FASA Drops out of FSBA, Union Lawsuit against School Choice.

This Fantastic news was reported late yesterday in numerous media outlets, and I think this is a good start.

The rest of the groups that are pushing this suit in court should re-evaluate their positions and consider following the lead of FASA.

If we truly care about EVERY child and want to speak with ONE voice, then we need to all be pulling from the same side of the rope, supporting ALL children, in public, private, virtual, and alternative learning environments--and we ought to support the choices parents make about what sort of learning environment is best for each child.

If we want to proclaim we are the voice of education since 1930 then we ought to join everyone here in the 21st century ---and read the polling data that clearly demonstrates that the majority of Floridians support school choice!

It should always be about students, parents, and  tax-payers FIRST--not adult economic interests!

From an article in yesterday's  RedefinED :

"One of the original groups that signed on to the lawsuit last August challenging Florida’s tax credit scholarship program has announced it will no longer be a party to the case.  The Florida Association of School Administrators announced its decision to withdraw in a statement posted on its website and first reported by the Gradebook.

'Having made our position clear with regards to tax credit scholarships through our participation in the lawsuit thus far, it is time to dedicate the resources of our 5,000 members on the priorities that are the heart of our organization.'

Reached by phone, the group’s executive director, Juhan Mixon, said the organization’s “core mission” is to provide professional development to school officials around the state, and that litigation is “not our thing.”  “Our main priorities are teaching and learning,” he said, and the organization’s board, which oversees training for thousands of principals and other school officials, as well as a major digital learning initiative, decided it would be best not “to take resources of our association away from our priority.”

A Christmas Wish for 2014--Restoration of Parental Choice in Educating Their Children

Restoring parental power in education

Our education system in America from top to bottom not only needs to change, it needs a complete and dramatic overhaul. While it’s easy for those who control educational decisions at the state and local level to stick with what is most familiar, and to simply request more and more taxpayer funding to do things the very same way they have always done them, this has not worked. We are falling behind the rest of the world. 

So this Christmas, my wish list, as a taxpayer, father, policy maker, and school choice proponent, is this:

1. We must start listening to parents and stop telling them we're the only ones who know what is best for their children. Parents want to send their kids to the very best schools, not to the schools some bureaucrat tells them they can attend!

2. We must stop wasting precious taxpayer money fighting school choice in court. Florida is fighting entrenched special interests over parental choice, and this is ridiculous! Associations that purportedly represent the interests of teachers, school board members, school administrators, and parents initiated this litigation. Hanging in the balance are 70,000 students who love the tax credit scholarship schools they attend. They do not want their scholarships taken from them by the guardians of the status quo.

3. We must focus on making all of our schools better, rather than fixating on quashing competition from any and all other education providers. Competition forces us all to improve, and competition will make the public schools better.

We simply must evolve or our system will implode.

Countries around the world are spending less per pupil and achieving better outcomes than we are. In order to compete, we must innovate and empower parents to choose the right school for their children. The future of the public school system in America depends upon our willingness to listen to our constituents. We need to offer a wide assortment of choices and options to all students, including virtual, traditional, vocational, technical, private schools, or any combination thereof. Taxpayer-funded education for students is a right, and I believe it is a right we owe students and parents — not to a dysfunctional governmental jobs and enrichment system that too often fails. 

Education in 20 to 30 years will look very different than it does today. Homeschooling will continue