CRESTVIEW — Bob Jones has gone from a career as principal at several area schools to being a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state Legislature.
As president of the Florida Association of School Administrators, he’s involved in a suit that has brought teachers’ unions and school administrations together against the recently passed Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
“I haven't heard from the senate president yet, but at some point I'm sure I will,” Jones said while speaking today at the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce Government Issues Committee meeting.
The program evolved from providing school vouchers to students of failing schools to granting tax breaks to corporations that pay students’ tuition.
The new version was designed to circumvent the association’s previous lawsuit when the voucher program expanded to allow students to attend any private school.
As a result, taxpayer dollars flowed to religious schools, violating the separation of church and state, and to schools that were not certified and were unaccountable when they did not teach state standards, Jones said.
Now the program still draws tax money from public education and sends it to private schools, but uses corporations to filter it, Jones said.
A 'HARD SELL'
Fortunately, he said, Okaloosa County is not suffering the consequences that other Florida communities have seen.
“There are charter schools opening up left and right all over the state that are also failing,” Jones said. “People are finding out it’s a cash cow” due to the prevalence of vouchers.
Former chamber President Dennis Mitchell said resisting the tax credit scholarship program, which is supported by Senate President Don Gaetz, a former Okaloosa County school superintendent, will be “a hard sell here,” where public schools are “great.”
Jones said Okaloosa County is fortunate that its students are more disciplined that those in other counties. He credited the area’s large military presence, which contributes to “a lot of good families that have a very good influence on their children.”
“We’re kind of on an island here and it’s a very good island to be on,” Jones said. “Keep education and discipline standards high to keep it that way. Don't tolerate the kind of things other counties tolerate.”
COMMON CORE 'FIASCO'
Jones also addressed Common Core standards, calling it “a huge fiasco right from the start” after the federal government got involved in what was a governors’ and university presidents’ initiative.
“The idea of Common Core was to develop a set of standards that were common across the country,” Jones said, so a student moving from one state to another wouldn’t lag behind or be ahead of the same grade in his new state.
Jones also praised new teaching practices that incorporate technology, with many classrooms being BYOD — bring your own device — environments, in which students use their smart phones and tablets in class.
“The classroom’s expanding,” Jones said. “We’re moving beyond the walls of the classroom. Instead of memorizing we’re teaching students to think more.
“We’re moving to where teachers are becoming more facilitators than lecturers.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former CHS principal among others opposing tax credit program