarship and will start voluntary pre-kindergarten next year.

“(The scholarship program) has been really, really helpful in terms of just allowing us at this time to pay for private school tuition. Both of our girls are in Jewish private schools here in South Florida, and it's made it a much easier decision to homeschool our daughter next year because the funding can be used toward educational expenses.”

Episode Details:

• How Elisheva’s diagnosis makes it difficult for her to learn in traditional school
• How the family had been sacrificing to afford private school before receiving the scholarship
• How Teach Florida has raised awareness about the scholarship programs and helped Hayon Sabbah apply
• How the scholarship and its education savings account will allow Elisheva to be homeschooled next year
• How Sayon Sabbah will use some of Ahavah’s funds to provide speech therapy

Relevant Links:

Teach Florida

Florida Department of Education Family Empowerment Scholarships for students with Unique Abilities FAQ

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ADHD page

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Diana Diaz-Harrison and her son, Sammy

On this episode, senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Diana Diaz-Harrison, a former teacher, television journalist and founder at Arizona Autism Charter School in Phoenix, the Southwest region’s only tuition-free school specializing in best practices for students who are on the autism spectrum.

Diaz-Harrison started the school in 2014 after her son, Sammy, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2, began attending kindergarten. The arrangement wasn’t working well for Sammy and others who have ASD, she explains, noting that while federal law requires that exceptional students receive “free and appropriate” education in district schools, it’s no guarantee it will be the best education.

“I think that the stigma that is associated with an autism diagnosis, it's kind of fading … people don't think of it as a death sentence anymore. We are offering so much hope, along with other agencies in the community, that children with autism can learn. They can thrive.”

Sammy attended a private program for a couple of years, and while that was a better environment, the costs were not sustainable. Private programs can cost $40,000 to $50,000 per year.

So, she and other parents opened Arizona Autism Center with 90 students with the mission of using best practices such as applied behavior analysis. The school now serves 700 students on four campuses, including a high school and a virtual program. Another high school will open in Tucson this fall.

The founders’ efforts were rewarded last year when the school took the top $1 million award in the Yass Prize competition, which seeks to recognize and aid education programs that are “sustainable, transformational, outstanding and permissionless.”

In seeking to replicate its model, the school partnered with South Florida Autism Charter School in Miami-Dade County to start a National Autism Charter School Accelerator with the goal of getting at least one autism-focused charter in every state.

EPISODE DETAILS:

• How Diaz-Harrison was inspired to start an autism-focused school
• Why she chose a charter school model in a state with a strong education choice scholarship program
• How she used her broadcast background to raise awareness
• What Arizona Autism Charter School provides in the way of educational best practices
• The Florida connection to Diaz-Harrison’s expansion plans
• How Arizona Charter Autism School plans to use its $1 million Yass Prize

RELEVANT LINKS:

Arizona Autism Charter School

Yass Prize

South Florida Autism Charter School

Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis

CDC Community Report on Autism

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On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Doug Tuthill and Amy Graham of Step Up For Students, the nation’s largest K-12 education choice scholarship funding organization. Tuthill is president of Step Up, and Graham is vice president of policy, innovation and empowerment for the Florida-based organization. Step Up For Students administers most of the education choice scholarships in Florida and hosts this blog.

“The fantastic thing about (education savings accounts) is they're very flexible, and we're all about customization. And this whole ed choice movement is about giving families more flexibility to be able to customize an education for their child. And I think the ESA piece, as well as universal eligibility, are really game changers.” – Doug Tuthill, president, Step Up For Students

Tuthill offers an overview of the 40-year history of education choice in the Sunshine State and how district magnet schools gave rise to more options such as charter schools, virtual schools and scholarship programs that allowed parents to decide the best learning environment for their children. Tuthill also discusses the details of the newly signed law HB 1 and how the conversion of traditional scholarship to education savings accounts will give families even greater flexibility in customizing their children’s education. He also clears up misinformation about the expanded program regarding eligibility, costs and equal opportunity. Tuthill also talks about how HB 1 will open up opportunities for educators to start their own innovative programs, further expanding options for students.

Graham discusses regulatory accountability and guardrails built into the bill as well as a new personalized education plan classification for homeschool families who choose to use state funds to completely customize their child’s education. (The law exempts homeschool families who do not wish to accept state funds from certain accountability rules that apply to those in the personalized education program.)

Graham offers details on the new purchasing guide under development that will list pre-approved goods and services to make it easier for families to manage their funds. She also discusses how HB 1 will simplify the evaluation process for non-public school students to qualify for funding through the state’s education savings account program for students with unique abilities. That program also received expanded funding through HB 1 to eliminate a wait list.

Graham also outlines how HB 1 is intended to aid school districts by providing relief from some of their most burdensome regulations so district schools can be competitive options.

EPISODE DETAILS:

• A brief history of education choice in the Sunshine State
• What makes HB 1 one of the most transformative laws in Florida’s public education history
• The difference between universal eligibility and universal access
• Straight talk about the actual costs of HB 1 and how the state’s budget laws prevent out-of-control spending
• Accountability and guardrails in HB 1
• Details about the personalized education program classification and how it opens up more customization options
• The new purchasing guide for parents
• How HB 1 expands opportunities for educators to start their own programs
• How HB 1 will make it easier for district schools to compete amid all the diverse options

RELEVANT LINKS:

Final version of HB 1

https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-programs/fes/

https://www.stepupforstudents.org/

The post podcastED: Step Up For Students top leaders discuss how Florida’s HB 1 will transform education choice in the Sunshine State through flexibility appeared first on NextSteps: Step Up For Students.

Aimee Uriarte and her two sons, 15-year-old Alejandro, left, and 17-year-old Sebastian, right.

On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Aimée Uriarte, a single parent whose two sons attend Christopher Columbus High School, an all-male Catholic school in Miami.

Older son Sebastian, 17, receives a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, while his brother, Alejandro, 15, attends on a Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities.

A Costa Rica native, Uriarte moved to the United States but left in 2008 due to the Great Recession. One of the reasons she returned to Florida was to ensure her children received opportunities for an education that best fit their needs. Columbus High fills that bill and more, she said.

Uriarte, who was among the scholarship beneficiaries who spoke during the recent signing ceremony for HB1, a major education choice expansion bill, said she looks forward to the additional flexibility the legislation will bring to her family and others.

“The Columbus staff has come through, truly as a family, I never expected this compassion regarding our family's reality. Every family has different struggles … they are very hands on, all of them, and they’re very concerned about the wellbeing of each family.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

• The financial sacrifices Uriarte made to send her children to private schools while in Costa Rica
• Her reasons for moving back to Florida
• Her younger son’s diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and how he qualified for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities, which allowed him to leave his district middle school and join his brother at Christopher Columbus High in ninth grade
• The opportunities provided to the boys through involvement in the school’s daily news broadcast
• How members of the school staff have served as positive role models for the boys
• How the new education savings account format for all scholarships will make certain therapies more affordable for both children and benefit all Florida families

RELEVANT LINKS:

https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-programs/fes/

The post podcastED: South Florida mom welcomes education savings account flexibility for two sons appeared first on NextSteps: Step Up For Students.

Katie Switzer of West Virginia

On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Katie Switzer, a soon-to-be-mother of five who played a key role in helping overturn a court ruling that shut down West Virginia’s new Hope Scholarship program about a month before schools were set to re-open for the 2022-23 academic year.

Switzer, founder of a part-time forest school for families, and another parent were intervenors in the appeal of the circuit judge’s ruling. They were represented by the Institute for Justice, a national non-profit public interest law firm that supports giving parents the opportunity to choose the best educational fit for their children.

In January, the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy honored Switzer as its Advocate of the Year for education choice.

“My dream is not to get rid of public schools. I don’t think that’s the answer. I think the answer is just to change the system so that we can give public schools flexibility so they don’t have to be these big, one-size-fits-all classrooms and these huge buildings and kids who have ADHD and don’t fit in get lost because they don’t want to deal with them.”

Switzer talks about her own experience in public schools in New York, which she described as “middle of the pack” in terms of quality metrics. She says how she was shocked to learn after moving to Morgantown, W. Va., that her children’s school district, which was ranked third in the state, delivered results that were worse than the middling schools she attended.

Switzer also shares the story of her second child, Ruth, who has apraxia of speech and dyslexia, benefited from therapies that she can now use Hope Scholarship funds to pay for. She also recalls the day that the circuit judge granted a permanent injunction shutting down the Hope Scholarship program and the “chaos” that resulted from families who were left scrambling for alternatives with about a month before classes were set to resume.

She recalls the fear she felt about having her name on the appeal and how she refused to let her kids attend their local public schools during that time to avoid any possible retribution from Hope opponents. Switzer also shares her emotions upon hearing about a victory at the West Virginia Supreme Court and how she can use the funds to customize her school-age children’s education.

An entrepreneur herself, Switzer talks about establishment of her forest school for young children and their parents to learn about science and nature.

EPISODE DETAILS:

• Switzer’s district school and how it compares with her children’s zoned district schools in Morgantown, W.Va.
• How education choice opponents behaved during a charter school meeting for parents
• Her reactions to a judge’s shutdown of the Hope Scholarship program
• Switzer’s decision to be an appellant during the successful effort to overturn the shutdown of the Hope Scholarship education savings account program
• How her school-age children are benefiting now that the Hope Scholarship program has been allowed to resume
• How Switzer’s Monogalia Forest School grew from 13 families to more than 60 in about two years
• Switzer’s vision for the role district schools play in education choice

 RELEVANT LINKS:

 https://www.hopescholarshipwv.com/

https://monforestschool.org/

https://ij.org/press-release/west-virginia-supreme-court-issues-full-ruling-upholding-hope-scholarship-program/

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