{"id":2038,"date":"2014-03-07T17:14:41","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T21:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2038"},"modified":"2014-06-22T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:06:09","slug":"accountability-in-voucher-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2038","title":{"rendered":"Accountability in voucher schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Companion bills in the state legislature are attempting to expand a school voucher program. The House bill recently got a green light from one of its committee stops, but news accounts point out that the House version may not quite match the version in the Senate. The House bill gives the voucher program a big boost with no strings attached. However, the Senate version will likely push for more accountability in the voucher-accepting private schools.<\/p>\n

Florida Citizens for Science doesn’t stake out a position on vouchers overall, but we certainly do take a stand on wanting sound science education for all students in our state. Our concern is that research has revealed at least 164 voucher-accepting private schools teach some form of creationism in science classes<\/a>. That shocking fact has been met with a dismissive shrug by nearly everyone here in Florida. That’s deeply disappointing and discouraging to those of us who love science and want to do something about this travesty.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that those in the majority in the House don’t think private schools should be held to any standards<\/a> (Gradebook blog).<\/p>\n

Senate President Don Gaetz has said the proposal won’t pass in his chamber unless lawmakers require scholarship students to take the state tests.<\/p>\n

The House proposal makes no mention of the assessments. And after Thursday’s meeting, Subcommittee Chairman Ritch Workman said he had no intention of adding that language to the bill.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Workman said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not everyone is blind, though<\/a> (Ocala StarBanner).<\/p>\n

Some of the most heated exchanges came over school accountability standards. Critics of vouchers often point out that private schools are not required to administer the same student exams as public schools, and their teachers do not have to be certified or undergo regular evaluations.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Private does not equal high quality,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The response is vacuous.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s necessary,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Finance and Tax Subcommittee Chairman Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne. He added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the whole concept of making these private schools mimic the public schools would defeat the purpose of giving these parents choice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, said private school families can vote with their feet.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the ultimate accountability because if the school doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do a good job all of the students will be gone and the school will be out of business,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem is that not everyone knows poor quality education when they see it. Completely absent from this debate is the creationism angle. Too many parents want their children to learn misinformation because they dismiss the real science themselves. This gravely stunts their children’s education, shuts doors on the children’s future and perpetuates the cycle of scientific ignorance. Public schools are forbidden from teaching creationism in science classes due to several important U.S. Supreme Court and federal court decisions. Because some voucher supporters refuse to hold private schools accountable, money is being siphoned away from public schools where certified science teachers are expected to meet instructional standards and given to private schools where, in many cases, teachers with no certification can teach blatantly unscientific garbage. It’s an innovative way to work around a law some people don’t like.<\/p>\n

I understand that mentioning the teaching of evolution in voucher debates would likely spark firestorms. But the ugly truth is that at least 164 voucher schools are teaching unscientific material in a science classroom using tax money. It’s the throbbing red sore thumb of this debate. Why does no one care?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companion bills in the state legislature are attempting to expand a school voucher program. The House bill recently got a green light from one of its committee stops, but news accounts point out that the House version may not quite … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-wS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2124,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2124","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":0},"title":"Last day of legislative session","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The fight in the state legislature over a voucher program expansion attempt might spill over into today, the last day of the session. Florida Citizens for Science believes that expansion of the program is a bad idea without a requirement to hold voucher-accepting private schools accountable for what they teach,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2124#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2337,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2337","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":1},"title":"Sidestepping an important question about school vouchers","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Palm Beach Post published a Q & A session with representatives of Step Up for Students about Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tax Credit Scholarship Program: Accountability next debate for private vouchers I want to emphasize that Florida Citizens for Science as an organization doesn't get directly involved in the voucher debate. Some\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2337#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2118,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2118","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":2},"title":"Nope, I didn’t say that.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A column was published today in the Tallahassee Democrat (Michael McShane: Don't blame vouchers for poor science instruction) that agrees with my earlier column in that newspaper concerning how it's wrong to teach creationism, but then he distorts the purpose of my column and attributes motives to me that I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2052,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2052","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":3},"title":"Can I have two more wishes?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes wishes do come true, I suppose. Senate abandons plans to expand school vouchers this year In a row over testing for private school voucher students, Florida Senate President Don Gaetz said Thursday that chamber was done considering a top House priority to expand the state's voucher program this year.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 8 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 8 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2052#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3478,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3478","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":4},"title":"Florida Legislative Session Wrap Up 2019","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"May the Fourth Be With You! Today, the 2019 session of the Florida Legislature is finally over. Here's a quick summary of the issues we here at Florida Citizens for Science were tracking. Senate Bill 330: Educational Standards for K-12 Public Schools This bill would have impacted the standards for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2040,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2040","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":5},"title":"Reflect upon the divine","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week in the Florida House, the Finance & Tax Subcommittee debated and approved the bill \"PCB FTSC 14-02 Relating to Tax Credit Scholarships.\" This is an attempt to dramatically expand a particular school voucher program (see a previous post on this). As we've stated before, Florida Citizens for Science\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2040#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}