Governor Bush to Hold Class in Florida

Lindsey Burke / March 03, 2011

This Friday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will join President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan at Miami Central High School to discuss President Obama’s education agenda. Bush, whose sweeping education reform agenda led to monumental gains in student achievement in Florida, told the Miami Herald that he plans to promote the Florida reform model to the Administration during the visit:

Because of high expectations for students, hard-edge policies that focus schools on learning and an array of choices for families, the Sunshine State is leading the nation in rising student achievement. … I look forward to sharing Florida’s model for student success with President Obama and Secretary Duncan.

Obama and Duncan should take away an important lesson from their visit with Bush: Florida’s educational successes have come in spite of—not because of—federal intervention.

Beginning in 1999, under the tenure of Bush, Florida implemented a common-sense A–F grading scale for schools and school districts, crafted strong state standards, ended social promotion, and allowed for alternative teacher certification and merit pay. Florida also began providing school choice options for special needs and low-income students and now has the largest virtual school in the country. (more…)