The governor of Florida and his education czar made a big announcement in Tallahassee the other day. They said they were going to tighten the rules for private schools that are getting state voucher money.
They're really going to crack down.
They're going to make schools . . . fill out a form.
No, wait. It's even tougher than that. The form will have to be notarized. Woooo!
"One of the things I'm trying to do," Education Commissioner Jim Horne said, "is to flush out those schools that aren't schools."
Wow! That seems like a fine idea.
Apparently nobody thought of it until now, several years into the process of handing out taxpayer moolah as fast as possible, as much as $140-million this year.
As government forms go, the five-page questionnaire is thorough. Even the name is impressive: "Department of Education Sworn Compliance Form for Private Schools Participating In Scholarship Programs."
There's a lot of detail on it, too, such as the number of faculty members, their education, accreditations, insurance and health information. Schools even have to report whether they have their own well.
Unfortunately, none of the 40 questions asks anything like, "Are you a fake school? Come on, 'fess up for Jim Horne."
And since there is no plan to actually check the information supplied by the outfits getting the cash, it is not clear what would keep a faker from . . . well, continuing to fake it.
In short, this questionnaire is a public relations stunt.
What's really going on is that the governor and his education guy are trying to jump out in front of bad publicity. They also are trying to fend off coming attempts by the Florida Senate to tighten the reins on the cash.
As an example of bad publicity, in July one of the largest voucher organizations, called PRIDE, cut off about $350,000 to the Islamic Academy of Florida in July. The school's co-founder, Sami Al-Arian, is accused in a federal indictment of helping the Islamic Jihad, even using the school for some of his operations.
Last week, state prosecutors said they won't file criminal charges against the operator of several schools around the state accused of mishandling voucher money. The main reason: The law is too vague and weak.
But do not be fooled by a claim of swinging into action in Tallahassee. This laxity is exactly what they intended.
In creating Florida's three major voucher programs, the Legislature explicitly refused to attach any strings. Accounting for the money would be, you know, liberal.
We're not even talking about stuff like requiring standardized tests, teacher certification. The party line is that "parents will hold private schools accountable."
But as for the money itself, well, it would be kind of nice if somebody, somewhere was making sure each check actually was going to a school, and that a kid was truly sitting in a chair learning something in return for it.
To its credit, PRIDE has probably been the most insistent among the half-dozen voucher groups that the process should be audited and accountable. But others are fighting any accountability at all.
Corporations in Florida don't even have to pay their income taxes to the state any more. They can just fork over a check to a private voucher foundation, which in turn forks over the money to parents. But, as the recent investigation shows, some schools just have parents sign over a power of attorney and cash the checks directly.
This past spring, despite reports that Horne's department was not enforcing even the minimal audit requirements, the Legislature expanded the corporate-tax voucher program from $50-million to $88-million for the coming year.
The new vouchers come at the perfect time. Maybe they'll attract some of those disgusted and worried parents of the third-graders who just flunked in the public schools because of the governor's precious, top-secret standardized test, the FCAT.
As we all know, public schools have to take these tests and report their scores, and private schools don't, because the public schools must be held - what's that word they like to use? Oh, right. Accountable.
