Voucher program draws another big donor

A South Florida CEO commits $1-million to the state's controversial scholarship program for low-income children.

By STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 18, 2002

TAMPA -- South Florida businessman Mike Fernandez, who made his fortune selling health care to the poor, is the most recent million-dollar contributor to the state's controversial Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program for low-income children.

Fernandez, CEO of Physicians Health Care Plans, committed $1-million during an announcement Wednesday at St. Peter Claver Elementary School, a largely black Catholic school near a public housing project in Tampa.

Corporations such as Physicians Health Care get a tax credit equal to the amount they contribute to the scholarship program. The program is controversial because money that would have flowed to public schools and other state services instead covers tuition for private schools.

"People are entitled to choice and options," Fernandez said. "I hope this makes it possible for more parents to have that choice."

Fernandez, born in Cuba, grew up in the Bronx, New York. Although his family was poor, he attended Catholic schools on scholarships. That education, he said, made him what he is today. His contribution is an attempt to give low-income families the same educational opportunity, he said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, a Tampa lawyer, said last week that if elected, he would try to eliminate the program as part of a plan to increase funding for public schools. The state's teachers union, which has endorsed McBride, also has criticized the program.

The program has attracted about $30-million in commitments from about 15 Florida corporations. That's less than the $50-million annual cap on the program but much more than the program needs.

Roughly 1,000 Florida children are enrolled in the program. Program advocates say they expect it to have up to 6,000 children next year.

"This program is almost like a doctor treating the wrong arm," said Maureen Dinnen, president of the Florida Education Association. "We've got a problem over here, and the governor is putting resources somewhere else. The public schools are bleeding, and Gov. Bush is putting a Band-Aid on the private schools."

In January, shortly after the program was created, two corporations made well-publicized contributions of $5-million each. One of the contributors, St. Petersburg-based Florida Power, was taken to task by the Pinellas County teachers union, which staged a "lights out" day to protest the utility's diversion of potential tax dollars to private school vouchers.

A recent analysis by the nonprofit Collins Center for Public Policy concluded that the program does not divert money from public schools. Though it did not endorse the still-new program, the center found that the maximum scholarship of $3,500 is smaller than the amount spent on a typical pupil in the public schools.

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