Florida will be a pivotal battleground in the US elections in November, but on the crucial subject of education reform the battle in that state is already joined. In the past five years Florida has delivered real school choice to more American schoolchildren than anywhere else in the country.
National attention has focused largely on Milwaukee, Cleveland and the District of Columbia, but Florida now has three key programmes. The first is Opportunity Scholarships, which allow children to opt out of failing public schools. Second is McKay Scholarships, which provide full school choice to special-ed students. But perhaps the most innovative is a corporate tax credit that allows businesses to take a dollar-for-dollar deduction for every contribution to a designated scholarship fund:
A just-released study from the Indianapolis-based Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation highlights Florida’s achievements. When the various state programmes across America were measured against Friedman’s original concept of vouchers, Florida’s programmes took three of the top eight slots. And another study, by the Manhattan Institute, finds that even kids without vouchers benefit because the competition is pushing Florida public schools to improve.
Source: Editorial, The Empire Strikes Back, Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2004.
For WSJ text (subscription required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108017316982864869,00.html
For Friedman study http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/news/2004-03-15.html
For more on Education (School Choice and Charter Schools)
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/
FMF Policy Bulletin/ 30 March 2004
