PANEL LOOKS AT INEQUITIES IN SCHOOLS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Tuesday, February 1, 2000
Author: STEVE BOUSQUET And DANIEL de VISE, sbousquet@herald.com
Gov. Jeb Bush praised the efforts of Broward parents to reduce racial inequities in publicschools as he launched a statewide task force Monday to tackle racial disparities in schoolsacross Florida.
Bush attended the first meeting Monday of the 25-member Equity in Educational Opportunity Task Force, which he formed after hearing complaints of racial disparity in the Browardschool district.
``East Broward County versus West Broward County - you don't have to be a physicist or somebody who actually understands our funding formula . . . to realize we've got a problem,'' Bush told the group. ``Anecdotally, you can go from one side of a county to the next and realize that perhaps the resources are not being allocated the way they should be.''
The new task force will spend the next 10 months looking at ways to equalize the distribution of money and supplies among Florida schools.
Its members include Evelyn Brown and Ernestine Price, two leaders from the Broward group Citizens Concerned About Our Future (CCC), which has fought the Broward school system in court for the past four years. The group alleges a two-tier school system with different resources available for historically black and white schools.
``The reason we're doing this is because of my travels around Broward County, you know,'' Bush told Price, a CCC leader, as he shook hands with task force members Monday morning at the Tallahassee meeting.
Asked to cite examples of inequities he saw in Broward, Bush told reporters: ``Pipes that were busted, computers that were old, no science labs.''
The Broward parent group sued the Broward district in 1995, claiming that black students typically attend aging, crumbling schools with lower-quality computers, textbooks and athletic equipment than those available at mostly white schools. The Herald documented the disparities in the 1998 series ``Equal Schools: Broward's Unkept Promise.''
A federal judge dismissed the CCC lawsuit in 1998. The case is on appeal.
Bush learned of the litigation in a series of meetings with the CCC before he became governor, according to Levi Williams, an attorney for the parent group.
``He was very sympathetic when he saw our pictures and saw our presentation,'' Williams said.
Nearly three-fourths of the pupils attending the state's D and F schools are black or Hispanic - a fact which suggests wide disparities in educational opportunity across the state, Bush said.
The new task force will study school districts around the state, asking the same questions that kept the CCC in court since 1995: Do some schools get less financial support than others? Are some students are denied access to challenging coursework?
The task force will work through November and recommend reforms to the Legislature. One of the group's most difficult tasks will be to analyze how to more equitably distribute state tax dollars to the state's 67 county school systems.
Brown, of CCC, said she had read Bush's One Florida initiative - of which the task force was one element - and praised the governor for his efforts.
Bush attended the first meeting Monday of the 25-member Equity in Educational Opportunity Task Force, which he formed after hearing complaints of racial disparity in the Browardschool district.
``East Broward County versus West Broward County - you don't have to be a physicist or somebody who actually understands our funding formula . . . to realize we've got a problem,'' Bush told the group. ``Anecdotally, you can go from one side of a county to the next and realize that perhaps the resources are not being allocated the way they should be.''
The new task force will spend the next 10 months looking at ways to equalize the distribution of money and supplies among Florida schools.
Its members include Evelyn Brown and Ernestine Price, two leaders from the Broward group Citizens Concerned About Our Future (CCC), which has fought the Broward school system in court for the past four years. The group alleges a two-tier school system with different resources available for historically black and white schools.
``The reason we're doing this is because of my travels around Broward County, you know,'' Bush told Price, a CCC leader, as he shook hands with task force members Monday morning at the Tallahassee meeting.
Asked to cite examples of inequities he saw in Broward, Bush told reporters: ``Pipes that were busted, computers that were old, no science labs.''
The Broward parent group sued the Broward district in 1995, claiming that black students typically attend aging, crumbling schools with lower-quality computers, textbooks and athletic equipment than those available at mostly white schools. The Herald documented the disparities in the 1998 series ``Equal Schools: Broward's Unkept Promise.''
A federal judge dismissed the CCC lawsuit in 1998. The case is on appeal.
Bush learned of the litigation in a series of meetings with the CCC before he became governor, according to Levi Williams, an attorney for the parent group.
``He was very sympathetic when he saw our pictures and saw our presentation,'' Williams said.
Nearly three-fourths of the pupils attending the state's D and F schools are black or Hispanic - a fact which suggests wide disparities in educational opportunity across the state, Bush said.
The new task force will study school districts around the state, asking the same questions that kept the CCC in court since 1995: Do some schools get less financial support than others? Are some students are denied access to challenging coursework?
The task force will work through November and recommend reforms to the Legislature. One of the group's most difficult tasks will be to analyze how to more equitably distribute state tax dollars to the state's 67 county school systems.
Brown, of CCC, said she had read Bush's One Florida initiative - of which the task force was one element - and praised the governor for his efforts.
Memo: Correction ran on February 2, 2000; see end of text
Edition: Broward
Section: Broward
Page: 1B
Correction: A story in Tuesday's Herald regarding Gov. Jeb Bush's efforts to launch a task force on educational equity incorrectly identified the Broward community group, Citizens Concerned About Our Children (CCC).
Index Terms: BROWARD SCHOOL
Record Number: 0002030094
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Broward
Page: 1B
Correction: A story in Tuesday's Herald regarding Gov. Jeb Bush's efforts to launch a task force on educational equity incorrectly identified the Broward community group, Citizens Concerned About Our Children (CCC).
Index Terms: BROWARD SCHOOL
Record Number: 0002030094
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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