A reader in Florida gives the answer to this important question: how do we stop the tidal wave of bad legislation?
The problem is with whom we send to represent us in Tallahassee!
There is no longer a Teapublican supermajority to bulldoze terrible legislation through the Florida House and Senate.
The FEA, wuth the help of other Labor and Parent groups blocked bad leguslation last year, and will have to do so again this year.
FEA supported 21 candidates in the last election and elected 18 of them.
There are more teachers in the state legislature than ever before. We must continue to organize teachers and SRP/ESP to vote for EDUCATION friendly candidates and their economic well-being.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good luck to those in Florida fighting for a good public education for kids. Here in Indiana, while the people voted Tony Bennett out of office last November, the legislature is filing bill after bill to further destroy teachers’ rights, expand vouchers ( they are not just for poor kids trapped in failing schools anymore) and make Glenda Ritz as Superintendent of Public Education powerless. Doesn’t matter to our legislators that the people elected Glenda Ritz & said no to Tony Bennett. So much for democracy in Indiana.
I’m being snarky about the poor kids trapped in failing schools, too. That was how ALEC started this ball rolling. Never talk about making schools better. Just get people to agree to vouchers to get kids out of those buildings.
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Indiana voters discarded Bennett, who became Florida’s Commissioner of Education. He is closely aligned with former Governor Jeb Bush. The effects of runaway reforms are affecting communities and increasing parent organizing in opposition. Brevard County Florida is a huge example.
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Diane, Here is an article my daughter found. This is precisely why we have to fight education corruption. http://innovationohio.org/2013/02/14/news-release-charter-schools-cost-state-twice-as-much-per-student-as-traditional-schools/
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Now that’s what I call a REAL Florida Miracle!! Well done, Sunshine Staters!!
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Education is the answer for Education! In Indiana 1.3 million voters voted for Glenda Ritz over Tony Bennett, but (too) many of those same voters chose anti public school candidates as their state legislators. There is now a supermajority of pro-privatizers in both houses of the legislature as well as in the governor’s office.
The party in power has ignored the voters call for change in public education policy because, after all, every legislator who backed Bennett’s push to move from a public to a private school system was supported even with Bennett’s loss.
The people did this to themselves by not paying attention to the reality of politics. The Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana doesn’t make the laws affecting education. Glenda Ritz can’t undo Tony Bennett’s damage all alone!
Indiana is a red state all the way through. The people continue to vote anti-union, anti-teacher and public education, and anti-equity. Until progressives in the state learn to do a better job of educating our neighbors anomalies like Ritz’s victory over Bennett will remain anomalies.
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As a teacher’s union resident I can tell you that the battle in Florida is never won. Yes, we managed to elect more candidates that understand the education issues than ever before, but we are constantly fighting Jeb Bush. He is in our testing, curriculum, school boards, and certainly the Governor’s head. He has worked his anti-public education campaign in our state since he was governor and continues to work behind the scenes. His goal is the white house and he is attempting to use Florida as an example of what his great reform methods can do.
We continue to work diligently to thwart his efforts and anticipate a difficult legislative session. We are ready and FEA is in the middle of it all slugging it out for our members across the state!
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As a teacher’s union president I can tell you that the battle in Florida is never won. Yes, we managed to elect more candidates that understand the education issues than ever before, but we are constantly fighting Jeb Bush. He is in our testing, curriculum, school boards, and certainly the Governor’s head. He has worked his anti-public education campaign in our state since he was governor and continues to work behind the scenes. His goal is the white house and he is attempting to use Florida as an example of what his great reform methods can do.
We continue to work diligently to thwart his efforts and anticipate a difficult legislative session. We are ready and FEA is in the middle of it all slugging it out for our members across the state!
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I love it! 🙂
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