School vouchers are out

By Steve Bousquet

June 20, 2000 Web posted at: 3:39 PM EDT (1939 GMT)

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Miami Herald) -- Florida's lowest-performing public schools, at risk of losing students to the state's voucher program if they were graded F again on achievement tests, escaped that fate Monday:

All 78 schools that were graded F last year made so much progress on the writing part of the state's standardized tests that their students won't be eligible for tuition vouchers this fall. A third of the schools are in Miami-Dade; seven are in Broward.

Dramatic gains in scores on the writing test mean that the nation's only statewide school voucher program -- which has been struck down as unconstitutional by one judge and is being appealed by the state -- cannot expand beyond a core group of 52 children at two Pensacola schools.

Gov. Jeb Bush and other voucher proponents say the higher scores prove that his A-plus plan works, and that raising expectations in the classroom gets results. The plan gives students at schools that are graded F two out of four years ``opportunity scholarships'' -- vouchers -- to attend better-performing schools.

But critics said Monday that the state was withholding less-glowing information about the results: The names and scores of 20 schools that failed the writing test. State officials said they will make the names of those schools and their test scores available Wednesday.

The surge in test scores was most dramatic in Miami-Dade, the home of F-rated Edison High, where one-fifth of the students are learning English, the highest percentage of any school in the state. A year ago, 69 percent of Edison's students scored a 3.0 or higher on the writing exam. This year the percentage rose to 85 percent. The passing minimum is 75 percent.

``A lot of people worked hard and a lot of of people have lost sleep over this. We have to have a major party,'' said Edison's principal, Santiago Corrada. ``We were labeling an entire community as failures last year, and that hurt. It feels like a terrific relief for us not to have that scarlet letter on our school anymore.''

A spokesman for the state's teacher unions said the new numbers reflect years of work.

``We've been working extremely hard to make sure our students are better writers. I think you see that reflected in these scores,'' said David Clark, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association. FEA is continuing to fight the voucher program in the courts.

To underscore the political significance of the results, Bush quickly called a press conference to declare his ``great joy'' at the test scores.

``In Florida, we're beginning to prove that every child can learn if you raise the bar high,'' Bush said. ``The minute that we create standards and an accountability system where there's a different consequence between mediocrity and improvement, good things happen.''

At a news conference Monday morning, state Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher said: ``There will be no opportunity scholarships available this year. All of the 78 schools got off the list of F's and moved to D's based on their ability, and the teachers and students did a wonderful job.''

Gallagher said it was a coincidence that at a time when the voucher plan is fighting for survival in the courts, a dramatic improvement in the tests makes the expansion of vouchers impossible. ``I was just as surprised as anybody else,'' he said.

Gallagher acknowledged that the writing test is the easiest of the three parts of the exam known as FCAT, for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Students in grades 4, 8 and 10 must compose sentences and paragraphs using their existing vocabulary within a set time period. A school must flunk all three parts in order to get an F.

The celebratory mood obscured a more ominous reality.

Statewide math and reading scores are now overdue by nearly three weeks, and Gallagher has threatened to fine the testing company $250,000 a day for tardiness in computing 1.5 million scores. He said Monday that the rest of the scores may not be released for at least two more weeks. ``I'm not going to assess a fine until I know how late they are, but they're accumulating,'' Gallagher said.

Although Gallagher said he had writing scores for every school in the state, he refused to release them. After The Herald and other news organizations filed official requests for the information, Gallagher's office said the figures would be released on Wednesday.

Democrats, who plan to make their opposition to vouchers a major issue in legislative races this fall, criticized Gallagher and Bush for what they called a ``cloak of secrecy surrounding the Bush voucher plan.'' They criticized Gallagher for withholding the scores -- and names -- of 20 other schools that failed to meet the state's standards.

``You can't take credit for the good and then brush the bad under the rug,'' said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston.

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