Rick Scott should not be the next governor of Florida. Nor should his leading challenger, Charlie Crist, who previously served as governor and who is a Republican turned Democrat. The candidate who is best on education issues is Nan Rich. The polls say she doesn’t have a chance. My friends in Florida say she’s the real deal. Better to throw away your vote on someone you believe in than to throw it away on someone you know will be bad news.
Two young teachers are running for school board, both named Katz.
Justin Katz is a ten-year teacher and the only educator running for school board in Palm Beach County. We ned people on our school boards with practical experience in the classroom and the school.
Joshua Katz is running for the school board in Orlando. Ever since I saw his TED talk, I have wished he might one day be the state superintendent. He really gets it. The Orlando school board needs him.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for promoting these Florida races. We also need to elect Michael Weston and re-elect April Griffin to the school board in Hillsborough County. Michael is up against a candidate who has taken money from John Kirtley of Step Up for Students (vouchers) and Kathleen Shanahan (former Jeb Bush chief of staff). April has been a critical voice of opposition to the bad policies that accompanied Gates money.
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Floridians, don’t give up. Vote! As for me, I’m voting for Nan Rich and Justin Katz.
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Thank you. Excellent recommendations. Might I also add Don Armstrong, Lee County School Board, Florida to that list. He is the school board member who publicly opted his twins out of testing and has convinced our school board to follow suit. We go back to our school board Wednesday night for the vote to opt our county out. But, his primary is the night before. It is so important that folks vote to keep Don Armstrong on our school board.
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In Brevard County, Paul Chinaris, husband of a 25 year veteran teacher, and Bob Mentillo, a 26 year veteran teacher, are both running for school board seats. We need to change direction in BPS. Also, Denise Coyle, a parent and Guardian ad litem, is running. With 3 new members on our school board, great changes could take place.
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Any races where education is involved, please contact the Network for Public Education about the process for getting an endorsement. We endorse candidates who support public education, oppose privatization and high-stakes testing.
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There are other big races too. In Jacksonville Gary Chartrand, the pro privatization chair of the board of education and his allies have supported a candidate in each race trying to buy them. He already had his protege Ashley Smith-Juarez elected in 2012. It is paramount to the future of public education in Jacksonville, the 21st largest school district in the nation, that people not vote for Scott Shine or Darryl Wilie. Diane how about mentioning this too?
http://www.jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/p/who-really-runs-jacksonvilles-schools.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/05/is-gary-chartrand-trying-to-buy-another.html
Finally Michael Bloomberg and his wife donated to Willie too, weird if you ask me.
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I can’t vote in the primary because I’m not a registered Democrat. I prefer to remain Independent. If Nan Rich wins (which would be great), I will work for her campaign. If Charlie Christ wins, I will work for his campaign. Even though Charlie scares me more as a Democrat than back when he was a Republican because of his Obama affiliation, I would still work to get him elected because anything is better than Rick Scott and Crist has stood up for teachers in the past and comes from a family of educators.
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Chris Chrstie, David Boies, & Whoopie Goldberg had teacher/parents.
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Good point. But Jon Stewart, Matt Damon and Charlie Christ had teacher parents too. Charlie vetoed the terrible SB 736 as a Republican governor and then Scott took office and the teaching profession in Florida went down the toilet. I will work and vote for anyone that is not Rick Scott.
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Crist stood up for teachers once. Once. At that was only after he had alienated the Republicans and was looking for support for his Senate run.
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The union endorsed Crist.
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Please add Regina Hellinger to the list. She is running for the school board Orange County District 3. With 20 years experience as a classroom teacher, she is eager to share her strong insights. She writes on her website: “The amount of time we spend testing is highly disproportionate to the amount of time we spend on meaningful instruction. We need to soften our focus on testing and increase our focus on authentic instruction that promotes teacher creativity and excites students about their own learning.” She is very compassionate and a true advocate for teachers and students.
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In a perfect world, I would vote for nan rich. However, she has no chance of winning. If we vote for Rich, Scott will most likely win. I consider Crist to be the lesser of two evils, so I will vote for him. If you don’t want Scott around for four more years, I recommend voting for Crist.
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June, absolutely The type of thinking in Diane’s post drives me crazy. It’s self-defeatist and will only serve to reelect Rick Scott.
Diane says, “Better to throw away your vote on someone you believe in than to throw it away on someone you know will be bad news.” I don’t know that Charlie Crist will be bad news. I’ve heard him speak recently on various shows, and it seems like he truly gets what progressives stand for.
If I lived in Florida, I’d definitely vote for Charlie Crist.
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