Two dangerous bills are up Tuesday, February 25, 2020 in the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
Urge a NO vote from Senators Stargel, Diaz, Baxley, Book, Flores, Montford, Pizzo & Simmons on: SB 1220 Family Empowerment voucher expansion & SB 1688 High stakes tests and A-F school grades for pre-schools!
We oppose SB 1220/Family Empowerment Voucher Expansion because:
- Expands Family Empowerment Voucher that pays for private religious schools that discriminate
- Funded directly through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) which funds public schools with property taxes
- Expands voucher eligibility to families of 4 earning $80K – which is not at poverty levels
- Allows Florida Tax Credit (diverted taxes) voucher recipients to transfer to Family Empowerment vouchers (public school property tax funding)
- Doubles down on state sanctioned discrimination using parental “choice” as an excuse
We oppose SB 1688/Pre-K high stakes “accountability” because:
- Pushes high stakes down to Pre-K, classifying some in this age group as “deficient”
- Multiple standardized tests for preschoolers
- A-F style school grades that result in loss of funding and sanctions for schools who receive low marks
- Places “deficient” preschoolers in mandated intensive reading interventions prior to entering Kindergarten, even though reading is not currently required of children this age
- No new funding is provided to cover district cost of intensive reading interventions
- Silent on “retention” of preschoolers who do not pass standardized testing
- Ignores the documented need for preschoolers to play, learn about being in a community of peers and the “soft” skills of kindness, fairness & collaboration by placing all emphasis on reading and high stakes testing
Take action now! Ask Senators Stargel, Diaz, Baxley, Book, Flores, Montford, Pizzo & Simmons to oppose these bad bills
Tallahassee Folks: Please attend the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee meeting and testify against these bad bills
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
9:00—12 p.m.
Pat Thomas Committee Room, 412 Knott Building
Call & Tweet: After you’ve sent your letters, call & tweet these senators & remind them to vote no on SB 1220 and SB 1688.
2019-2020 Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee – 5 Republicans & 3 Democrats
Kelli Stargel, Chair R- 22 – 850-487-5022, @kellistargel
Manny Diaz, Vice Chair R- 36 – 850-487-5036, @SenMannyDiazJr
Dennis Baxley R -12 – 850-487-5012, @dennisbaxley
Lauren Book D -32 – 850-487-5032, @Book4Senate
Anitere Flores R -39 – 850-487-5039, @anitere_flores
Bill Montford D- 3 – 850-487-5003, @BillMontford
Jason Pizzo D -38 – 850-487-5038, @PizzoforSenate
David Simmons R- 9 – 850-487-5009, @DSimmonsFL
Read more on Family Empowerment Vouchers here.
Read more about voucher school discrimination here & here.
Read more on Pre-K high stakes accountability here
