This reader says that there is a growing move to push back against Jeb Bush’s disastrous reforms.
Twice, the state’s parent activists have defeated the efforts of Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee to pass a “parent trigger.” Why would parents join to defeat “parent empowerment”? They knew that the parent trigger was a corporate reform trick to allow more public schools to be handed over to corporations for profit and power. The parents banded together to stop privatization, and they won.
The reader comments about the growing resistance:
I know that it’s way too soon to claim that the worm is turning but I’m fascinated by the pushback down here in the Sunshine State. For years it seemed that no one particularly cared about the craziness coming out of Tallahassee; we just kept on doing what we were told and hoped it would get better.
Now we’ve had a committed and active coalition of parents and teachers push back successfully against a parent trigger law twice. We’ve had a (former) governor veto a VAM teacher eval bill before it got passed by the current governor and then amended by this year’s legislature due to pushback.
Now we have the state school boards and superintendents pushing back hard as well. Finally. Looks like Jeb Bush’s famed school grading program is going to be tweaked yet again because it fails so miserably every year and has created much hostility in parents, school boards, and superintendents due to the ever-shifting ground, the perpetual motion targets, and unfairness of the whole mess.
Even our new Education Commissioner (appointed fresh after his embarrassing electoral loss in Indiana) Tony Bennett seems to have softened a bit, at least in his public statements. We may yet produce a groundswell of opposition here in Florida to fight back the worst of the corporate reforms. At least that’s my hope.
Either that or the cynical reason that Rick Scott wants to be re-elected governor next year and he polls very low when it comes to education. Either way their still remains some hope:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/18/3457546/state-to-review-tougher-school.html
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is what must happen in Florida and is a huge impetus for my candidacy for Hillsborough County School Board. Florida School Districts need to push back, and push back hard; much harder than they are pushing now.
The problem is, Florida Districts only complain if school grades are predicted to decrease. This is blamed on State level malfunctions. If school grades move in a positive direction, Superintendents waste no time in self-congratulations. We must resist the obscene grading policies without regard to the flavor of the month – they are all mortally flawed.
Asking for more time to explain to stakeholders; more time to prepared teachers and students; a safety net when standards are toughened…… These requests all serve to imply assent to the process. We must elect Boards that will collectively, or individually push back against the entire process. We must put Superintendents in place that will obey the directives of their Board and do likewise.
It is time to stop being Facebook warriors. Citizens must get out there and get the job done!
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Parent empowerment?!?! Who do these parents think they are? These kids belong to the government. Yea!…Hope and change!!
Please pardon my sarcasm.
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I guess one could call the glass half empty or half full. The Parent Trigger barely failed twice. A slight change in the next election could give its supporters the edge. I am more concerned about the VAM and teacher evaluations which have been written into law and are currently based on FCAT scores. The FCAT is going away but neither the PARCC or Common Core are ready for prime time. What will happen after 2014? The legislature wake up and realize that the PARCC will not be ready in 2015? Or will they “damn the torpedoes” and push full speed ahead? If the former what will they base teacher evaluations on? If the latter, how many careers will be destroyed and how many student lives will be blighted in the process of “getting it right”. Thank God I am of an age that I could “take this job and shove it”.
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Rick Scott must go.
FYI, Tony Bennett lost and election in Indiana, and came to Florida making a salary of over half a million dollars. It is public record and it is a disgrace.
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If Florida has to get rid of Rick Scott to make Tony go away then you all have to do it. You have no idea how horrible that guy (Tony) can be. Tony Bennett has no clue about what he is doing, just does what Jeb Bush tells him to do, and he spends 100s of millions while doing it. Get rid of them now before the damage is too severe!
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To the original reader who wrote this entry and to all other Florida educators following the blog –
As a public school teacher in Miami, FL I would like to reach out to you and express my similar hope in developing a long-term coalition and eventual movement of teachers, parents and community to fight back against the pro-corporate anti-public education policies being pushed in FL. If someone knows of any organization or coalition that is already up and running please let me know. There are thousands of disgruntled parents, students, and teachers in schools in Miami whom I think would act and fight back alongside other across the state if there was an entity to unite us. I strongly propose we create this if it doesn’t yet exist.
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