Sunday, August 06, 2006
Democratic candidates tap into voter frustration on FCAT, education reform
By Linda Kleindienst
August 4, 2006
Gov. Jeb Bush won't be on this fall's ballot, but his education policy will.
Boasting of improved student test scores and better-performing schools, Republican gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher -- both former state education commissioners -- embrace most of the changes championed by Bush and heartily endorsed by the GOP-led Legislature since 1999.
But Democrats Jim Davis and Rod Smith are channeling the wrath of many South Florida parents and educators, bashing key reforms adopted over the past seven years.
Promising wholesale change, they scorn how the FCAT is used to punish or reward schools and students based on their scores. They say the state has failed to boost teacher salaries and has made a paltry financial commitment to education, including too little to meet the state's tough class-size mandate.
"We're 47th in public school spending and we're second in the nation on what we spend for prisons," said Smith, a state senator from Alachua County. "What kind of irony is that?"
National yardsticks show elementary students are making significant improvements in reading and math -- and minority students especially are making gains under Bush's education reforms, known as the A-Plus Plan. But critics note Florida's graduation rate and college entrance test scores remain among the worst in the country and the state ranks 31st in average teacher salaries.
The Democratic candidates have pledged to boost teacher pay, aggressively fund new classroom construction to lower class size and use the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as a tool for teachers and parents to determine where students need help.
Smith and Davis, who started the push to lower class size as state House majority leader in 1996, have promised to implement the class-size amendment, which mandates that by 2010 there will be no more than 18 students per class in kindergarten through fourth grade, 22 in fourth through eighth and 25 in high school.
On the Republican side, Crist, Florida's attorney general, has also said he would push for full funding of the class-size mandate. Only Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, has said he will follow Bush's lead and try to get voters to soften the caps.
The education issue is resounding with South Florida voters and the candidates' words play especially well with partisan crowds.
"My district is half Republican and half Democrat. Most of my parents want smaller classes and hate the FCAT," said Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, a teacher and leader on education issues for House Democrats.
Alanna Mersinger, a Broward school activist, likes hearing about more money for education and less emphasis on a single test. This fall she will have two children at west Miramar's Everglades High School, which was built to accommodate 3,060 students but may have 4,100 when school opens.
"We need funding, funding, funding, funding," she said.
As a substitute elementary school teacher, she has witnessed FCAT mania firsthand.
"No matter how teachers try not to focus on the FCAT, it's almost impossible," said Mersinger, who is supporting Smith.
Eric Messmer, a social studies teacher at Palm Beach Gardens Elementary, is angry that Florida, the fourth highest in personal income, ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in per-pupil funding -- a ranking most Floridians would consider unacceptable if it were a state university football team, he said. He said he can't understand why teachers are paid almost $6,000 below the national average.
"Beginning teachers in Palm Beach County have a hard time qualifying to buy a condo," said Messmer, a Davis supporter. "Everyone expects teachers to live like Franciscan monks."
Davis, a Tampa congressman and father of two, wants to use some of the state's surplus to guarantee a boost in teacher pay. Smith wants to resurrect an intangibles tax on stocks and bonds on Florida's richest citizens, raising $644 million to help fund an average 8.5 percent salary increase.
While Smith and Davis are playing to a receptive audience in South Florida, a Democratic governor could have an uphill battle changing Bush's education policy. Florida's education commissioner is hired by the Florida Board of Education, which will be dominated by Bush appointees at least through 2008. And Bush says he'll still be watching.
"Given the Republican entrenchment, it will be a challenge," said Bill Graham, vice chairman of the Palm Beach County School Board and a longtime friend of Smith.
