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Nearly 1 in 5 Florida students attend class in portables. A lawmaker proposes vouchers for the crowded schools.
By DIANE RADO
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001
TALLAHASSEE -- More than three years after angry parents forced the Legislature to do something about crowded schools, Florida's school system is still jam-packed and blanketed with portable classrooms.
New Education Department statistics show that nearly one in five students attend class in portables, and 235,182 students go to schools considered over capacity, despite a massive school construction program approved by the Legislature in a special session in fall 1997.
In addition, school districts still haven't spent $820.6-million of the $1.9-billion available in a school construction bond program approved in that session.
School officials say they're trying their best to keep up with the constant influx of students and the challenge of building schools.
"If someone can do it better, I'd invite them to," said Hillsborough deputy school superintendent Jim Hamilton, who expects to eliminate 1,100 portables by August.
But key lawmakers and state officials have lost patience, triggering a renewed debate about vouchers -- public dollars for private school.
Republican legislative leaders have this solution for crowded schools: Give parents a $3,000 "grant" to move their children out of seriously crowded public schools and into private schools of their choice. Parents also could opt to move their child to another public school that is not crowded.
The main sponsor of the bill, Rep. Carlos Lacasa, R-Miami, has grown impatient with what he sees as a lack of progress on building schools. "The taxpaying citizens of Florida should not be forced to suffer through these delays." The Miami-Dade school district he represents has 1,549 portables used for classes, compared to 1,646 portables two years ago.
In all, there are 18,037 portables used for classrooms, compared to 18,203 in 1999, according to the Department of Education. That means that more than 430,000 of Florida's 2.3-million school children attend class in portables, based on a conservative estimate of 24 students per portable.
The figures don't include portables used for non-classroom uses, bringing the total number of school portables in Florida to 22,162. When the Times surveyed school districts before the special session in 1997, there were 22,498 portables in all.
Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, said she strongly supports Hillsborough schools and understands that building new ones takes time. But the parents in her district are frustrated with crowding, Murman said. "If I was a parent (of a child in Hillsborough schools), I would be as impatient as they are," Murman said. For that reason, she has agreed to be a sponsor of the bill giving vouchers to parents of children in overcrowded schools.
The bill defines overcrowded as 120 percent of capacity, generally meaning that a school's enrollment exceeds 20 percent of the number of students for which it was designed. The Department of Education estimates that 142,449 students are in schools that meet that definition. Under the legislation, parents of students enrolled in such a school would be given the option to take a $3,000 grant for private school.
The number of grants will be determined by how many students it would take to get the school down to 100 percent of capacity. If more parents apply for the grants, a lottery would be held.
House Democrats blasted the legislation Thursday, saying it's just a way to expand the vouchers program already in effect for children in failing schools.
"This year, we are ... seeing vouchers rearing their ugly heads again," said House Democratic leader Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach. The Democrats suggested instead that the state hire and retain more teachers to improve teacher-child ratios and continue building public schools to alleviate overcrowding.
Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said in Leon County the legislation likely would benefit white middle-class families attending crowded schools in the northern part of the county. On the south side of the county, minority schools are not crowded, so children wouldn't get money for private school.
Lacasa said his bill "is supposed to help whoever needs help, regardless of race or income."
Education Commissioner Charlie Crist supports the legislation, saying he is troubled that so many portables remain and that school districts have not used all the cash available to them to build schools. He was a state senator from Pinellas during the special session on school crowding and voted for the bond program to fix crowded schools.
On the campaign trail for education commissioner last year, Crist said, he continued to hear complaints from parents about school crowding.
"I voted for the thing, so it's particularly distressing to continue to hear these stories," Crist said.
Crist's staff has been working on legislation that would force school districts to get rid of portables by July 1, 2003. Now, state law says eliminating portables is a goal, but not a mandate.
Gov. Jeb Bush will look at the Lacasa legislation, but giving vouchers to parents of children in crowded schools has not been part of his budget priorities, said spokeswoman Liz Hirst. However, "Gov. Bush supports the general idea that offering choices to parents in our state is a positive thing so we can ensure that all children receive a quality education."
(2001 -- 1999)
Pinellas: 420 -- 400
Hillsborough: 1,668 -- 1,538
Pasco: 310 -- 315
Hernando: 105 -- 89
Citrus: 37 -- 50
Statewide: 18,037 -- 18,203
***Figures do not include portables used for storage and other non-classroom uses. Total number of portables used for all purposes is 22,162.
Source: State Department of Education