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Connecting Brevard Public Schools to its Community • Volume V, Issue 5, April 2017 Who’sAfraidofBetsyDeVos? BPSLeadsAmongChoices
By Desmond K. Blackburn, Ph. D.
People in Brevard keep asking for my opinion of new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her advocacy for school choice. So here goes.
First, Brevard Public Schools has nothing to fear about school choice. We provide or monitor options galore for Space Coast families, including some supported by DeVos. Yet our highly rated public schools remain full, and BPS’ excellent
faculty and sta have ensured they remain the number one choice in this market for education.
I don’t see a problem if legislative doctrine impacts all school choices with fairness and equity at the root of the
changes. That puts appropriate pressure on
all of us to serve as the option where children
achieve and schools build strong relationships with stakeholders.
But consider what Brevard has already. Today, about 40 percent of students on the Space Coast get their education someplace other than their assigned neighborhood public school, including magnet programs, charter schools, vocational programs and Brevard or Florida Virtual Schools.
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April 2017
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About 2,400 low-income students in Brevard receive state-subsidized scholarships (like vouchers, but funded by corporations through tax credits) to attend private schools of their parents’ choice. This is the program Secretary DeVos and President Donald Trump highlighted during the president’s rst visit to a school, a Catholic school in Orlando.
Brevard also has 12 charter schools that several thousand families consider best for their children. We respect those decisions. They include the Viera Charter School, which stresses science and math, and the Emma Jewel Charter Academy in Cocoa, which intensively serves low- income children.
Meanwhile, the school district o ers even more options. Brevard’s two “school of choice” junior-senior high schools – West Shore in Melbourne and Edgewood in Merritt Island – frequently rank among the best in the nation. They are fed in part by highly rated magnet-school
programs throughout the county – one more of which we plan to open soon in Titusville.
Likewise, locally tailored programs at all of our high schools have made them families’ number one choice for college-preparatory education and vocational training.
In a district where all 11th graders take the ACT college-entrance exam, our average score by students of all kinds beats the statewide average, which includes many counties where only college-bound students take the test.
And we can’t brag enough about the 52 career and technical education programs at 15 of our high schools, where students have chosen to prepare for jobs in mechanics, construction, health care, culinary arts, digital media and more.
All of the choices I just described make up a thriving education market on the Space Coast. BPS has excelled in that market with great teachers, curriculum and service.
Secretary DeVos and Florida legislators can best serve Space Coast families by supporting BPS’ e orts and funding.