From the Dec. 16, 1996 Daily Report Card:
 > *4   PRIVATE SCHOOLS:  MORE FLORIDA FAMILIES GOING PRIVATE
->    The MIAMI HERALD published a detailed article describing the
-> exodus of Fla. families from public schools to private academies
-> (Mailander, 12/2).  "A broad, historic commitment to public
-> schools has disappeared," said David Mathews, director of an
-> Ohio-based research organization called The Kettering Foundation and
-> author of, "Is There A Public for Public School?"  "If people were
-> abandoning the Constitution, there would be headlines across the
-> country.  This is just as damaging."
->    According to the paper, children from middle-class families
-> made up 31% of public school enrollment in Dade County in 1980. By
-> 1990, the middle class made up 27% of public school
-> enrollment.  Even more significant, writes the paper, is the
-> steady increase of disadvantaged children entering public
-> schools.  Low-income children occupy almost three of every five seats
-> in an average Dade classroom, reports the HERALD.
->    The middle class is fleeing urban areas for suburban public
-> school systems, but also for private schools.  "We are finding
-> more families coming to us who haven't had an experience with
-> private education before," said C. Skardon Bliss, executive
-> secretary of the Florida Council of Independent Schools.  The top
-> reason for interest in private education is safety, added Bliss.
-> "Every time there is a problem in public schools that makes the
-> press, we get more interest in our schools," he said.
->    Dade County schools, with a high number of Hispanic
-> families, especially suffers from the fact that Hispanic
-> families, more than other groups, prefers private schools.  About
-> half of Hispanic, upper-income families send their children to
-> private schools, compared to 34% of non-Hispanic white families at
-> the same income level.  Fourteen percent of upper-class black
-> families enroll in private schools, writes the paper.  The HERALD
-> notes that cultural carryover, smaller classes, safety and
-> preservation of ethnicity factor into a Hispanic family's
-> decision to attend private schools.
->    The paper presents arguments against middle-class flight
-> from pubic schools.  "Middle-class people are more likely to
-> know a congressman or politician, or know how to advocate for
-> kids," explained Robert Slavin, co-director of the Center for
-> Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, based at
-> Johns Hopkins U.  "It's not the presence of the kids themselves - -
-> it's the fact they draw resources and attention that poor kids may
-> not get otherwise."
->    Another issue is money, reports the paper.  "I think the
-> danger is an economic one," said outgoing Dade Schools
-> Superintendent Alan Olkesk.  Along with taxes, such a thing as a bond
-> issue would probably fare poorly if parents can't afford to even pay
-> for their children's lunch.  A more affluent community with its kids
-> in public schools is more likely to say,'Look, we want to build more
-> schools.  We'll pass the bond issue.'"
->    Yet, the "overwhelming presence of poor children" in public
-> schools has frightened middle-class parents who "worry their own kids
-> will be shortchanged  or held back as teachers devote their attention
-> to the less fortunate," writes the paper.  A recent
-> study conducted by the national Opinion Research Center at the U of
-> Chicago found that family income counts more than race,
-> ethnicity, sex or test scores when it comes to determining the
-> expectations and future education of teens, reports the paper.
-> The HERALD notes that 94% of last year's graduates of Dade's
-> private schools went on to college; only 69% of public school
-> graduates were college bound.
->    The HERALD points to magnet schools and the potential for
-> charter schools to help public education.  Fla. lawmakers
-> continue to reject legislation to allow for vouchers to private
-> schools.  The state also is trying to re-build local decision
-> making with a program called "site-based consensus building,"
-> that would include principals, teahers and parents in the school
-> decision-making process.
->    Another group mentioned by the HERALD is Parents for Public
-> Schools, a national organization that emerged seven years ago
-> "when a group of middle-class parents in Jackson, Miss." met and
-> decided to "reclaim their public school by returning to it en
-> masse and encouraging others to do so."  Chapters have sprung up
-> nationwide, with parents seeking change at their local public
-> school.
->    For more information on Parents for Public schools, call
-> 800/880-1222, or send an e-mail to PRSChapter@aol.com.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10
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