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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 1999

Statement by NEA President, Bob Chase, On the Florida Private School Tuition Voucher Plan

The private school tuition voucher plan proposed by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will make it harder for Florida public schools to improve. It says to parents and the community, "When schools are struggling, just walk away."

Parents don't want vouchers. They want good schools. They want assurance every child will be helped. And Florida teachers, administrators, and other school employees are working closely with parents and community leaders to do the difficult work necessary to improve school quality. We know what works: smaller classes, more professional development, and modern schools with the latest technology. By diverting public money to private schools, the Florida voucher plan makes it more difficult to make those things happen.

It's ironic that Florida would show how school reform can and should work, and then throw a monkey wrench in the works. In recent years, the state established a process for identifying low-performing schools which prompted local officials to action. Over the past two years, 33 schools revamped programs, enhanced parental and community involvement, and worked hard to get off the "needs improvement" list. They succeeded. Private school tuition vouchers take off the pressure to make needed changes, and take money away from those very schools that need to change most.

The Florida voucher has been described as a pilot, but the Florida Department of Education projects that it may affect 180 schools within the next two years. If only one-fourth of the eligible students used a voucher -- and were able to find a school that would accept them -- it would cost public schools $180 million in state aid by the 2000-01 school year. This plan represents the largest diversion of public money from public schools in the United States.

Rather than ensuring a better education for our children, the voucher plan will allow public funds to send students to schools with no standards, no track record, and no accountability.

In short, the Florida voucher plan sets up a two-tiered education system where public schools get more state scrutiny and less state money and private schools get no state scrutiny and more state money.

Voucher plans in Cleveland and Milwaukee show no clear indication that they improve educational opportunity for students who use them, and they have certainly done nothing to improve opportunities for those who don't.

NEA and its state and local affiliates will continue and expand our efforts to work with parents and community members who care about the students in America's public schools.