Is the highest goal of K-12 education policy to produce great schools?
Or is it to produce great students?
That’s a question people in Sarasota ought to ponder.
Because some are desperately trying to “save our public schools” from declining enrollments by advancing ideas that are contrary to the interests of at least some students.
Meanwhile, all of us ought to be working together to advance K-12 policies that serve the interests of all students.
It’s easy to see why folks feel strongly about public schools.
But it’s unrealistic and terribly unfair to expect any public school to be a good fit for every single student who happens to live in its school zone.
So Florida policymakers have wisely chosen to give parents options – some that are funded directly (charter schools, magnet schools, etc.) and some that families choose using K-12 scholarships (private schools, homeschool, etc.).
Today just over half of all Florida K-12 students – 53% – attend something other than their zoned public school. Accordingly, many people assume that any time public schools feel a budget pinch, school choice scholarships must be the reason.
In actuality, lower birth rates constitute the main pinch on public school budgets throughout the U.S.
Fewer babies lead to declining enrollments, which is why states that have little or no school choice are closing public schools and laying off teachers.
Moreover, school choice scholarships account for a very small share of the Sarasota County Schools district’s lost revenue. Since 2023 – the year K-12 scholarships became available to all students – a grand total of 541 students have left the Sarasota County Schools district to enroll in a K-12 scholarship program.
That’s a mere 1% of the student population.
Instead, most scholarship recipients are homeschool or private school families that were previously paying twice for K-12 education – once for their own kids out of their pockets and a second time for everyone else’s kids via their taxes.
So the monies now being spent for K-12 scholarships aren’t coming from public schools; they’re coming from the Fund to End Unjust Double Payments.
Still, “save our schools” proponents say K-12 scholarship dollars ought to be redirected to “underfunded” public schools.
But the Sarasota County Schools district already spends more than $23,400 per student (if you count building and debt costs) or $18,600 (if you don’t).
Either way, that’s at least twice the amount of Florida’s K-12 scholarship awards, which is roughly $9,000 per student.
Embrace educational freedom
Rather than constantly bellyaching about funding – or unfairly criticizing local state representatives for failing to go along with a Florida Senate plan to fund “ghost students” who never showed up for public schools – Sarasota school advocates ought to take inspiration from public school leaders who have accepted Florida’s “new normal” of education freedom.
For example, a number of public school districts in Florida are now generating new revenues by marketing individual courses for a fee to K-12 scholarship students.
And some Florida public school leaders are now entering into space-sharing or “co-locational” collaborations with private schools.
For example, a Lakeland public school recently announced plans to open a Wonder Here microschool in previously underutilized space on its campus.
That’s a win-win for area families.
Meanwhile, Leon County School Board Member Laurie Cox, who has taught in public schools for more than 30 years, recently penned a Magnolia Tribune column entitled, “Why I am for All Students, not just Those in my Public Schools.”
In it, Cox explained how she came to appreciate Florida’s K-12 scholarship programs – and why she believes “communities flourish when all their children can learn in an environment well-suited to their individual needs.”
Cox has it right. Local communities ought to rally around all their schools and all their students.
Let’s hope the “save our schools” folks adopt this way of thinking.
Soon.
William Mattox is the senior director of the Marshall Center for Education Freedom at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Crying about school choice won’t ‘save’ Sarasota’s schools | Opinion
Reporting by William Mattox Guest columnist, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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