Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Vouchers

Nan Rich believes that public dollars should fund public schools, period. She is opposed to vouchers that allow hundreds of millions of tax dollars to be diverted to private, often religious, schools. Republican Governors Charlie Crist and Rick Scott have supported massive expansions of Florida's corporate voucher program. Nan believes in investing in and strengthening our public schools throughout the state, not funneling more tax dollars to fund private schools and their parent corporations.

K-12

Nothing is more vital to Florida's future than the education of our children. The ability to attract new business and quality jobs to Florida is directly linked to the level of education and skills of our workforce. In both direct and indirect ways, education has an impact on our criminal justice system, healthcare system and the overall quality of life for us all.

In Nan Rich's legislative career, she has been at the forefront of the fight to protect public education. When Republicans proposed the Parent Trigger Bill, a bill that would have laid the groundwork for a corporate takeover of public schools by for-profit corporations, then Senate Democratic Leader, Nan Rich, forged a coalition of 12 Democrats and 8 Republicans to kill this bill on the last day of the 2012 legislative session.

Florida's last three Republican governors have pushed so-called education reform that has delivered a failed system of accountability. Constant changes to the system and its evaluation requirements for teachers occur every year and are changed even before the previous ones are implemented. Nan believes you cannot evaluate teachers or accurately measure students' progress when the goals and rules are a moving target.

Nan Rich also feels it is time to stop the experiments and bring common sense back into public education. She believes the over-reliance on high-stakes testing actually hurts children and undermines educational quality. Teachers are leaving the system because the continued emphasis on high-stakes testing takes away their autonomy, their ability to use their own creativity and to teach a well-balanced curriculum to their students. Instead they are forced to teach to a test which is punitive, not the diagnostic tool it should be. High-stakes testing has negative effects on students of all backgrounds, but especially low income students, English language learners, children of color and those with disabilities.

As the FCAT is phased out and a new system of education accountability and standards is introduced, it is imperative that it not rely on more high-stakes testing which imposes punitive sanctions on teachers, schools and students.

Nan Rich believes we must change course. It is time to make our schools the place for learning and inspiration they were meant to be -- to give our children the education and skills they need to meet their full potential.

Pre-Kindergarten

Nan Rich strongly believes in a high-quality early education program for Florida's four year olds; so did 61% of Florida's voters when they approved the voluntary prekindergarten constitutional amendment in 2005. Unfortunately, that is not what they are getting today.

While Florida has the nation's highest percentage of 4 year olds in a state prekindergarten program, it ranks 35 out of 39 states with public Pre-K programs in spending per child. The national average per child is $4,141 and Florida is almost the lowest at $2,422. Nan also emphasizes that teachers are not required to have a Bachelor's Degree in early education; and, disappointedly, Florida only meets 3 of 10 quality benchmarks. Clearly, Florida is low in funding and poor in quality.

Nan Rich believes Florida can and must do better. She knows when young children participate in high-quality Pre-K programs, they enter school ready to learn, score higher on math and reading tests, are more likely to graduate and less likely to enter the criminal justice system. It is time for Florida to invest in its young children and make its Pre-K Program the model for the nation!

Higher Education

Nan Rich believes that one of the best ways to stimulate our economy and create jobs is through quality higher education. At a time when we should be investing in Florida's public universities and colleges, the Governor and the Republican-led Legislature slashed $300 million in 2012-13 from a higher education budget that already ranked dead last in the nation. Decisions like that shift the burden further on working families and students to pay higher tuition and reduce opportunities for Bright Futures scholarships.

Nan understands that universities and colleges are Florida's true economic engine. They serve as centers of innovation and research, and they will help train the workforce to meet the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future. Nan will commit to investing in Florida's higher education system and making it one of the finest in the nation.

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