Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2008

Companies that tutor kids in low-performing Miami-Dade schools will get a special break under an amendment tucked into a bill to grade the effectiveness of federally financed tutoring.

The Senate voted 32-5 Thursday for the bill that requires the Miami-Dade school district to lower the fee they charge tutoring companies that use school space for after-school tutoring services under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The district now charges a three-hour minimum fee to anyone who wants to rent school space and uses the money to cover the cost of paying for the electricity, maintenance and custodial services. But tutoring companies say they only need the space for an hour a day.

Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, a Hialeah Republican, put a last-minute amendment onto a bill by Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla. The Senate agreed, despite strong opposition from the school district and five other Miami-Dade legislators, and sent it to the governor.

''This only impacts Miami-Dade County,'' said Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami Republican. ``The school district now in essence is forced to rent that space to these providers.''

The fight is overshadowed by politics and the still-simmering fight between supporters of former Dade school board member Frank Bolaños and Sen. Alex Villalobos, the Miami Republican whom Bolaños attempted to unseat in 2006.

One of the most active tutoring companies in the district, Florida Education Leadership Council, is owned by Manny Riera, a supporter of Gonzalez and Diaz de la Portilla. His business partner in the tutoring company, Alex Rizo, signed up to be the write-in candidate against Villalobos, closing the Republican primary to Democratic voters and making it more difficult for Villalobos to defeat Bolaños.

Villalobos, along with Sens. Rudy Garcia, a Miami Republican, Gwen Margolis, a Miami Beach Democrat, Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat and Frederica Wilson, a Miami Gardens Democrat, voted against the bill. Opponents blasted the measure as a legislative attempt to micro-manage school district policy.

Rich criticized the sponsors for giving the break to the for-profit tutoring companies but not nonprofit groups that also rent space for other activities, such as Boys and Girls Clubs. ''Why would we be giving a benefit to this particular group of providers that is not available to other entities that rent from the school?'' she asked.

Diaz de la Portilla responded that ``these providers are unique in the sense they are the ones that are tutoring our children.''

School district lobbyist Ron Book said the rate was designed to cover the district's costs.

''We turn on the lights and hire the staff whether they rent it for one hour or three hours,'' he said. ``I don't know how you have a for-profit get a better rate than everybody else. The school district is not in business to lose money. ''