Thread by @FloridaEA

At 3:30 this afternoon the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee will meet to discuss SB 48--which is another step in Florida's long march towards privatization of public education.

The issues that directly impact the 90% of students who attend public schools have been completely absent from committee meetings during the interim committee weeks.

feaweb.org/wp-content/upl…

Instead, the focus we've seen during committee meetings has been on diverting resources from public schools to unaccountable private and religious schools.

To learn more about our fight for students, educators & public education visit feaweb.org/session

To follow today's committee meeting live, or watch later on demand, you can visit thefloridachannel.org

We'll continue this thread with live updates at 3:30 when the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee begins their discussion on SB 48.

Sen. @SenMannyDiazJr has begun the explanation of SB 48. This will take awhile. The bill is 150+ pages.

You can read the bill here: flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2…

While we're waiting for Sen. Diaz to finish explaining the bill, let's go ahead and debunk one of the misstatements that is bound to be said later in committee today. You'll hear that students on vouchers are much more likely to attend college. (Spoiler alert: they aren't).

While it is true students who use vouchers for 4+ years to attend (but not graduate from) college at a higher rate, the vast majority of students only stay in a voucher school for 2 years or less before returning to public school.

Ok. Explantation of the bill now completed, it's time for questions on the bill. Up first is @SenJanetCruz, "How much money will this save taxpayers?"

@SenMannyDiazJr: I don't know.

@TinaPolsky is next in questioning. She asks, "When a public school gets their funding, they must spend it based on certain categoricals, i.e.transportation, safety, teacher salary. These private schools don't have those restrictions, correct?"

Sen. @SenMannyDiazJr: Correct.

Sen. @SenAudrey2eet now has a question, "The different voucher programs weren't different for a reason? Is that why they can all be combined?

Sen. @SenMannyDiazJr: There were differences, but they've been consolidated.

"If the voucher is worth $7,400 a year and a school's tuition is only $6,000 a year, then the parent has $1,400 left to spend on approved education expenses of their choice," clarifies @SenMannyDiazJr that SB 48 creates "a la carte" options for parents.

Sen. @SenAudrey2eet now asks about private virtual school eligibility for vouchers. "Does the school have to be in Florida?"

Sen. @SenMannyDiazJr answers, "They must have an office in Florida."

We're done with questioning for the moment. Now on amendments. The first is from @SenJanetCruz which would require voucher funding organizations to be audited "annually" instead of every three years.

"Now is the not the time to be reducing oversight...we need to have a sense of how this is working before we can reduce the frequency of audits," says an advocate from @FundEducationFL speaking in favor of Cruz's amendment.

In closing on her amendment, Sen. @SenJanetCruz points out in Arizona when similar legislation was passed hundreds of thousands of dollars was wasted. You can read more on that here. azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

Amendments have now concluded. It's time for more public testimony. Members of the public will be limited to two minutes to address the committee.

Briefly after announcing that there would be public testimony, Chair Broxson says instead the committee will move to debate. Unclear the reason why, but there might be technical issues for those who want to testify as testimony is done virtually at the Tallahassee Civic Center.

Sen. @TinaPolsky has questions on the portion of the bill that would allow for parents to receive a debit card loaded with taxpayer funds to purchase educational equipment.

Now, questions have ended (again). And we are back to public testimony. First up is Rev. Rachel Shepard. She says, "I am the parent of three children who attend public schools. We have little ability to measure the progress of students who attend voucher schools."

Rev. Shepard then tells the story of a student at a voucher school whose parents were horrified when they found out their child's teacher was just 20 years old and had no college degree.

Next up is a representative of a private school in Florida's panhandle. He states that if vouchers are directly funded with tax dollars his school will stop accepting voucher students and many other schools will too. For that reason, he doesn't support SB 48.

"When a parent I worked with tried to get their child out a voucher school, they refused to release her transcripts w/o $300. The family could't afford that," a student advocate from Miami tells the committee as she explains her opposition to SB 48.

"In the delivery of public education, we strive for equity. With privatization and vouchers, and education savings accounts we won't get equity...we'll be widening the gap," says an advocate for @FundEducationFL

A representative from the Florida PTA is up next. She tells the committee, "This bill is already in its second committee a pace that few other bills are hitting and leaves little time to consider the best allocation for tax dollars."

A representative of the Koch brothers' funded Americans for Prosperity is next to speak to the committee. He tells the senators, his only concern is this bill doesn't go far enough and provide education savings accounts for all students.

A parent whose children use vouchers tells the committee that she chose a private school because it offers lower class sizes.

We agree that lower class sizes should be available for all Florida's students and encourage the Legislature to focus 90% of Florida's students...

An FEA representative is up next to testify, she points out that the voucher program would essentially become the schools third-largest school district...so let's let public schools use the same accountability measures as private schools.

A representative from the James Madison Institute is up next. "We like the simplicity and flexibility of this bill," as he urges the committee to support SB 48.

A parent from Jacksonville is up next. She, too likes private schools because they have "smaller class sizes."

Public schools could have smaller classes, too, if the Legislature would focus on them and the 90% of Florida's students who attend them.

This concludes the public testimony portion of the meeting. The senators have now moved to debate.

@SenJanetCruz is first in debate, "These voucher programs are riddled with problems with a lack of oversight...the expansion of public dollars to private schools is inexcusable. Now is not the time. I cannot support this bill."

"I have some issues when the people making all the money don't look like the students and parents who attend the voucher schools" says @SenAudrey2eet. "That's a problem to me. Nobody cared until there was a way to divert funds from public schools. We need to talk about equity!"

"We can do better by our public schools. Public schools brings everybody up. Everybody benefits. But that's not happening in this bill," continues @SenAudrey2eet. "I'm going to wait for a more equitable bill."

Debate has concluded. Sen. Diaz is closing on his bill. Then comes the vote.

SB 48 has now passed 2 of its 3 committees.

It was a party-line vote. All Rs below voted "yes" and all Ds voted "no."

SB 48 will next be heard in Senate Appropriations. We'll let you know when it's placed on the agenda.