Love it or loath it, Rick Scott's budget proposals he unveiled Monday in the tiny town of Eustis is still the major buzz in Tallahassee, and will continue to be through the springtime as the Legislature convenes in a month.
However, according to the always reliable Gary Fineout, one other Scott bomb that he spoke frequently about during the transition apparently won't be part of his radical plans to change state government in 2011. That would be his plan his "vouchers for all" idea, which would be to divert public education funds to participating parents, who would receive 85 percent of the per-pupil cost of public school. The money would go into the savings accounts that could be used by parents for private school tuition, private virtual schooling, tutoring or college costs.
But folks in the public education world in Florida aren't even thinking about that today. They're upset that he's gone against his campaign pledge not to cut education spending, as his budget calls for per-student spending to be reduced by 10%. On Monday, Scott said that he never said that he would keep education funding the same. However, PolitFact rates that completely false.
But on his radical concept of vouchers for all? Apparently even advisers to the new Governor – or simply fellow Republicans in the Legislature – have convinced him that's a bridge too far.
Fineout reports that: on the campaign trail — and again shortly after he was elected — vowed to push for one of the nation's most expansive school voucher programs.
But Scott — who last fall called for a "new era in education" — acknowledged on Tuesday that he doesn't plan to push through his ambitious plan during the 2011 session.
Scott said that he still believes parents do a better job of choosing schools, but he said that for this year his 'focus' will be to "make sure we have more charter schools going forward."
"We have a lot of choice now, I want to expand that choice," Scott said.
That's a far cry from Scott's own education plan that advocated that all parents should decide whether or not they want to send their children to charter schools, public schools, virtual schools or even private schools. That plan also called for the creation of high-performing charter schools.
This isn't totally surprising. Certainly not if you read Elaine Silvestrini's article in Sunday's Tampa Tribune.
Even with solid Republican majorities in the Legislature, Scott is likely to find the Education Savings Accounts a difficult sell.
Wise, a Jacksonville Republican, said he supports the concept of vouchers, and was a prime sponsor of one of the state's existing programs – McKay Scholarships, which provides funding for thousands of disabled students in private school.
But when it comes to the Education Savings Accounts – which have not yet been formally proposed by the governor – Wise said, "I think we're a long way from that now."
House Education Committee Chair Bill Proctor was also leery. "I know it's a hot topic, but it's not something we're really looking at in any detail right now," Proctor said.
Proctor, a St. Augustine Republican, said vouchers may very well be talked about, and possibly expanded this year. "Is it likely that we will look at voucher proposals? Yes. Can I guarantee there will be a bill proposed? No, I can't. I can't guarantee that on vouchers because I can't guarantee how much interest there will be on it."
It appears that his fellow
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2011.