What is a "Failure Factory?"

When I was contacted yesterday afternoon by the PNJ to give my reaction to the news that the final challenge to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship had been overcome--I immediately thought about an amazingly powerful article I read two years ago.  It was an outstanding piece of Journalism in the Tampa Bay Times that everyone in education should have read....  It had a simple title:

Failure Factories 

The story was familiar and not isolated to Pinellas County. Dozens and dozens of Failure Factories are found throughout the state of Florida (and nationwide, for that matter)....

So, what are "Failure Factories?"

Failure Factories are public schools in poor neighborhoods that underperform for decades, trapping their populations in mediocrity. Entire families pass through these schools as they do not have the resources to attend better schools.   Pressure is applied from all directions to keep student suspensions and referral numbers down at failure factories, which creates lawlessness and a loss of focus on academics.  Good students and good parents flee, exacerbating the issue.  Soon, teachers leave and such schools have complete staff turnovers every 2-3 years.  Money is dumped in by feckless administrators and other educrats for programs that never succeed long term, yet these schools do not improve or display sustained improvement despite huge sums of money being dumped into the mix.

Everyone wrings their hands collectively and nothing changes.

Then along came a statewide program that allowed students and parents stuck in such failing schools to receive a scholarship to attend a better performing school and break the cycle---and the establishment types freaked out.  Then they sued.  (This is when I took action and said enough!)

Yesterday, after a nearly three year battle, the entrenched special interests that fought so hard and sued to stop this program (ACLU, NAACP, NEA/FEA, FSBA) were handed a humbling defeat as the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear this case.

Now, nearly 100,000 students (primarily poor, minority students) who were stuck in failure factories will have a shot at a better education and better educational outcomes.  These students will be able to choose to go to a better performing school thanks to this scholarship program.  (Although this program does not utilize one dime of taxpayer money--establishment educrats still HATE this program.)

To the people (feckless educrats, Teacher Unions, and FSBA types) who HATE this program--- I say this:

Had you collectively done your jobs, this scholarship program probably never would have been established, as it would not have been needed.  If you are mad about this, look in the mirror and take your anger out on that person, that person in the mirror who had the power and ability to fix the problems that led to failure factories but that who did nothing.

Florida Coalition of School Board Members Releases 2017 Legislative Platform

HB 7029 Passes, With Many Great Education-Related Amendments Added

At the last day of the session it happened.  HB 7029, a massive bill that swallowed up many others in the waning days of the session passed both houses.  Next up, the Governor's desk for his signature.  Upon passage of this bill, The Florida Coalition of School Board Members President, Erika Donalds,  School Board Member from Collier County, issued the following statement:

Florida Coalition of School Board Members Statement on Education Bill HB 7029 & Amendments

The Florida Coalition of School Board Members is pleased to see initiatives from several of the bills we supported this session now added to HB 7029 passed through the Senate and House, including:

 

·         Universal Public Choice/Open Enrollment: Parents should have the right to select the educational environment that works best for their students and their family. We applaud the legislature’s continuous efforts to eliminate “zip code” from the criteria under which a student is determined to receive the best education possible.

·         School Choice: As strong supporters of parental choice and charter schools, we welcome greater accountability in the way our public charter schools are approved and operate. These measures will result in higher quality charter options for Florida’s families.

·         Enforcement of state mandated construction spending cap: The state’s per-student construction spending cap helps local school board members to ensure that district administrators do not, as they have in the past, overspend on building costs. This will allow for more efficient use of capital dollars for the maximum benefit to Florida’s students.

·         Local Control: FCSBM strongly supports the ability of individual School Board Members to choose which, if any, membership association to which they will belong. That this somehow “directs money to the Coalition” is wrong-headed. It provides the opportunity to choose. Many members will opt to keep their resources within the district, at work in the classroom. There are several school board associations in the State of Florida to which this bill applies. This does not steer funding to any one of them in particular. It does, however, break up the monopoly held by one group by challenging the assumption that they are automatically entitled to almost $2,000,000 in annual funding by Florida’s taxpayers. Competition is good - it results in higher quality services at a lower cost.

We are proud to see this very good education policy found in HB 7029 and to have championed nearly all of the items contained therein. When passed, it will move Florida in the direction of being a national leader in education by enhancing parental choice, school accountability, and local control through our duly elected School Board Members. 

Virtual Town Hall Meeting with Senator Don Gaetz 1-13-2016

The Florida Coalition of School Board Members hosted an online, town hall meeting of its membership and Senator (and former Senate President) Don Gaetz yesterday evening.  Counties from all around Florida were represented on this webinar, the subject of which was legislation that is important in the upcoming session.

Senator Gaetz was extremely gracious as he described several bills of interest, fielded questions from our members, and gave his thoughts on what would be necessary for these bills' passage this session.

SB 672, the Education Options Bill, passed out of the Senate 39-0 yesterday, and the Senator believed it would pass in the House as well, where it is headed today.

SB1360, Alternative Assessments Bill, allows local districts the option to choose alternative, paper and pencil and/or computer based assessments from known entities like ACT or SAT--or such districts could stick with the FSA.  Gaetz described passing this bill as a "heavy lift."

SB 1426, Membership Organizations:  We were all delighted to hear that Senator Gaetz has signed-on as a co-sponsor to this bill, a bill which we strongly support because it gives individual school

Prominent Legislators are Embracing Tenets of the "Sunshine Solution..."

The Florida Coalition of School Board Members strongly supports a common-sense solution to the massively dysfunctional standardized testing problem in the state of Florida.  We want a proper balance of limited testing for maintaining accountability but not at the expense of wasting too many precious classroom teaching hours.  We have advocated for a common sense solution.  Our member Erika Donalds, in March of this year,  wrote a very in-depth point paper on this subject.

Dr. Walt Griffin, superintendent of Seminole County Schools, offered his idea-- a one-page document to the Florida DOE which was unceremoniously rejected.

Everyone, it seems, wants to be parochial about who comes up with the best idea and who gets credit for writing the best solution.  When our board discussed this at a meeting, I was the only board member who supported this idea, and I don't care if it was a district other than Escambia that came up with an intelligent solution!  Who cares who gets the credit is what I say!

Recently, our coalition of school board members from around the state- along with state senators and multiple Superintendents of Schools  from various districts-- met for an online summit discussing a solution, a simple "Sunshine Solution" that balances accountability (including reasonable amounts of testing using known commodities like the SAT and or Iowa Assessment of Basic Skills) with the need to not infringe on classroom learning time.

Many have viewed the recording, and now prominent state leaders appear to be embracing this balanced approach, this "Sunshine Solution"

From Politico Florida:

"Some lawmakers hope to ditch Florida’s controversial new state exams by requiring the Department of Education to instead administer existing national exams, like the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or the SAT college entrance exam.State education commissioner Pam Stewart rejected the idea when it was originally proposed by Seminole County Public Schools, a high-performing district neighboring Orlando. The district’s leadership has argued the move would decrease the amount of time students spend taking tests and help prevent administrative problems like the technical difficulties that plagued state exams this spring. Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from northwest Florida and former Senate president who now chairs the chamber’s education appropriations committee, said he plans to try to circumvent the department with legislation.“We already have, in this country and in this state, testing instruments that are proven to be valid and reliable that have brand-name authenticity and respect,” Gaetz told POLITICO Florida, “like ACT, SAT, international baccalaureate and national industry certification assessments for career technical courses."

FCSBM Blitzes Tallahassee to Rock the Status Quo

President Don Gaetz joins the founding members of the Florida Coalition of School Board Members at a Legislative Reception in Tallahassee Wednesday, March 11, 2015.  L to R  Erika Donalds, (Collier County), Bridget Ziegler (Sarasota County). Pres. Don Gaetz, Jeff Bergosh (Escambia County). Shawn Frost (Indian River County)

Today the members of the upstart, conservative Florida Coalition of School Board Members “stormed” Tallahassee, meeting and speaking with 5 Senators and a total of 12 State Representatives.  We were very well received at every stop, and the legislators were happy to hear from a group of School Board Members that wants to work together with them ( not SUE them) for the benefit of students, parents and taxpayers. 

At our legislative reception, board members from throughout the state of Florida met and heard from State Representatives Gonzales, Hudson, and Fitzenhagen.  Sen. Don Gaetz joined the group of thirty assembled at our reception and gave words of encouragement, expressing support for our coalition, while simultaneously explaining that he thought it refreshing that conservative board members from around the state will have a voice, an advocate. 

Our coalition attended the Senate Education committee meeting, with our treasurer, Erika Donalds, speaking on behalf of charter schools.  Our group left each legislator with a one page position paper, detailing our positions on several bills of interest-most importantly HB 549 (SB1114).  We sat down with Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., and discussed this bill in depth.

We also expressed our continuing support for the bills related to expanding school choice, as well as Sen Legg’s accountability bill.

At each stop today, our group spoke with one voice:  We support students, parents, and taxpayers first and foremost---not the system, the bureaucracy, and the status quo.  Our message was very well received!

The Florida Coalition for School Board Members

Because of a roll-out media conference call that was conducted with impeccable skill by the professionals at Sachs Media Group in Tallahassee Monday, our new coalition has garnered more than 27 individual news articles and television pieces around Florida over the last several days.  Watchdog.org picked up a piece I wrote about our newly founded group:

As it became clear throughout the state that the Florida School Boards Association would not listen to their members and drop their support of the lawsuit, several school board members in Florida decided it was time for a new organization. In January 2015, a group of board members decided to create the Florida Coalition of School Board Members, to become a conservative voice of advocacy for statewide educational policies and positions.  This group includes School Board members from throughout Florida. The goals of this organization are fairly straightforward; Erika Donalds, a founding member of FCSBM who serves in Collier County (Naples), Florida, voiced some of these concerns on a media conference call on Monday from Tallahassee, Florida.“The FSBA has lost touch with the citizens whose tax dollars fund their existence—but our new coalition will represent the interests of ALL Florida

New, Conservative Coalition of School Board Members from around Florida is Forming