Issue Position: Education Reform, Funding and "Common Core"

Issue Position

Education Reform, Education Funding and "Common Core":

I support parent directed education reform including school choice (public, charter, private, parochial, religious, digital and/or home schools) with the education funding (whether called a voucher or scholarship or …) following the student. All students in all schools receiving any State funding should be required to take the same performance measurement assessment tests so parents can evaluate the schools to which they choose to send their students. Obviously a charter or private school focused on the arts or on preparation for a career path will likely not score as high in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) areas as schools focused on college preparation, but the parents should have that information.

The State must not continue to claim they are increasing education funding by mandating increases in local school property taxes! Our state is mandated in our Constitution to fund education.

Article IX, Section 1, Florida Constitution:
Section 1. Public Education. --
The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a
uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education

I support revenue neutral education funding reform resulting in increased State funding for education from a dedicated State funding source yielding equal per pupil funding for all Florida students coupled with reducing (and hopefully eliminating!) the State Required Local Effort property tax burden mandated by the State Legislature. Along with the State funding education, as per Florida's Constitution, I support authorizing local elected school boards to hold a local referendum on local-option voter-approved revenue enhancements for education. I hope you noticed I used "local" three times. I am of the opinion that determining if there is a desire for increased education funding beyond the State per pupil funding should be decided by local voters.

Many have asked about my position regarding "Common Core."
A little historical perspective: in a previous campaign, I called for total elimination of the federal Department of Education, along with elimination of five other federal departments. There is no support in our US Constitution for federal involvement in education. None. Thus, long before the concerns about the "Common Core" surfaced, I have been on record opposing any federal involvement in education.
So if "Common Core" is defined as federally determined standards or curriculum or testing, I am totally opposed to it! If however, "Common Core" is defined as shared elevated standards and performance measurement/testing among the states with no federal involvement, as the over forty governors who initiated the "Common Core" intended it to be, I fully support it. Note that shared curriculum is not part of the "Common Core" and was never intended to be. Curriculum development and selection should obviously not be a federal function (since there should be no federal involvement in education) and curriculum development and selection should not be a state function either. Curriculum development and selection should only be a function of the local elected school boards. If our local elected school boards do not select curricula that teach the historical perspective of American Exceptionalism including the concepts of equal opportunity rather than equal outcomes or allow sanitized/slanted history or teach theory as fact or … it is up to the local voters to vote in new school board members. In other words, the states must decide the standards and the local school boards determine the curricula for the various subjects.
Why have any shared standards or performance measurement/testing? I've been taught that we must inspect what we expect. We must evaluate our results or we have no way of knowing if we have accomplished our objectives or need a course correction. If we want Florida students to be prepared to succeed in life, we must assure that Florida education standards are the highest (the "Florida Standards" are above the minimum shared "Common Core" standards) and we must measure and compare how well our students are prepared to enter and compete in the global arena for advanced education and/or career progression based upon measurable education outcomes.

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