Jeb Bush flimflams Minnesota lawmakers on "bold educational reform"

seafan

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Thu May-12-11 09:22 AM
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Jeb Bush flimflams Minnesota lawmakers on "bold educational reform"

Jeb Bush was in Minnesota recently, barking orders to the state Legislature about his education "reforms". And, as usual, it was his way or the highway.

Be sure to check out the facial expressions in Jeb's audience.

MinnPost photo by Terry Gydesen

MinnPost photo by Terry Gydesen

Jeb Bush II: The outtakes

Beth Hawkins
April 28, 2011

Minnesota lawmakers Tuesday heard former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush describe a number of reforms undertaken during his tenure that he thinks Minnesota would be wise to emulate. Among other controversial moves, Bush advocated holding back third-graders who don�t pass state reading tests, rewarding teachers and schools that produce gains financially and pushing the school choice envelope by instituting vouchers.

Bush�s case, as reported in this space shortly after his remarks, wasn�t entirely airtight.

Nor was it what I was expecting. During the reporting I did before Bush�s visit, I turned up lots of material that suggests that the next stage of the former governor�s reform campaign will take place in cyberspace and will involve further privatization.

Companion bills now moving through the Florida Legislature would require � a key verb � students entering high school beginning next year to take at least one course online in order to graduate. They could do so either via the state-run Florida Virtual School or one of a number of new online schools the legislation would authorize.

.....

Also noted in this article is that Jeb insists that his zeal for online schooling is motivated by "innovation" and not to cut costs. In reality, it would help him circumvent Florida's voters who decided in 2002 to amend the constitution to keep class sizes small to enhance learning.

Hey, in "virtual" classes, there is no need for those dastardly smaller class sizes! That Jeb never forgets his devious plans.

They've been in the pipeline ever since 2002.

Never forget, to Jeb Bush, we are the "little people", or, as he calls us acidly, "Joe Bag Of Donuts".

Beth Hawkins also notes from the ground in Minnesota:

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(Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education) also challenged the high school graduation rate I reported Tuesday that put Minnesota far ahead of Florida, and supplied one showing Florida doing far better�some 13 percentage points--than Bush represented during his visit.

I�ve reported before in this space that graduation rates are among education�s squishiest statistics. Plus, some of the numbers they sent were from 2007, the year before the feds told the rest of the nation, essentially, to start using Minnesota�s more accurate method for tallying graduation rates.

(Side note to the foundation�s energetic public relations staff: When your founder has stood before God and country and proclaimed that your graduation rate �sucks,� it might be best to let those dogs sleep.)

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And other people in Minnesota noticed the flimsiness of Jeb's proposals.

Jeb Bush Pushes School Reform to Minnesota Lawmakers

Education News
April 28, 2011

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Additionally, Bush did not address Florida�s low eighth-grade test scores, nor did he explain the state�s 67% high school graduation rate, though he did admit that it �still sucks.� He did point out that the graduation rate rose substantially from 50% at the time he was elected.

Democratic legislators weren�t the only ones to dislike parts of the Bush plan. Recently, Minnesota�s GOP leadership inserted a provision into the Omnibus Education Finance Bill that would prevent the state from adopting the Common Core Standards, dismissing them as an effort towards a �national curriculum.� Governor Bush is a strong supporter of the Common Core.

Yeah, a "national curriculum". How does that grab everybody, especially coming from this charlatan?

Look out, Minnesota. Jeb Bush is dissing you.

Jeb Bush touts Florida school reforms to Capitol's supportive GOP, skeptical DFL

By Beth Hawkins
April 26, 2011

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Bush rips Minnesota achievement gap

Minnesota may have a proud history of prioritizing education, (Jeb Bush) told lawmakers, but it's doing a lousy job closing the achievement gap. They should consider enacting some of Florida's education reforms, which include an end to social promotion, a school-grading system, financial incentives for schools and teachers, alternative teacher certification and vouchers.

Bush spent about an hour walking legislators through a PowerPoint presentation that outlined his education efforts and dramatic increases in student test scores between 1999, the year he took office, and 2009, two years after he left.

In 1998, for instance, 47 percent of Florida fourth-graders could not read at grade level. In 2009, 27 percent lagged behind. "This is because there was a concerted, long-term strategy," he explained. "Our success is because of a whole suite of reforms."

That suite included assigning schools A to F letter grades, "incentivizing" high expectations by paying bonuses to schools that better their grades and to teachers whose students pass Advanced Placement tests. Other changes include offering vouchers to kids whose schools earned an F two years in a row and holding back third-graders who did not pass state reading exams.

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Minnesota's test scores, he warned, have been flat over the last 12 years while Florida's have risen steadily.

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But Bush carefully avoided explaining the work of a Boston College researcher who found that Florida's holding back struggling third-graders invalidates Bush's highly-touted fourth grade gains.

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Boston College Professor Walter Haney, however, looked at the NAEP scores on which (Jeb) Bush and Bloomberg based their claims and at Florida enrollment numbers. He found a troubling explanation for the apparent improvement: The state has been forcing unprecedented numbers of minority pupils to repeat third grade, on the order of 10 to 12 percent, meaning that fewer low-scoring students enter grade 4 at the normal age.

In a report titled, "Evidence on Education under NCLB (and How Florida Boosted NAEP Scores and Reduced the Race Gap)," Haney wrote, "It turns out that the apparent dramatic gains in grade 4 NAEP math results are simply an indirect reflection of the fact that in 2003-04, Florida started flunking many more students, disproportionately minority students, to repeat grade 3." Percentages of minority students flunked were two to three times larger than percentages of white children forced to repeat grade 3. Haney says this likely explains the striking decrease in the race-based score gap.

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Hawkins continues:

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Nor did Bush talk about the state's abysmal eighth-grade test scores, which he proudly asserted were "about average" nationwide. He freely admitted Florida's high school graduation rate of 67 percent "still sucks" but insisted it's better than the 50 percent rate that prevailed when he was elected.

For the record, Minnesota's 86 percent graduation rate is the nation's third-highest; Florida ranks 44th. Minnesota tops the nation in ACT scores, while Florida comes in 25th.

This is what enrages people who see what Jeb Bush is up to in undermining public education. He bigfoots it into state legislatures across the country, yammering about his fantasized record on education in Florida, when even a cursory examination of his claims blows his arrogant, self-serving assertions to kingdom come.

And he certainly didn't report to these Minnesota lawmakers that the 2011 Florida GOP-controlled Legislature's finishing touches on gutting public education in this just-concluded spring session have further strangled educational gains in the state.

Yet, numbingly, Jeb Bush thinks Florida's "superior" vision for education is to be forced on every other state:

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Most importantly, in cutting the (Florida) education budget by $1.35 billion � more than one-third of the state budget deficit alone � the Legislature may have left the state incapable of fulfilling the education standards of the Florida Constitution, such as "a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders."

Further, by mangling the mandates for school districts � allowing additional charter schools, increasing school vouchers, and expanding virtual schools (Internet schools) and requiring high school students to take at least one online class � the Legislature has milked money from conventional public schools. As a result, the state may be unable to meet another constitutional requirement: provision of a "high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education."
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But, you see, Jeb Bush never has concerned himself with the Florida Constitution.

One other reg flag from Jeb Bush's stinkfest in Minnesota two weeks ago:

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Bush had high praise for the Common Core Standards, a states-led initiative to ensure that academic achievement has the same definition everywhere. Several weeks ago, GOP legislative leaders inserted a provision in the Omnibus Education Finance Bill that would prevent Minnesota from adopting the standards, which they deem a step toward a "national curriculum."

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A word of warning that bears repeating:

To all across the country who have not yet had Bigfoot darken your door pushing "bold educational reform": Slam it shut, deadbolt it, grab your children and run for the hills.

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