At a recent meeting, panelists from scores of organizations reflecting Florida’s diversity identified their priorities for legislative action to advance educational equity (video here https://youtu.be/ogigOJrgfck) . They presented important topics, grist for the legislative mills, such as the school to prison pipeline, the need to reconstitute Parent Leadership Councils, the situation of Puerto Rican evacuee students in Florida schools, support for school libraries, a student Bill of Rights, denial of access to secondary schools to recently arrived immigrant students, factors limiting student’s college success, holistic early childhood programs, school safety, universal access to foreign language programs, cultural sensitivity, funding to target funds for equity for students of color, dual language/dual enrollment programs, limitations to teachers’ ability to advocate for their students caused by the elimination of due process protections for new teachers, need for a state advisory committee for English learners, review of weighted funding formulas, over-testing students, cap on use of Title I funds for parent engagement, adequate funding for public education, transparency and apples-to-apples comparisons of student performance in public schools compared to students in private schools, disenfranchisement of parents and others who are Returning Citizens (formerly convicted persons), school funding implications of a census undercount, the need for creation of Dual Language teacher credentials, and the need for special programs for disaster refugees from Haiti and other rural areas.
The most frequently mentioned topic was the need for revision of the state’s plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to comply with federal law and to better serve students. The ESSA is a major federal law governing and funding certain aspects of public school education, signed into law in December of 2015.
The panelists were right to be concerned. The federal government has approved every state’s plan for implementing ESSA, except for Florida’s.
The U.S. Department of Education warned Florida in December 2017 and again in June 2018 that its plan did not pass muster. It’s still not right, and according to state and national advocacy groups, it’s wrong in ways that will potentially harm our most vulnerable students by creating barriers to their success. While we should celebrate our state’s increased ranking in the prestigious Education Week Quality Counts Reports, we must never turn our backs on the many children who are still struggling.
I find it commendable but curious that the Florida Department of Education posts press releases such as its summary of the Quality Counts Reports in both English and in Spanish. The Governor’s web site also has a page in Spanish. At the same time, the state ESSA plan approved by the Governor and the Commissioner erroneously claims Florida’s English as the Official Language law prohibits native language testing in the content areas for our English language learners. This is one of the contested topics in the back and forth with the U.S. Department of Education. This prohibition denies 10% of our student population, over a quarter million students, the opportunity to demonstrate what they know in a language they understand and denies credit to their educators and school districts for success in teaching them subjects such as science, social studies, and math.
The failure of Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart and Florida Governor Rick Scott to submit a plan that complies with the requirements of law puts at risk 1.1 billion dollars in federal funding for the state. For 2016-17, Miami-Dade County Public Schools received $468 million in federal funds; Broward Public Schools received $308 million, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
While the risk of drastic action may be low, the associated uncertainty negatively affects the planning process for every district in the state. And now of all times is not the right time to gamble with funding for our students.
Florida earned a D+ on Education Week’s Quality Counts 2018 report for school finance. Per pupil spending in the state is $9737 compared to a national average of $12,526. Florida ranks 45th among the states in teacher salaries. We are facing a serious teacher shortage, with 4,063 teacher vacancies statewide, according to data compiled by the Florida Education Association. Exacerbating the shortages, over 1,000 teachers of demonstrated competence in the classroom were fired over the summer because they did not meet the state’s cut scores on certification tests. State funding for public education is so meager that “10 out of 10 counties voted to raise their own taxes to aid struggling school districts…in a single calendar year, 19 districts were desperate enough to ask residents for a tax increase “ (John Romano, Tampa Bay Times, September 1, 2018).
There is a mismatch between state and federal education law, as often happens when a federal law is reauthorized. The expected procedure is for the Department of Education to request legislation that will update state law. That has not happened with the critically important ESSA plan although there have been two legislative session in which to address the issue.
I think it outrageous that the Commissioner and the Governor have not asked the state legislature to update Florida accountability law to incorporate the requirements of the ESSA. As a retired police official, I respect compliance with the law. As a Puerto Rican, I share Superintendent Carvalho’s concern with the choice presented to recent arrivals from the island: get a Puerto Rican diploma with the standards you are familiar with and assessments in the language you understand, but forgo eligibility for in-state tuition; or try to get a Florida diploma with unfamiliar standards and with high stakes tests solely in the English language. As a parent and as an elected State Representative, I demand that we respond fairly to the needs of all our children and families. So should state education officials.
I urgently request that Governor Scott and Commissioner Stewart provide an explanation for their actions, a rationale for their failure to meet federal requirements, and an update on the timelines and prospects for our ESSA plan to the legislature and to the public.
I invite educators, parents, and other stakeholders to send me their concerns and suggestions.
I pledge that I will address part of the problems listed about by resubmitting a bill establishing the Blue Ribbon Panel Task Force on Teacher Recruitment, Certification, and Retention and that I will in every way possible, in collaboration with willing lawmakers from either party, seek to put Florida education law in accord with federal law.
