Jac VerSteegIf you don’t like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s stance on education, you might not like President Barack Obama’s stance either.
They actually have toured Florida schools together, and both generally are in favor of high-stakes tests that they say bring accountability. Jeb had the FCAT-based school grading system, and the Obama administration was behind Race To The Top.
Both have been strong proponents of Common Core State Standards, which Florida has adopted.
Considering their similarity and heavy involvement in bringing us to the high-volume, high-stakes testing era we’re in now, I do have to call Bush on the carpet for his recent “education summit” in Tallahassee, both for what he said and for what he didn’t say.
What he didn’t say in official remarks is that he favors Common Core. He left that alone, and that’s kind of weasely – and disappointing in a potential presidential candidate. His lobbying, his legacy and his various education advocacy groups are a huge reason that Florida adopted Common Core and stuck with it despite the current controversy. The change in name – to Florida Standards – isn’t fooling anybody.
Jeb’s a Common Core guy – in Florida the Common Core guy – and he should own up to it.
I understand why he didn’t, of course. The right-wing element that speaks so loudly in Republican primaries considers Common Core a federal intrusion. We’ll see if dodging the issue works for Jeb.
What really frosts me, though, is what Bush did say about high-stakes testing in Florida. John Kennedy of The Palm Beach Post provides this Jeb quote about rising parent anger over the sheer amount of time students spend preparing for high-stakes tests: “Some school districts just go nuts about this stuff,” Bush said.
Yes, they do go nuts. But in this case, going “nuts” has been the only sane thing to do. Starting in 1999, Gov. Jeb Bush started using the FCAT for all kinds of things it never was designed to be used for. Most notoriously, he used the test to assign grades to entire schools.
It was a completely bogus grading system. And it still is. But back then the FCAT was given to even fewer students and in even fewer subjects than it has been in recent years.
That didn’t stop Jeb’s system from unfairly branding students, teacher and schools as “failures.” As a result, home prices in some areas zoomed and fell in others, all based on the bogus test. And parents began to look for ways to get their kids out of low-graded schools and into higher-rated schools. Bush was sowing the seeds of school choice.
Now the FCAT is being replaced by Common Core. The tests are a mystery, and student scores and school grades are likely to decline. So of course schools still are going “nuts” about high-stakes tests.
Jeb is trying to divert blame to school districts for making students take so many diagnostic tests, not of all which are mandated by the state, and for spending so much time trying to get students to do well. That, again, is weasely and unworthy of a presidential candidate.
Not only should Bush be lobbying the Legislature hard to reduce the number of tests – and he did sort of call for fewer tests – he should be lobbying very hard to reduce the consequences of doing poorly on the tests, particularly in the next few years.
But if Jeb is putting his full weight behind those reforms, it is not obvious. Doing so might be a good strategy and might not. If the Legislature relents this year, it could take the pressure off a Bush presidential campaign. Or, it might draw attention to his role.
Probably the former. Because despite all the hubbub and even what people say in polls, education is not an issue that gets presidents elected. People say they care, but in the voting booth they don’t seem to go nuts about this stuff.
Jac Wilder VerSteeg is editor of Context Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
