When is a choice not a choice? Florida suspends school vouchers for 4 schools for political reasons

[essentialsaltes]

The governor can now pick some winners and losers in the school vouchers game of private schools getting taxpayer funds.

Florida suspends scholarships for 4 schools with ‘ties to Chinese Communist Party’​

In a statement to News 6 on Saturday, an FDOE spokesperson said that the four schools were targeted due to their affiliation with Spring Education Group and Primavera Holdings. The spokesperson pointed to text on Sagemont.com that reads, “Spring Education Group is controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited, an investment firm (together with its affiliates) principally based in Hong Kong with operations in China, Singapore, and the United States, that is itself owned by Chinese persons residing in Hong Kong.”

A spokesperson from Sagemont Preparatory School provided News 6 with the following statement on Saturday:
Our schools are locally run, abide by local, state and federal laws, and do not have ties to any government or political party, either foreign or domestic. Our curriculum is accredited, standards-based and academically rigorous.

“The Chinese Communist Party is not welcome in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement.

First they came for the alleged Chinese Communists...

 

[FireDragon76]

School choice is OK for Christian fundamentalists, but not for anybody else, I guess...

 

[essentialsaltes]

School choice is OK for Christian fundamentalists, but not for anybody else, I guess...

I do think that something like that is where this would end up if DeSantis and other Christian nationalists had their way.

It starts under the guise of 'parents rights'. But pretty soon, some parents are left out of the deal.

 

[HTacianas]

The governor can now pick some winners and losers in the school vouchers game of private schools getting taxpayer funds.

Florida suspends scholarships for 4 schools with ‘ties to Chinese Communist Party’​

In a statement to News 6 on Saturday, an FDOE spokesperson said that the four schools were targeted due to their affiliation with Spring Education Group and Primavera Holdings. The spokesperson pointed to text on Sagemont.com that reads, “Spring Education Group is controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited, an investment firm (together with its affiliates) principally based in Hong Kong with operations in China, Singapore, and the United States, that is itself owned by Chinese persons residing in Hong Kong.”

A spokesperson from Sagemont Preparatory School provided News 6 with the following statement on Saturday:
Our schools are locally run, abide by local, state and federal laws, and do not have ties to any government or political party, either foreign or domestic. Our curriculum is accredited, standards-based and academically rigorous.

“The Chinese Communist Party is not welcome in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement.

First they came for the alleged Chinese Communists...

It doesn't say anywhere in there that the governor has picked any winners or losers. Florida law prohibits State funding for any organization with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. But hey. We don't like DeSantis so why don't turn our entire education system over to the CCP just to spite him.

 

[essentialsaltes]

It doesn't say anywhere in there that the governor has picked any winners or losers.

On Monday, the governor signed universal school vouchers into law, which both conservatives and liberals expect to hurt public schools.
The governor framed the law as a victory for parental rights and school choice, forcing public schools to compete with private schools for students.

The original justification is that parents could universally apply vouchers to the school of their choice. But DeSantis has picked some losers that can't participate.

We don't like DeSantis so why don't turn our entire education system over to the CCP just to spite him.

It's DeSantis who is trying to turn the entire education system over to the private/religious sector. But not content with laissez-faire capitalism, he's putting restraints on private entities.

 

[Diamond7]

principally based in Hong Kong with operations in China, Singapore, and the United States, that is itself owned by Chinese persons residing in Hong Kong.”

I got a foreign exchange student to help my son with his math. America is extremely derelict in their ability to be able to educate students. They are more interested in brain washing them to get them to march to the beat of their drummer.

 

[JustOneWay]

I got a foreign exchange student to help my son with his math. America is extremely derelict in their ability to be able to educate students. They are more interested in brain washing them to get them to march to the beat of their drummer.

I never figured learning math was that political. If the math teachers are so bad here, why would a foreign student want to come to school here? How does one become brainwashed when taught math? Is 'sohcohtoa' one of the methods of brainwashing?

 

[dogs4thewin]

I support school choice as I feel that different students preform better in different schools, and whether a child should have access to a school should not depend on how much money the parents do or do not have. This also would have the affect of forcing public schools to improve because if they KNOW that anyone can go anywhere you would have a motive to attract people to your school. I would be willing to accept a school choice program that was a middle ground of sorts where there were no "zones" within a district. By that I mean that if you had it where say there were say five schools in a district that covered particular grade level parents could send their kids to any one of those public schools, as opposed to having their address determine where their kids went. This may even keep parents from lying about their address to get into a better school.

 

[comana]

I support school choice as I feel that different students preform better in different schools, and whether a child should have access to a school should not depend on how much money the parents do or do not have. This also would have the affect of forcing public schools to improve because if they KNOW that anyone can go anywhere you would have a motive to attract people to your school. I would be willing to accept a school choice program that was a middle ground of sorts where there were no "zones" within a district. By that I mean that if you had it where say there were say five schools in a district that covered particular grade level parents could send their kids to any one of those public schools, as opposed to having their address determine where their kids went. This may even keep parents from lying about their address ti get into a better school.

Public schools can’t refuse children who are disabled or underperforming but these private schools receiving vouchers can. How is that fair?

 

[USincognito]

It doesn't say anywhere in there that the governor has picked any winners or losers. Florida law prohibits State funding for any organization with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

1. Citation needed.
2. There is no evidence of "ties to the Chinese Communist Party" in the OP.

But hey. We don't like DeSantis so why don't turn our entire education system over to the CCP just to spite him.

Why do some posters think histrionic straw men are effective debate tactics?

 

[durangodawood]

Public schools can’t refuse children who are disabled or underperforming but these private schools receiving vouchers can. How is that fair?

Its not supposed to be fair.

Its meant to help middle class people get their kids away from lower class kids, whos parents couldn't afford private education even with vouchers.

 

[Fantine]

Educational accreditation agencies should determine eligibility for voucher programs.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Public schools can’t refuse children who are disabled or underperforming but these private schools receiving vouchers can. How is that fair?

That is why they should allow it because not all students do well in traditional public schools money should not decide if a student should be able to benefit from a better school for them. I am disabled and I would frankly whether a school or business tell me we can not meet your needs than be forced to try and come up badly short. I have been disabled all 32 years of life and have seen some pretty bad cases of that.

 

[KCfromNC]

Its not supposed to be fair.

Its meant to help middle class people get their kids away from lower class kids, whos parents couldn't afford private education even with vouchers.

Don't forget they're also supposed to funnel tax dollars to religious indoctrination.

 

[Fantine]

While allowing their public schools to sponsor Prager U curricula?
Ugh, Florida. Censored biased public schools and no help for less politicized private schools where parents seek better education?