This thesis evaluates how equitably market efficiency education reforms deliver the public good of education. It critiques extreme market education initiatives for prioritizing efficiency above equality and for neglecting matters of equality, and then conducts a case study on the McKay Scholarship Program, a voucher designed for students with disabilities, evaluating the program against a framework of educational equality. Overall, study finds that this voucher program seriously neglects its students equality, comments on the challenges of efficiency-based reforms being able to equitably distribute public goods such as education and calls for further research to be done on this issue.

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On March 18, 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a class action lawsuit against The Palm Beach County School Board and its district superintendent on behalf of approximately 176,000 students under their jurisdiction (Schroeder v. The Palm Beach County School Board, 2008). The plaintiffs cited the defendants for their failure "to provide a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality education" (p. 7) as required by the Florida Constitution, Article IX, ß 1. They contended that their claim was substantiated by The School District of Palm Beach County's (SDPBC) dismal high school graduation rates. Spurred by the lawsuit, I wanted to understand the controversy surrounding high school graduation rates, in spite of decades of school reform measures, and why different calculation methods are utilized in the state of Florida. In respect to the latter point, I was curious to learn about the differences among graduation rate calculation methods and what impact, if any, these differences had on the reporting of high school graduation rates, particularly those for students of color. Black America's past and present reality in public education has illustrated the need for new paradigms to address the achievement gap promulgated by contextual factors that serve to impede the academic achievement of all students. The statistical analyses and Critical Race Realist perspective, which has evolved from Critical Race Theory when applied to policy research, offered in this study found Florida's definition and subsequent calculations of a public high school graduate to result in significant and consistent differences among graduation rates relative to student race and graduation rate calculation method. / by Terri N. Watson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the literature on the school choice debate and educational voucher programs through an analysis of Florida’s John M. McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities. This dissertation looked at the major aspects of school choice theory, parental satisfaction, and reasoning for choice. A theoretical framework for analyzing school choice programs was put forth in this dissertation through an analysis of the over-arching dynamical elements that have shaped the administrative and political arguments for and against these programs. A comprehensive review of the literature on school choice comprised a substantial part of this study due to the need for citizens to better comprehend the origins and evolution of school choice planning and programming. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection