School District Classical Education Survey Pool Is County Wide
All Indian River residents encouraged to participate electronically
On March 18, the School District of Indian River County (SDIRC) sent to parents a survey to consider the adoption of a new magnet school in North County - Sebastian area. It is a very basic survey for all residents and takes a couple minutes to answer four basic questions. The survey can be found here. The survey window will be open until April 22, 2024. There will be a follow-up survey on magnet schools distributed April 5, 2024 for those who have shown interest. It is recommended to return the current survey quickly.
In February, Dr. Moore and his executive team led by Dr. Kyra Schafte gave a presentation to the school board to consider a new classical school of instruction which would begin enrollment in November for the 2025 - 2026 school year. In 2023, the board directed the superintendent to begin the review process of looking at a classical school program, K-8 models and even a boutique high school according to the superintendent. After Dr. Moore thanked his team in the introduction for their research he said, “this work is coming at a very unique time for us, as a school system. We have the opportunity to be nimble and work fast to meet the needs of our community.”
Over the years, some school districts in Florida have suffered from decreasing enrollments year to year. Recently, the Broward County School District (BCSD) has publicly declared it is on the verge of bankruptcy and will begin the process of closing multiple schools. In the last decade, BCSD has lost 24,000 students which translates to over $200 million in lost revenue. 24 of their schools currently are under 70% capacity, with 10 of those under 50%. The BCSD enrollment forecast for the 2024-2025 school year projects another 4300 students and their families choosing other education alternatives. In media reports regarding the classical school selection, Dr. Moore recently told WPTV, “We’ll look at our campuses up north because we have a few that are under enrolled.”
In his presentation, Dr. Moore acknowledged that since 2018-2019 school year, enrollment has dropped by 800 students reflecting a revenue shortfall of $1.6 million annually. He also shared that the enrollment is down 143 students from last year. He said, “The only way we have to increase money is to increase students. We have been bold in embracing choice. It was one of the first things the board approved when I got here to insure we had choice across the entire system.”
To counter the exodus and to continue the expansion of offerings the board approved in the beginning of his tenure, Dr. Moore believes a classical school, which is the fastest growing education choice in the USA, makes the most sense. He noted not one public school system in Florida has a classical school. Indeed classical education has been highly sought across the nation. According to a recent Real Clear Education report, there are 1551 classical schools educating almost 680,000 students. Since 2019, 264 classical schools were opened, and along with classical school enrollment increases, “[these openings] occurred with a 4.8% growth rate of new schools per year.”
The statistics only reflect data from the three major Christian associations of classical schools. Often, the term “classical school” causes the connotation that it is a “Christian school.” Dr. Moore’s response to that is the classical school model is not about a focus on politics or necessarily designed to be religious in nature. At the presentation, Dr. Moore clearly stated, “What we are presenting today is aligned with all state statutes, all requirements. all policies. We will spend a lot of time in this presentation breaking some myths about what classical education is and what it is not.”
Furthermore, school choice is on the rise everywhere with the black family as the leading demographic taking advantage of education options across the USA. In a survey of 2,595 US parents conducted by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation (NSCAF), the organization found 72% considered new schools for their children and 63% searched for an alternative with 44% of respondents actually executing the choice. Among black parents those numbers are 76% considered, 67% searched and 47% moved their children from public to private alternatives. The NSCAF says in their survey that school choice is the “new normal” and often parents, of more than one student, find their kids attending different schools because one type of school does not work for all. During the question segment of the presentation, in answering board member, Peggy Jones, Dr. Moore shared the anecdote of his own children. He described that his daughters were originally homeschooled. One of them excelled in the classical model while his second daughter, when she became a freshmen, entered a traditional public high school and thrived as a student. Indeed, Board member, Dr. Gene Posca, was very supportive calling the proposal “cutting edge” while expressing how there still needs to be technology and trade training for those students who do not desire a “traditional university tract” for themselves.
Dr. Moore stated that if the survey expresses that there is a demand for the classical education model in the community, it would be prudent for the district to move forward. He noted in his introduction, “The concern that I have is not the choice, but the quality of the choice. Right now, Indian River County has some outstanding choices regardless of the design, or the concept … we, as a community, are in a good place, but things are changing rapidly.”
He added, “Any organization that comes into our community who is proffering an opportunity or hope to a family, needs to be able to deliver on that hope. As the public school system, I want to be their choice.”
It would be good to know what classical education means at a very high level