Local Educator: School Choice No Longer Reserved for Upper Class
by Carrie Elizabeth Bradon | The Florida Free Press
ORLANDO — Millions of families in Florida rely on the public school system for their children’s education, but the number of alternative schooling programs with readily available funds continues to rise.
Historically speaking, low-income families have faced limited schooling options for their children. According to the Southern Education Foundation, an education advocacy and research organization, 59% of Florida’s low-income students were enrolled in public schools as of 2013.
Most private schools, on the other hand, have remained out of reach for families struggling to make ends meet. According to Education Next, in 2013, less than 5% of low-income families in the South enrolled their elementary-aged children in private schools, compared to just under 20% of high-income families.
Dr. Kevin Clark, a Central Florida educator for the past 17 years and founder of the Ecclesial Schools Initiative, told The Florida Free Press that financially strained families have more options in the realm of educational institutions than they initially think.
“Many people seem to associate school choice with social or economic privilege,” he said. “I’ve heard this many times myself. What they don’t realize is that school choice programs, whether charter, magnet or private, are actually more diverse and provide greater equality of access than district schools.”
Clark said two of the most important recent developments in the school choice arena are Florida’s Tax Credit scholarship program and open enrollment in public school districts. Open enrollment, he explained, remedies the negative effects of zoning, which previously created inequality for families residing in less affluent neighborhoods.
“Now — in theory at least — families are free to send their children to the public school of their choice,” Clark said.
Home-based education has long been popular among families desiring a different education than can be offered by the public schooling system. While homeschooling does allow for a personalized learning approach, which can be helpful for children with unique needs, it also requires one parent to dedicate significant time and energy to the process. For families who need multiple streams of income, homeschooling is rarely viable.
According to Clark, the tax credit scholarship program is a powerful resource for lower-income families whose children have special needs — namely children with disabilities or those who have been victims of bullying in the past.
“The tax credit scholarship program is important because it addresses a cluster of issues affecting access to great education for all children, among which income, disabilities and bullying are perhaps the most significant,” Clark said.
The funds received through the tax credit scholarship program can be used to send children to the private school of their choice.
Clark is passionate about alleviating the limitations that income imposes on families and their ability to secure quality education for their children. He cites this passion as motivation for applying his expertise as a classical Christian educator to an affordable model of education for local families through the Ecclesial Schools Initiative (ESI).
“First, we created a scaled tuition model that makes the school affordable for all income levels and especially for families receiving tax credit scholarship,” Clark said. “Second, we are partnering with local churches that have a heart for serving their community through Christian education and that have the space to host a school on their campus.”
Clark envisions ESI having six to eight campuses throughout the Orlando metropolitan area in the coming years.
“We are providing a rich educational atmosphere, vibrant Christian community and classical curriculum to a socially and economically diverse student body, at a truly affordable tuition,” Clark said.
Enrollment for the 2020–2021 school year is currently underway. Classes will be held at St. Alban’s Anglican Cathedral in Oviedo.
This is part of an ongoing series investigating school choice in Central Florida.
