Fla. pols outraged by nonprofit waste - unless it's their own
In response, the governor issued an executive order demanding accountability from nonprofits that receive at least half of their budgets from the state. https://apnews.com/21d2aff04707f3bf02...
But when it comes to holding accountable the private schools that take a $billion in voucher money every year, crickets.
In fact, the legislature is about to pass a bill expanding the deeply flawed program months after the Orlando Sentinel published a series exposing how private schools that accept public funding turn away LGBTQ students and their parents.
It was such a big scandal that several of the program’s biggest funders walked away after issuing statements. Except for Fifth Third Bank. They apparently think discrimination isn’t such a big deal. So they’re back in.
But it’s not just the hatred and bigotry they teach in these schools that Floridians should be concerned about.
Turns out schools that teach discrimination and Creationism aren’t required by the state to administer the same tests that bog down public schools for months every school year.
A recent study by the FSU Learning Systems Institute concluded that only about a quarter of the schools that participate in the voucher program are using Florida’s standardized tests.
And of those that did test, about 66% of students actually regressed in either their reading or math scores or both.
“If private schools are doing such a bang-up job, you’d think legislators would want parents to know all about it.
“Requiring voucher schools to take the FSA would provide an apples-to-apples comparison, though that solution has drawbacks.” https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opini...
Among which, as any teacher worth their classroom experience can tell you, standardized testing is a crude instrument, unsuitable for determining a student’s progress. Mostly used as a cudgel to punish schools that have historically underperformed — mainly due to poverty — and forcing them to close. So that more unaccountable schools can open under the guise of “school choice.”
Regardless the academic outcomes. And turning a blind eye to blatant discrimination.
Because Florida politicians aren’t really interested in eliminating fraud and abuse.
They just want to make sure to get their cut.
Fla. pols outraged by nonprofit waste - unless it's their own - YouTube