Heed the compliance rules… unless you are a Charter and then, nevermind.

On 8/21/19, Florida’s appointed State Board of Education (FLBOE), under the guidance of our appointed Commissioner of Education, approved a new rule, Rule 6A-1.094122 Substance Use and Abuse Health Education, which requires school districts to: 

• annually provide instruction to students in grades K-12 related to youth substance use and abuse health education,
• to submit an implementation plan, every December 1st, to the commissioner and post the plan on the school district website. The plan must include:

Thank you for calling attention to the vaping epidemic in our schools. This is a major concern in my district and has been a problem in both my daughter’s district managed high school and my son’s charter middle school.

Last month you approved a new rule requiring 5 hours of Mental Health Instruction annually for children in grades 6-12. Today’s rule requiring the delivery and documentation of substance abuse prevention education, like last month’s Mental Health instruction rule, are both related to FS 1003.42, one of the statutes that charter schools are exempt from.

I just wanted to be sure you are aware: you are passing rules that, although most parents would agree the required instruction has value, these rules are only requiring compliance from district managed public schools, not charters. All schools should be offering this education but only some schools will be required to document they are doing so. These are, in effect, unfunded compliance mandates imposed on traditional public schools within weeks of the start of the school year, after most of the year’s planning has been completed.

Even as a parent of a charter school student, I see this unequal treatment as disruptive and unfair to our district managed schools. If there is a need for Mental Health and substance abuse education for our children (and we can probably agree there is), then ALL publicly funded school children should be required to receive it.

We can’t just treat charter schools as public schools when it benefits them. If decisions were being made with our children’s best interest in mind, then ALL students would be required to receive this important health related instruction.

Board member Marva Johnson questioned whether they could apply such rules to charter schools. Commissioner Corcoran’s response was that since charters are “full choice options” and since parents choose whether or not to send their children to charters, charters are given more flexibility by the legislature. Charters, he said, were created to “offer something that is innovative and different” so they are free to offer or not offer instruction required for other public school children and “the market” will determine whether parents support those decisions or not… Next month, the board will be making similar rules regarding African American education and Holocaust education: “yes, it is required in statute but… there’s just no accountability in how it’s being delivered and implemented.” The Commissioner told the Board that it is imperative that they “make sure that these things that are being passed, are being implemented and to make sure they are being efficacious.”

So, the plan is to micromanage the district schools, making them document everything they teach, and remain completely hands off of the charter schools because, uh, “choice.” Please remember this the next time a school choice advocate insists that charter schools are held to a higher standard than traditional public schools.

Here is a list of the Required Instruction (as mandated by FS 1003.42) that charter schools in Florida are exempt from teaching. Charter schools can teach these subjects, of course, but they are not required to… district schools, on the other hand, will be required to prove compliance “or else”:

(a) The history and content of the Declaration of Independence, including national sovereignty, natural law, self-evident truth, equality of all persons, limited government, popular sovereignty, and inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property, and how they form the philosophical foundation of our government.

(b) The history, meaning, significance, and effect of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and amendments thereto, with emphasis on each of the 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights and how the constitution provides the structure of our government.

(c) The arguments in support of adopting our republican form of government, as they are embodied in the most important of the Federalist Papers.

(d) Flag education, including proper flag display and flag salute.

(e) The elements of civil government, including the primary functions of and interrelationships between the Federal Government, the state, and its counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.

(f) The history of the United States, including the period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence, the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement to the present. American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.

(g) The history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions.

(h) The history of African Americans, including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall include the contributions of African Americans to American society.

(i) The elementary principles of agriculture.

(j) The true effects of all alcoholic and intoxicating liquors and beverages and narcotics upon the human body and mind.

(k) Kindness to animals.

(l) The history of the state.

(m) The conservation of natural resources.

(n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury prevention and safety; Internet safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall include a teen dating violence and abuse component that includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships, measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and community resources available to victims of dating violence and abuse.

(o) Such additional materials, subjects, courses, or fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by rules of the State Board of Education and the district school board in fulfilling the requirements of law.

(p) The study of Hispanic contributions to the United States.

(q) The study of women’s contributions to the United States.

(r) The nature and importance of free enterprise to the United States economy.

(s) A character-development program in the elementary schools, similar to Character First or Character Counts, which is secular in nature. Beginning in school year 2004-2005, the character-development program shall be required in kindergarten through grade 12. Each district school board shall develop or adopt a curriculum for the character-development program that shall be submitted to the department for approval. The character-development curriculum shall stress the qualities of patriotism; responsibility; citizenship; kindness; respect for authority, life, liberty, and personal property; honesty; charity; self-control; racial, ethnic, and religious tolerance; and cooperation.

(t) In order to encourage patriotism, the sacrifices that veterans have made in serving our country and protecting democratic values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or before Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day. Members of the instructional staff are encouraged to use the assistance of local veterans when practicable.

Apparently this is what they mean by “innovative and different”: no need to encourage patriotism, or teach the nature and importance of free enterprise to the United States economy, the significance of the Constitution or respect for the flag… (This might be a good time for you to read about Florida’s charter school chain associated with the Turkish international missionary organization headed by a reclusive Turkish Cleric. Your tax dollars fund those schools and they are exempt from the required instruction above, as well.)  

Board member Ben Gibson insisted that the new substance abuse rule wasn’t adding new instruction, just requiring districts to confirm compliance with the already required instruction in their schools. Well, sort of… FS 1003.42 does require comprehensive health education that addresses “substance use and abuse” but is does not require it annually for grades K-12. Also “vaping” is not specifically mentioned in current statute… that, like the current epidemic, is new.

Should we expect the FLBOE to spend the year, moving through the list of required instruction, expanding requirements and demanding proof of compliance? Apparently so.

Will they stop there? Look at item (o): “Such additional materials, subjects, courses, or fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by rules of the State Board of Education.” Now, we don’t want to give the FLBOE any ideas but it looks like they can, by writing a rule, demand the teaching of any subject matter they like, whenever they like… heaping compliance requirements on district managed public schools while leaving the charter school free and clear to “innovate.”

It definitely does seem like this Commissioner wants his board to treat charter schools as public schools only when it benefits them… and the plan is to pile the documentation of compliance to instructional mandates on the district managed schools, in the name of accountability. Are education tax dollars best spent satisfying such compliance mandates? We think not. This is merely more accountabaloney.