DeSantis suspends scholarships to Florida schools with ‘ties to the Chinese Communist Party’

What’s interesting about this for Mandarin immersion parents is that the Spring Education Group, which owns more than 220 schools in 19 states, runs Stratford Schools in Los Angeles and San Francisco. One of those San Francisco schools offers a Mandarin immersion program. I had not realized Stratford was part of such a large, for-profit network of schools.

Spring Education Group consists of 28 “school brands” at least two of which, Stratford and L’Etoile French Immersion School in Portland, Oregon, offer immersion.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) office announced Friday the suspension of school choice scholarships to four schools over their alleged “direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”

The Hill, by Tara Suter, Sept. 23, 2023

“Through a thorough investigation, [the Florida Department of Education] has determined that Lower and Upper Sagemont Preparatory Schools in Weston, Parke House Academy in Winter Park, and Park Maitland School in Winter Park have direct ties to the CCP and their connections constitute an imminent threat to the health, safety, and welfare of these school’s students and the public,” reads a news release from the governor’s office.

The release also noted a bill DeSantis signed into law in May barring private schools in the state from “participating in an educational scholarship program” if they are “owned or operated by a person or an entity domiciled in, owned by, or in any way controlled by a foreign country of concern or foreign principal.” The law then references a different law that lists China as a “country of concern.”

Please read more here.

Schools respond after FDOE suspends scholarships over accusations of “Chinese Communist Party” ties

Story here.

Caught in the middle: Chinese scholars targeted by new Florida laws that take aim at China

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