OrlandoSentinel.com
Scott, Sink education plans differ greatly
By Dave Weber, Orlando Sentinel
12:20 PM EDT, October 29, 2010
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The direction of public education in Florida could hinge on Tuesday's election of a new governor, who will have wide influence on decisions affecting the schools.
Republican Rick Scott wants to continue former Gov. Jeb Bush's reforms and kick them up a notch.
Democrat Alex Sink says continued improvements to schools are needed, but it is time to reconsider how they should be made.
Unlike some past campaigns, education issues have played a small role in this year's race despite the power over the schools that the governor wields.
The governor appoints members of the state Board of Education who, along with an appointed commissioner, steer education. The governor can trump efforts by the Legislature to direct the schools by vetoing its proposals. And even legislation that becomes law is open to wide interpretation by the state board and commissioner who are under the governor's wing.
Although the topic has been low key, Scott and Sink each have detailed education platforms worked up in part by their closest allies on the issue.
For Scott that was former Gov. Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future, which lobbies for education reforms. The Florida Education Association, the teachers' union, had input on Sink's platform.
From the FEA's perspective, Sink's strength is her plan to involve teachers, school administrators and parents in determining such issues as merit pay plans for teachers. Many recent education reform efforts such as merit pay have been too top down and left out those most affected, said Mark Pudlow, FEA spokesman.
"It has got to be a merit pay plan that teachers can buy into and understand, and can't be based on a sole test," Pudlow said.
Pudlow said Sink also is dedicated to maintaining a public school system amid pushes to have private, charter and virtual schools replace public classrooms.
Conversely, Scott wants to ramp up more school choice options for parents, including charters. He raised some eyebrows among his backers worried that his plan to end corporate income taxes would kill funding for the Tax Credit Scholarships that allowed 32,000 low income children to go to private schools this fall.
But officials with the Foundation for Florida's Future say they have been assured that Scott will find another way to fund the scholarships.
"Rick Scott's plan to provide parents with choice and to expand virtual and online education is very good for Florida," said Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation.
Here are the highlights of each candidate's education platform:
RICK SCOTT
"I believe the only measure of success for Florida's education model should be based on learning gains by our children and the readiness of students to enter institutions of higher education or the workforce."
•Measure and improve student readiness, in part by rewarding effective teachers based on student performance.
•Provide annual reports to parents and taxpayers on each school's performance, going beyond the current school letter grade to include a financial statement on how much money was spent and what academic progress was made.
•Restructure teacher colleges to offer a better balance of content and skills to teach.
•Expand parent choice of charter schools, private schools, home schooling and virtual schools. "Fully support publicly financed private education," including religious schools.
•Expand virtual and online education, offering students "24/7" opportunities not confined to standard classrooms.
•Expand mentoring programs by encouraging more businesses and others to help educate students.
•Tighten school funding by reducing the need for more classrooms and administrators through increased use of virtual classes, technology and incentives for students to progress more rapidly and efficiently.
ALEX SINK
"Without a strong education system, Florida cannot build a more prosperous economy because the quality of our workforce depends directly on the quality of our schools."
•Reduce student failure and the dropout rate by improving pre-kindergarten education, identifying potential dropouts earlier and providing counseling, mentoring and career academies.
•Reshuffle education funding, boosting state spending for education to earlier levels.
•Invest in training through more practical experience on classroom methods and college loan forgiveness. Reward teachers with higher salaries.
•Improve principals' skills.
•Fix shortcomings in the FCAT to address concerns of minority bias, dependability of scoring and discrepancies with federal testing, which shows lower achievement for Florida students than claimed by FCAT.
•Expand the basis for grading schools beyond FCAT scores to include such measures as number of teachers with advanced degrees, student absenteeism, and number of students failing a grade.
•Strengthen curriculum to focus on the combination of science, technology, engineering, arts and math skills needed to produce a more skilled and higher paid workforce.
•Make college more affordable and accessible as well as more responsive to new workforce needs.
Dave Weber can be reached at dweber@orlandosentinel.com or 407-883-7885.
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