Jeb Bush warning to Florida: ‘We’re resting on our laurels’

Donald Trump goes after his favorite 2016 punching bag — Jeb Bush. Image via Florida TaxWatch.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush was greeted at Florida TaxWatch‘s annual meeting as a returning hero. The Republican took the stage at a Coral Gables hotel blocks from his home and reveled at a list of conservative accomplishments achieved during his eight years in the Governor’s Mansion.

But then he delivered a staunch warning to those in celebration mode and a concern that success has borne complacency.

“We’re resting on our laurels,” Bush told the crowd.

Both the organization and the former Governor expressed pride not only at fiscal policies launched during his administration, but that subsequent Governors have stayed that course. Bush won election as Governor in 1998, two years after Republicans won full control of the Legislature for the first time. No Democrat has won election as Governor since, nor have Republicans lost control of either chamber of the Legislature.

“We are on a roll here in Florida,” he said. “It is a place where freedom reigns supreme, where we don’t shut down because of some ideology, where our universities are increasingly being ranked at the top of the country.”

But he said the state still has problems that remain unsolved, and some that will spring up if policy arenas don’t receive continued attention. Namely, the property insurance marketplace remains a mess, and education reform is far from complete.

The latter, in particular, seemed a stinging assessment, as a grading system implemented when Bush served as Governor shows an increase in A-rated schools. But he said shifting standards mean many students coming out of A-rated schools still cannot show grade-level reading proficiency in 3rd grade, a critical threshold for ensuring future success.

“At least 50% of our kids are functionally illiterate or close to it, and we’re proud about that?” he said. “We have these schools for kids who don’t graduate from high school because they can’t pass the comprehensive test. And certainly if they pass, they can get a diploma because 90% do, but they’re not qualified to go to college and they’re not qualified to get a job. It’s time to double our efforts across the board.”

Bush today serves as Chair of ExcelInEd, a non-profit pushing for education reform across the country. He said it troubles him that even many reforms passed while he was Governor still are not fully enforced.

As an example, he said the state during his tenure banned “whole language” reading, as opposed to phonetic reading. The approach, which encourages identification of whole words rather than learning to sound them out, is one Bush considers an “insidious way to teach kids how to read.”

He argued it’s particularly harmful to low-income students, whose parents don’t have time to supplement “whole language” instruction by teaching kids at home how to sound words out. Yet 26 Florida counties still have curricula that include the practice.

“We should stop this insidious idea that you can guess what the words are rather than teach kids how to read,” he said.

Bush also expressed dismay that property insurance remained a challenge, and attributed that largely to the state’s litigious climate.

“Our property insurance system sucks,” he said. “We have 7% of the property insurance premiums in the country and something like 70% of the claims. You all ought to demand that the trial lawyers that have taken advantage of this and the adjusters that are taking advantage of this system, take a backseat. Then we let the property insurance owners actually have a fighting chance to afford their homes.”

Bush continues to preach stridently conservative views, and Florida TaxWatch awarded that effort by giving Bush its Florida TaxWatch Founder Sen. Philip D. Lewis Award for Outstanding Public Leadership.

But notably, Bush also closed on an assertion that politics has become too bitter a fight and too tribal an arena. He suggested many challenges during his tenure that were not based in ideology. Issues with the Department of Children and Families, he argued, could only be addressed by bringing public leaders from all sides together. That becomes increasingly difficult to do each day, Bush said.

That’s partly the fault of the politically engaged, and he encouraged all in the room to expose themselves to the viewpoints of others.

“If you’re conservative, and probably most of you here are, force yourself to read The New York Times,” he said. “I subscribe. It’s expensive. But it’s worth doing because you get a different view that may make you change some of your thoughts. And it will give you a sense that these people may be wrong, but they’re not enemies. And if you’re liberal, watch Tucker Carlson from time to time.”

Too often, he said, modern society allows people to only socialize and discuss policy with those who hold similar points of view, but such tribalism leads only to division and closing minds to any ideas of those perceived as on the other side.

“We need to get back to the idea that we’re all in it together,” he said.