Posted on by Californiacontrarian

The Choice The Dems Do Not Like

 

School choice is “the civil rights issue of out time,” to quote Condoleezza Rice. This subject apparently had an impressive effect on the outcome of the recent Florida governor’s election according to an 11/21/18 Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Minority Women Put DeSantis Over the Top.” This piece was about surprising effect that race had upon the outcome of the recent race for governor in Florida, for you see, the final result was determined not by race. The Democratic candidate, Mr. Gillum, was black. However apparently 100,000 black women voted for the white Republican candidate, Ron DeSantis. These DeSantis’ votes made up approximately 18% of the 650,000 black women who voted in this election, and this was critical in an election that was decided by a mere 40,000 votes. According to this WSJ op-ed, “the reason for this surprising support from African-American women . . . school choice.”  Mr. Gillum was opposed to school choice, a choice that the Dems do not like. Meanwhile Mr. DeSantis and the Republicans were in favor of the Step Up for Students program, which grants tax-credit funded scholarships to attend private schools in Florida. More than 100,000 low-income students participate in this program. Is this number, 100,000, a coincidence? I think not, as to me, a large percentage of the 100,000 black women who voted for DeSantis were mothers of children who are the beneficiaries of this Step Up program. (Also interestingly, Mr. DeSantis’ support among Latinos was an amazing 44%.)

For those of you not familiar with this Step Up program, it was created in 2001 to assure that low-income children had more learning options. The “scholarships” are based on financial need, not how well your child does in school. Families may choose between financial assistance toward private school tuition and fees, or transportation costs to attend a public school in another district. Eligibility for the program is determined yearly and scholarships are awarded with priority given to renewal families followed by new families with the greatest financial need. The program pays up to $6,519 for Kindergarten–5th grade, $6,815 for 6th-8th grade and $7,111 for 9th-12th grade for the school year until the maximum is reached. The maximum is based on both income and the number of people in the family. (Documented homeless students have no income threshold to qualify, and children in foster care receive priority.) Likewise with the income-based transportation scholarship, families can choose a $750 scholarship to assist with the cost of transportation to another public school which must be out of the student’s assigned district.

Question: Why do we not have a similar program here in California? Of course the politicians will say that California does not have the money necessary to fund such a program. To that I say, “Poppycock!” or “Balderdash!” (keep in mind that my comments must be P.G. as this is a family oriented blog), because while Florida has no state income tax, California has one of the highest state tax rates in the country! Also note that in comparing high school graduation percentages, Florida ranks #32 while California is the caboose at #50! Clearly one of the main reasons that California lags desperately behind in education achievement is political. Here in California affluent families have the option of sending their children to private schools (school choice), whereas those with lower incomes do not (“no school choice for you,” say the state’s Dem politicians). Ask yourself, “Is this fair?”, and consider your answer when voting in the next election. Many of these “school choice moms” did exactly that recently in Florida.

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