Florida Choice Options with the VPSC GrantArticle Submitted By: Yolanda Miranda-Hill
In April, I joined Venches Papillion and Lula Brown from Fresh Ministries at the Florida Association of Partners in Education (FAPE) Conference in Jacksonville. The goal was to highlight the existing PRCs throughout the state and to articulate the value of parental outreach utilizing the assistance of parent resource centers. Venches gave a presentation on the services offered through the school choice PRCs, while Lula explained how community and district collaborative partnerships strengthen parental outreach. The FAPE Conference allowed for the introduction of the School Choice PRCs and informed districts how they can take advantage of this parental outreach resource. The value of sharing resources is vital to the school choice community. Your efforts in exemplifying Florida as a strong school choice community have lead other states to look to Florida for direction in their choice initiatives. The U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and Office of Innovation and Improvement conducted a regional summit in Memphis to highlight educational innovations, such as charter schools, financial assistance programs in the form of vouchers, tax credits, and tax deductions, and other educational options. I had the privileged of participating on a panel of state education officials from around the country. It was such a powerful event. The one-day event involved participation of community leaders and parents that allowed for the sharing of information, ideas, and successful models that could be replicated. As leaders within the school choice community, you understand the value of sharing best practices. Continue to champion this philosophy. The power of collaboration is not a unique idea. In fact, the PIRC Program has recently established a state board that will assist them in strengthening their strategies in approaching parents regarding involvement in Title I programs. My capacity will serve as the school choice representative for the VPSC program. I intend to connect our School Choice PRCs with the PIRCs so that they may be able to combine their parent outreach efforts and reach beyond their boundaries. Their partnerships reaching for a common goal will maximize the end result – informing parents about the educational options available to their children. Speaking of educational options, I am quite impressed at the RFP applications that were received for the VPSC Interdistrict Agreements Models. Each application was very innovative. The goal was to create a model that met the criterion of the RFP, the most important criteria is that it could be a replicated model. The review process is at its final stages. The official announcement will be presented at the FPSCC regional meeting in Orlando on June 18, 2008. I look forward to the development of these models and again establishing a blueprint of another school choice success. |
Greeting from Tallahassee! I have so much to share, where should I start? Since my appointment in January as the Voluntary Public School Choice (VPSC) Program Manager, there has not been an insipid moment. I have had the opportunity to spotlight the School Choice Parent Resource Centers (PRCs), to serve on a panel at the USDOE Regional Summit on Innovations in Education, to represent school choice on the Florida Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) State Board, and to process three RFP applications for the VPSC Interdistrict Agreements Models. And the work has just begun!
