Thursday, April 11, 2013

Florida’s poor and minority kids are about to take a drubbing or Bright Futures not so bright.

The legislature is poised to make changes to the Bright Future program ratcheting up the minimums to qualify. Long story short, this is expected to disproportionately affect poor and minority kids the most. How are we going to break the cycle of poverty if we put more road blocks on the kids that live in poverty?

If anything we should be lessening the requirements which have steadily gone up over the years, which would encourage more and more kids to go to college and would make sure that when they graduated they aren’t saddled with a mountain of debt. Student loans by the way recently passed credit cards in the winner of the debt race.

Education is the answer to so many of our nation’s problems, putting it out of reach especially for those that have so little is the last thing we should be doing. We shouldn’t be trying to save money by sacrificing our poorest children’s futures.

To read more, click some links:

From the Gainesville Sun: The percentage of Alachua County high school seniors receiving Bright Futures will drop by 63 percent under the new guidelines. Low- and middle-income students will feel the brunt of the changes unless action is taken. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130409/OPINION01/130409600/1076/opinion?Title=Editorial-Boiling-point

From the Miami Herald: Starting next year, Florida students will need to post higher scores on the SAT and ACT scores to qualify for the state-funded scholarships. The change will likely cause the number of college freshman receiving Bright Futures awards to drop dramatically, with poor and minority students suffering the most. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/04/republican-lawmakers-wont-hear-bright-futures-bill.html

From WFTV.com: … now the number of students who qualify for Bright Future Scholarship money is expected to drop by 50 percent statewide http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/cuts-floridas-scholarship-program-expected-affect-/nXHGT/

From the Sun Sentinel: Almost all freshmen entering historically black Florida A&M University would not qualify in 2014. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/os-florida-bright-futures-ucf-cuts-20130408,0,3241170.story