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Voucher Proponents Have an Unexpected Foe in Efforts to Limit Regulations

TALLAHASSEE -- Facing increasing calls for academic standards for the state's school voucher programs, Gov. Jeb Bush and other voucher proponents have a new, unexpected foe in their efforts to limit regulations: the state's established private schools.

Members of the Florida Association of Academic Non-Public Schools umbrella group have joined the call for a law to limit vouchers to schools approved by one of Florida's 12 major accrediting organizations.

Such a requirement could affect more than half of the 24,315 students now using vouchers.

An analysis of Department of Education data shows that 13,345, or 55 percent, of the state's vouchers are being used at private schools without accreditation from one of the major groups.

Many of these unaccredited private schools are newer, smaller ones that rely on voucher children for much of their total enrollment.

"If you're just starting up, for one to three years you should not be able to get vouchers," said Howard Burke, director of the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, which represents 79 voucher-taking schools and is one of the major accreditation groups.

Accreditation from Burke's group and Florida's other major groups means that a school meets dozens of criteria: its teachers have college degrees, its curriculum meets standards and its library is adequately stocked, among others.

"That's what I had proposed when the legislation was originally proposed three years ago," Burke said.

His suggestion was ignored because voucher proponents in the legislature believed that limiting vouchers only to accredited schools would not allow the program to grow quickly.

The Department of Education data indicate that belief probably was correct. The Palm Beach Post analysis of the data shows that, at private schools that belong to the accrediting organizations -- which generally are schools that are larger and more established -- voucher children account for just 6.1 percent of their aggregate enrollments.

In contrast, schools without major accreditation depend far more on vouchers. Among the 135 schools that rely on vouchers for more than half of their enrollment, 82 percent are not accredited by one of the major groups.

Among the 257 schools that rely on vouchers for between 11 percent and 50 percent of their enrollment, 66 percent are not accredited by one of Florida's dozen major accrediting organizations.


Losing vouchers major blow

At the unaccredited schools, which overall have nearly 22.5 percent of their children receiving vouchers, losing that voucher money would present a great financial hardship, making the political health of school vouchers integral in administrators' decision-making.

At the established schools, accreditation proponents said, income from the state vouchers is small enough that it doesn't affect the schools' overall budgets -- sometimes intentionally.

"We have told our schools: Do not base your budget on corporate tax scholarships," said David Ray, director of the Association of Christian Schools International, which accredits 85 schools taking vouchers.

What's more, advocates said, parents have a difficult time making sure that the school they are considering will provide a quality education, particularly with new schools created specifically to take vouchers.

"You have some non-educators out there starting schools because they see a pot of gold," Ray said.

Three schools being investigated by Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher -- Faith Academy of Bartow, the Heritage School of Opa-locka and Castle Oak Academy of Boynton Beach -- are not accredited by the state's major groups.

Islamic Academy, the Tampa school founded by an accused terrorist that received $350,000 in vouchers, also is unaccredited, as is Capital City Preparatory School in Tallahassee, which the Department of Education is investigating after a complaint that its director forged the signatures of parents on the backs of checks.

Of those five schools, only one, the Islamic Academy, existed before 2001, when the corporate voucher program was passed and the McKay Scholarships for disabled children were expanded to a statewide program.

Accreditation was pushed first by the Florida Catholic Conference, which accredits 131 voucher-taking schools, and the effort since has been joined by most of the other accrediting groups within the Florida Association of Academic Non-Public Schools, including the next three largest groups.

In total, those groups, as well as the prestigious Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, account for a total enrollment of 179,936 students at 545 voucher-taking schools; 10,970 of those students take vouchers. That's 45 percent of all the state's voucher children.

Schools not accredited by those major organizations account for a total enrollment of 59,370 at 612 voucher-taking schools, and 13,345 of those children take vouchers. Among those 612 schools, 355 list no accreditation whatsoever, while 257 list accreditations through other, less generally recognized groups.

The Florida Association of Academic Non-Public Schools, the private-school umbrella group that accounts for 11 of the 12 major organizations that accredit elementary and high schools in Florida, has had considerable influence with the Bush administration. The group wrote the "sworn compliance form" that Bush began requiring for voucher-taking schools in August.

On the issue of accreditation, however, association members are hitting a brick wall. Bush's top education aide, Patricia Levesque, has rejected previous proposals from the Florida Catholic Conference to require accreditation at voucher schools.

Last week, Bush's office reaffirmed that position.

"The governor is opposed to... limiting choices provided to parents based on criteria that may or may not improve the quality of a child's education," spokesman Jacob DiPietre said. "Choice of what school meets the needs of a child who qualifies under a scholarship program should remain in the hands of those best qualified to make that decision -- the parent."

Voucher advocates similarly argued in 2001 that the state could rely on parents alone to decide whether private schools were of sufficient quality to send their children using tax money.

"That's their formula," said Burke, of the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools "They want start-up schools. That's great. I don't want to stifle competition. But I wouldn't send my kids there.... From a consumer-protection standpoint, accreditation does give the consumer someplace to hang your hat."


No quality guarantee

Voucher proponents say accreditation is not a guarantee that a school is a good one, and they worry that many schools would be driven out of the programs if accreditation is required.

Although some non-accredited private schools would see little effect from losing their vouchers because so few of their students take them, other schools could see their budgets cut in half.

Kentwood Preparatory School in Lantana has about 100 students, 58 of whom take McKay vouchers for disabled students. The DiBacco School Inc. in Lake Worth has 11 of its 37 students taking McKay vouchers.

Kris Soderman, operations manager of Ideal Elementary in Royal Palm Beach, said he would go through the accreditation process if it meant keeping his voucher eligibility status. But he doesn't think getting accredited is the solution.

"I don't know if it's a fair measure of success. It's merely someone's checklist," Soderman said. "I would prefer the state have some kind of criteria that everyone must meet, because I know the system is being abused."

s_v_date@pbpost.com



— S.V. Date
Push Grows for Voucher Accreditation
Palm Beach Post
2004-02-09
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/news_047241c5e4eb32780044.html

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