TALLAHASSEE - Two months after he vowed to oppose changes in the controversial FCAT, Gov. Jeb Bush has bowed to pressure and agreed to loopholes that will enable thousands of additional students to receive high school diplomas.
The Florida Legislature on Thursday passed a bill that gives a second chance to students who fail the high-stakes test. Many are immigrants, still learning English. Bush promised to quickly sign the bill into law.
"This creates another option that's a fair one, that doesn't lower standards, and I will sign it as soon as it gets to my desk so high school students who are concerned about this will have that option," Bush said.
This was the first year students had to pass the FCAT to graduate. When more than 12,000 failed, African-Americans staged protests and threatened a boycott in South Florida. But what had greater impact was steady pressure from Hispanics, a critical Republican constituency and Florida's largest ethnic minority.
"I campaigned on this issue," said Rep. John Quinones, R-Kissimmee, the bill's sponsor and the first Puerto Rican Republican elected to the Legislature. "We need to give Hispanics opportunities and options, and this bill creates that hope."
As recently as April, Bush rejected suggestions that he would be pressured into easing the tougher accountability measures built around the FCAT, which he has pursued for four years in the face of unrelenting opposition.
"Yes, I remain committed to the reforms," Bush wrote in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times. "Yes, I will fend off attempts to water (down) the reforms. Yes, it was expected. ... I honestly believe that a tenth grade level aptitude test taken six times is an appropriate measure of whether a student has learned what we expect."
The few critics of the changes said the watering down began with Thursday's vote.
"If we start down the path of backing away from the FCAT, we set a dangerous precedent," said Rep. Don Brown, a DeFuniak Springs Republican and one of only two House members voting against the bill. "If we're going to waive that for certain classes of students, I think that's a dangerous precedent."
The public backlash produced broad, bipartisan support for change. It passed the House on Thursday 109-2 and the Senate on Wednesday 38-0.
The immediate beneficiaries are about 400 seniors who met every graduation requirement but one: They failed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Many who failed are not fluent in English.
More than 12,000 additional students can qualify for diplomas by passing a college entrance or military exam, taking accelerated general equivalency courses or adult education courses.
Hispanic lawmakers said students with limited English skills were being unfairly denied diplomas solely because of a language barrier. Not graduating from high school became a painful stigma to immigrants yearning to assimilate into American society.
Quinones is one of the party's biggest success stories from the 2002 elections, and he was chosen by other lawmakers to champion the issue.
Bush, who speaks Spanish and is popular among Hispanic voters, calls the 38-year-old lawyer "a rising star." Quinones is a link to the fast-growing Puerto Rican electorate in the Orlando suburbs. While many Puerto Ricans are registered Democrats, Republicans from President Bush on down will campaign aggressively for their votes.
"This was good policy, but it was motivated by good politics," said Rep. Ralph Arza, R-Hialeah, a Cuban-American and a co-sponsor of the bill. "We have the first Republican Puerto Rican who was a champion of this legislation."
Democrats voted for the bill partly because they want to discredit the FCAT. But they, too, know of students who are struggling with the FCAT because of limited English skills.
Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Lantana, cited the children of immigrant farmworkers in Palm Beach County schools who passed the math and science parts of the FCAT but can't pass the English portion.
"It would allow them to move forward in their education process, so I believe it was a very important bill," Bucher said. She added that the bill "absolutely is the first deterioration of the FCAT."
Aggrieved black lawmakers strongly supported the measure. They said the FCAT stigmatizes black students. Black politicians and clergy in Miami led a protest last month against a test some called the "Jebcat." The performance of black children on the FCAT still trails that of whites in South Florida, although the achievement gap has narrowed.
The bill (HB 23B) also says incoming juniors or seniors from another state or country who have met all requirements from their former school system do not need to take additional courses to graduate. Students who have been in English-as-a-second-language programs for less than two years will receive intensive courses under the bill.
Provisions
Legislation awaiting Gov. Jeb Bush's signature would provide options for high school students who fail the FCAT. They include:
- Passing a different standardized test such as the SAT, ACT, College Placement Test or military entrance exam. The minimum score will be set by the commissioner of education.
- Adult education courses in English and other required subjects.
- Unlimited chances to pass the Grade 10 FCAT.
- Accelerated summer GED courses.
The bill also requires "immediate and intensive" English language instruction for 11th- and 12th-graders who are not proficient in English.
