Can We Get Serious About Education?

We’ve all heard Tallahassee legislators at campaign time.

“We need world-class schools. We need our schools to prepare our children for the competitive global marketplace.”

That’s called rhetoric.

A recent Education Week report card on Florida schools concluded that only 37 percent of Florida 10th-graders were reading on grade level (the same percentage as in 2001).  And this same report gave our schools an “F” in college readiness and another “F” in state spending on education.

Can this be what our legislators meant by preparing our children for the global marketplace and making sure our children have world-class schools?

And while our legislators might find it satisfactory that 6 in 10 tenth graders aren’t reading at grade level, might view it as an indication of a “world-class education,” clearly there are others who don’t.

In a lawsuit recently filed against the leadership of the state legislature, a coalition of citizen and parent groups have asked the courts to determine whether the legislature is doing its constitutionally mandated job of providing a high quality education to our children.

“F” in college readiness.

“F” in state spending on education.

I think we know the answer to that question.

And now, incredibly, at the same time that this question has been asked, what does the legislature do?  It suggests we should back away from the final implementation of the class size amendment.

Concerned with how to balance the state’s budget deficit, the Republican leadership in Tallahassee has decided to balance the state budget on the backs of students.    Perhaps their reasoning is that if we already have 6 in 10 tenth graders who can’t read at grade level, what difference does it make if that grows to 7 in 10 or 8 in 10.

And at a time Florida is experiencing record unemployment, you’d think Tallahassee would look to invest in our schools rather than rob them.  You would think they would want to ensure that in the future our students might have the skills they need to find jobs, so that our state will have the talented labor pool necessary to attract high wage, cutting edge industry.

Well, that’s what you’d think.

The Republicans in the state legislature have a different plan:  how about we decide not to fully implement the class size amendment, making it harder for our schools and our teachers?   Because if a majority of our children can’t read at grade level anyway, what’s a few more?

That’s quite a plan.

No wonder there’s currently a lawsuit asking if our state is providing a high quality education.

Posted by Bernie Campbell on Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Permalink: Can We Get Serious About Education?