May 28, 2004
Jeb! spokesperson: Florida education standards are plenty low already
A national education advocacy group was in the Tampa Bay area Thursday to criticize state and federal accountability systems that give schools A grades before labeling them as failures.Communities for Quality Education, backed by the National Education Association teachers union, criticized Gov. Jeb Bush's state accountability system and President George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act for giving polar-opposite assessments of public schools.
"It's just an inconsistency that calls out for leadership," said CQE spokesman Reggie Johnson.
Under the governor's plan last year, almost as many Florida schools received A grades as B's through F's combined. But under No Child, more than 80 percent of the schools failed to meet federal standards.
Jacob DiPietre, a spokesman for Gov. Bush, called the group's criticisms "rhetoric." He said the governor knew the two accountability standards would conflict, but felt they would challenge schools to improve education for minority students.
"Florida refused to lower our accountability standards, unlike a lot of other states," DiPietre said. "We're confident our schools will be up to the challenge."
So, taking DiPietre at his word, Florida refused to lower standards that resulted in failure, so I guess the Governor feels that education standards in the state are already plenty low, which seems like a fair enough assessment. After all, we don’t want our public schools slipping to this level:
Nearly a third of the private schools that take state money to teach students from failing public schools aren't accredited, a newspaper reported Wednesday.But state education officials say they don't have to be as long as they meet certain standards. The officials also note that most public schools aren't accredited either.
The Palm Beach Post reported that the state paid 10 unaccredited private schools to teach students from failing public schools in the "opportunity scholarship" program this year, and said it may have violated the Florida school voucher law's intent. Thirty-four schools are receiving opportunity scholarship money.
The Senate sponsor of the 1999 law creating the voucher program said private schools were intended to be accredited, but the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush - who championed vouchers and shepherded them into being - says they weren't.
It’s all about the standards. See, if we set those standards too high, then it would just encourage learning and perhaps the ability to think critically and make independent decisions. Scarey stuff, but don’t worry. Jeb! will make sure that “No Knowledge Will Be Left Behind!” in the empty little heads of our best and brightest standardized test takers.
