May 12, 1999
Web posted at: 9:26 p.m. EDT (0126 GMT)

In this story: Bush: 'Parents ought to be given options' A drain on public school funds? RELATED STORIES, SITES

MIAMI (CNN) -- Florida schools failing to make the grade could find their enrollment shrinking next fall when the state begins offering vouchers to students in poorly performing schools, enabling them to attend a private school of their choice.

Gay Dunn, a mother of three, is eager for the program of statewide vouchers to begin.

"I would jump right on it," Dunn said. "I will probably be the first in line."

Dunn is one of many parents who has lost faith in public schools.

"There are 35 kids in one class for one teacher," Dunn pointed out. "I think that's a bit too much for anybody."

Gov. Jeb Bush made school accountability and the vouchers a cornerstone of his election campaign.

School administrators recently compiled results from the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, a reading and math exam given to fourth, fifth, eighth and 10th graders. The scores, along with a separate writing test, determine which schools are making the grade as far as state leaders are concerned.

FCAT scores were up overall statewide and most schools did make the grade.

But at those schools with failing grades, the parents of the students will be eligible for $4,000 government vouchers to use at private schools.

"There comes a point in time where when you have failure and you have failure and you have failure again, parents ought to be given other options. That is morally right and just," Bush said.

Not everyone approves of the voucher system.

"Public school dollars should not be drained off a public school to go and support a private school," said Patricia Ramsey, the principal of Orlo Vista Elementary in Orlando, which was on the verge of being eligible for vouchers.

Officials now say the school's FCAT scores will take it off the list of poorly performing schools.

Critics argue Florida's rating system doesn't make allowances for intangibles like poverty or high rates of transience.

And Ramsey said her students were stigmatized by the failure label.

"My children are coming up to me now and saying, 'Miss Ramsey, are we in a bad school? Are we poor?' I mean, that is hurtful," the principal said.

Diane Lewis, who has three children at Orlo Vista, also disapproves of the voucher system.

"What is Governor Bush saying? Is he saying private educated students are better than the public educated students?" Lewis asked. "What message are we sending to our children?"

"I believe what you're going to see is that all the crying and yelling and screaming, once it's all said and done, will be for naught -- that we will see an improvement in public education," Bush has said in response to criticism of the plan.

He expects the threat alone of vouchers to force public schools to shape up.

Correspondent Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.