TALLAHASSEE ???The Florida arm of a school-voucher group?raising big bucks?from charter schools is sending out some positive mail for Rep. Scott Plakon, a Longwood Republican in one of the highest-profile House contests this year against Democrat Karen Castor Dentel.
The Florida Federation for Children, a state arm of the national school-choice group called the American Federation for Children, has spent close to $200,000 this summer ? most of it on direct-mail pieces assisting Republican legislative candidates who support expanding school-voucher programs?and charter-schools.
The mailer says nothing about Plakon?s party affiliation, which is probably by design given the slight Democratic tilt to the new House District 30, which takes in Maitland and Winter Park.?Instead, it pictures Plakon and his wife, next to?a headline that?reads ?building a stronger economy ? one classroom at a time.?
It goes on to?say Plakon has worked to ?empower parents ? not bureaucrats,? and for??hiring the best teachers? ? references to two controversial education reforms he backed in the Legislature, including the so-called ?parent trigger? bill that passed the House this year. The measure, which failed by one vote in the Senate, could have opened the door for charter-school companies to take over failing schools when parents OK?d such a takeover. Plakon also supported the?teacher-tenure bill that passed in 2011, and has been challenged by the Florida Education Association. That bill ends long-term contracts for teachers and bases evaluations partially on standardized test results.
Plakon?s Democratic opponent, a Maitland teacher, has taken aim at him over the parent-trigger bill, but the lawmaker said he had no? knowledge the charter-school group was sending out pro-Plakon mail.
?It doesn?t surprise me that they?re interested in this race,? he said. ?I?m pleasantly surprised that someone is saying nice things about me.?
The electioneering group is headed byJohn Kirtley, the Tampa businessman who created the state?s corporate income tax scholarship program and runs the Step Up for Students?group that administers the voucher-program.
The Florida Federation for Children group has raised $770,000 this year ? including? $100,000 each from for-profit charter school companies Charter Schools USA and Miami-based Academica Management. The group also got $300,000 in July from the parent AFC in Washington, D.C.
That dwarfs the?roughly $416,000 the FEA has raised through its Florida Education Association Advocacy Fund.
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