Good! One successful model will smash the government school/teachers union one size (the dumbest size) fits all model.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Given what happened in Utah, I don't have much hope for success in Florida.
A few years ago, Utah passes a universal voucher program. It was **immediately** attacked by the teachers unions nationwide. MILLIONS dollars poured into Utah and thousands of volunteers, to gather enough signatures to have a special referendum to defeat vouchers. In Utah to gather that many signatures is nearly impossible, but the NEA, the UEA, and their PTA toadies managed to do it.
Of course a special election usually has very low turn out. But...you can be certain that the NEA, the UEA, and PTA toadies managed to get their voters to the polls. Vouchers when down in FLAMES!
Another problem is that voters tend to be conservative. They are naturally, ( and wisely) suspicious of radical changes. So...The Utah legislature adopted a different strategy.
Immediately after the voucher fiasco, the Utah legislature did two things: they allowed the creation of charters ( a few at first) and a very small voucher program for children with disabilities. Of course, the “disabilities” included reading “disabilities”. ( wink! wink!) Soon there was a political constituency for expanding charters and increasing the number of vouchers. When one parent on the block sees another child going to a private school or a charter, the political pressure grows to expand these programs.
Gradually increasing tax credits, vouchers, and charters gradually builds the political lobby that will, in turn, increase these programs. The next step is to allow teachers themselves to vote to turn their schools into charter or voucher schools. This was done in one high school in Los Angeles. The teachers, themselves, voted to turn their high school into a Green Dot charter.
It is poor strategy, in my opinion, to go head to head with the NEA. It is much better to have long, long lines snaking around the block, with local newscasters broadcasting pitiful scenes of the many tears of parents and children, (whose shoulders are jerking with sobs), who have lost the lottery for entrance to a charter or for a precious voucher.