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About the Children First Florida Website
About the Children First Florida Website
History of Children First FloridaThe founder of our organization, George Noga, a Winter Park businessman, read an article in the Wall Street Journal about dismal graduation rates and the impact of a lacking education on the young people entering the workforce. The article went on to describe another businessman's efforts to establish scholarships for at-risk, underprivileged children to give them alternatives to a quality education. The article inspired Mr. Noga to initiate a similar effort in Central Florida. Originally dubbed the Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation at its inception in 1995, Children First became the first major scholarship funding organization in Florida and the eighth in the nation.
History of the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program
About Children First Florida Students and Families
The decision to accept a CTC Scholarship is not free of sacrifices. An essential and often overlooked element of the program is that scholarship funding is for tuition and books only. The majority of program parents still contribute about $900 annually to pay other related school costs so their child can attend a facility that improves scholastic achievement, employs strict social accountability standards, and provides appropriate moral guidance. These parental contributions are significant when taken in the context of an applicant's overall financial condition. For example, the average household income for Children First Florida families is $22,600 for a family of four. Parents tell us that their financial sacrifice is insignificant when compared to the differences they observe in their child's academic achievements and social performance after entering a school better suited to their needs. When surveyed, parents indicate that they see a difference in their child's school performance, but they also report a change in social behavior. They attribute these changes to flexibility in teaching strategies, individual attention, and correlation of family beliefs with the instructional environment.
About Children First Florida Participating Private Schools
Several of our schools were started by disillusioned public school teachers or administrators who were frustrated by the number of students they weren't able to help in that framework. Others were started by the pastor or members of a church frustrated by the number of children in the church who were falling through the cracks in their assigned public school often falling through to the streets or worse. Nearly 85 percent of eligible scholarship schools are faith based. By law, all of our schools are required to undergo strict annual reporting to the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to evidence compliance in health, safety, welfare and academic areas. The DOE uses compliance reporting to determine those schools that are eligible to participate in the scholarship programs from year-to-year. Our schools are also required, by law, to administer a national norm referenced test approved by the DOE for reporting aggregate student gains to the public in alignment with the requirement made of public schools to do so with the FCAT. Our participating schools fulfill these requirements with significantly less operating revenue than the average public school, which collects approximately $7,500 per pupil annually, compared to our average private school tuition and fees totaling less than $4,200 per pupil annually. The average Children First Florida scholarship award for the 2006-2007 school year was only $3,430 per child.
No Hidden Agenda
CFF empowers Florida's low-income parents to choose the best educational setting for their child to attain success in the future. By giving low-income children the opportunity for success, CFF is not only touching the lives of children and families, but is also improving communities statewide. By increasing the number of children experiencing academic success, CFF is paving the way for an educated and productive workforce that will lead to improved communities and prosperous businesses in the counties we serve and throughout Florida. We believe our program benefits all Florida taxpayers and public schools. Because the maximum scholarship amount distributed per child ($3,950) is significantly less than the average public school per pupil expenditure (around $7,500), an added benefit of the program has been the reduction of costs for quality education. The Collins Center for Public Policy, a highly respected think tank, concluded that the CTC Scholarship Program could result in a $600 million increase in statewide net revenue available for education over the next 10 years (Click here for the Collins Report). In another study, Florida TaxWatch concluded that the state could save as much as $1 billion over the next decade.
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The primary goals of our site are to provide families seeking educational options with the information that best matches their needs and to offer real time access to online tools and information for our stakeholders. Even though our responsibility is to administer the CTC scholarship for the eligible families in the counties we serve, we try to link families that don t qualify for our program to other programs that may be able to meet their needs.
The innovative Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) Scholarship Program was created in 2001 enabling corporations with a Florida corporate income tax obligation to redirect up to 75 percent of their Florida corporate tax liability to a qualified nonprofit scholarship funding organization (SFO), such as Children First Florida, that in turn redistributes the money in the form of K-12 scholarships to low-income children. Approved scholarship applicants receive up to $3,950 per year to attend a school designated by their parent/caregiver. 
The scholarships cover up to $3,950 for private school tuition or up to $500 in transportation costs to an out-of-district public school. The scholarships empower low-income parents by giving them the opportunity to choose the K-12 school that best meets their child s needs. Since 2002, more than $300 million has been raised to fund scholarships, and as a result, 20,000 low-income children will be enrolled in the scholarship program this fall. One hundred percent of the funds raised are distributed as scholarships; no dollars are used to cover administrative or program costs.
The typical scholarship student is an ethnic minority living with a struggling single parent or caregiver. They are either below grade level, failing at their previous school, or both, when they receive a scholarship. Parents, who find their children in these circumstances and care about their future, look for viable options. They seek an atmosphere that challenges and engages their child to reverse inappropriate learning and/or social patterns, and the lifelong negative impact they imply. They wish to change their child's learning environment, acquaintances, and the unfortunate predictable outcomes associated with school failure. Parents apply for CTC Scholarships so their children can attend the school best suited for their child's individual needs and abilities, and to address negative trends in their child's learning skills and/or environment. Parents must provide financial documentation annually to renew eligibility for the scholarship.
Students represent all ethnicities, but minority children disproportionately benefit from the CTC Program when compared to statewide demographics. More than 70 percent of the children served by this program are from ethnic minorities. This is attributed to the low-income requirements of the program. Upon entering their parent-selected school, it is typical for students to rediscover their joy of learning. School administrators suggest that this is a common response to an environment where performance is praised, expected and rewarded, and where the education of the student is the responsibility of the teacher and the parent. Parental involvement and joint accountability appear to be the formula that participating scholarship schools employ with measurable success. Parents report that within weeks of their child attending their chosen school on a scholarship, they can distinguish both increased academic proficiency and a positive attitude related to school attendance and participation.
Many have the misconception that private schools are elite, high-end educational facilities where only children with academic abilities for excellence coming from financially secure families are able to attend. The reality is that most private schools are in low-income neighborhoods serving children whose needs weren't met in their assigned public school and educating them on shoestring budgets. This often means the school utilizes second-hand, but still functional, resources in their operation.
Our goal is not to diminish nor replace the wonderful service many children receive in public school settings. Our goal is to give low-income children who are struggling academically, socially, or emotionally in their assigned public school an option for success they wouldn't otherwise have.