Student achievement rose with new charter schools

For someone complaining that Florida doesn’t care about students or education because there has been a push toward charter schools and school choice, the latest column by the Sun Sentinel’s Randy Schultz is remarkably devoid of any statistics on student achievement.

There’s good reason. Florida has made remarkable gains in achievement – in fact, some of the biggest gains in America over the past two decades – as school choice opportunities have rapidly expanded.

Graduation rates are up more than 30 points from 20 years ago, when barely half our students earned high school diplomas. Reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress are up for every subgroup and every grade compared with 20 years ago. After adjusting for race and poverty, the Urban Institute ranks Florida first, first, third and eighth on fourth-grade reading and math and eighth-grade reading and math, respectively.

Public school funding is also up considerably since Florida passed the charter school law in 1996.

Critics like Mr. Schultz always begin their funding complaints by looking at the high-water mark for per-pupil spending in Florida. The 2007-08 school year was fueled by a massive real estate bubble that generated surplus taxes the Legislature funneled to K-12 education. But what about pre-bubble spending?

Back in 1996, when Democrat Lawton Chiles was governor and Democrats controlled the House, Florida spent $9.9 billion on K-12 education or about $15.8 billion in today’s dollars. That’s $5.2 billion less than what we spend on K-12 today. Per-pupil spending back then was $7,065 in today’s dollars, which is $343 less than today. Even when subtracting out charter school funding and adjusting for inflation, district-run public schools have $3 billion more today.

School choice critics keep repeating that charter schools drain money from district schools, but they offer no evidence. According to Florida TaxWatch, Florida spent $10,856 per pupil on district schools in 2017-18. Charter schools cost $7,476 per pupil, a savings of $3,380. Florida would need to find another $1 billion to send every charter student back to a district school. (Schultz also claimed public schools “will lose more money” from the new Family Empowerment Scholarship. Similar claims about a similar scholarship, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, have been debunked by multiple financial reports and dismissed by courts.)

Mr. Schultz insists there is no compelling record of charters “devising breakthrough teaching methods,” but assessment results prove otherwise. Charter school teachers are permitted flexibility to adjust the curriculum to meet the needs and talents of the students they serve. The way they engage their students, and the joy of being in a learning environment that fits those students (and teachers), adds up to breakthrough methods.

Florida’s charter schools are also subjected to stronger accountability regulations than district schools. Not only are charter students required to take the Florida Standards Assessment, but charter schools earning two “F” grades can be closed for good. No district school faces that kind of top-down pressure. In addition, charter schools face the pressure of parental accountability as parents are free to come and go, “voting with their feet” as to whether a school meets the needs of their children.

This approach is leading to encouraging academic outcomes. In the state’s latest annual report comparing charter schools and district schools in performance and progress on state tests, charter students outperformed their district counterparts in 170 of 195 categories.

A 2014 study also found charter school students in Florida persisting in college at a rate 13 percentage points higher than their district peers, and, by the time they were 23 to 25 years old, earning $2,347 more annually.

Of course, test scores, college persistence, and even future earnings are not the only proof charter schools are working.

Talk to the parents of any of the 313,000 charter school students in Florida or the more than 12,000 teachers who have chosen to work at charter schools. Charters haven’t flourished because they “have become Tallahassee’s favorite.” They’re thriving because they’re giving growing numbers of students, parents, and teachers the options they want.

In the process, they’re helping Florida’s public education system become one of the best in the country.

By Dr. Judith Stein