"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Quashing the public will

Jeb Bush has turned Florida into a petri dish for every crackpot concoction of experiments that the corporate socialists have come up with to undercut the public and the public schools. Now the fat little brother is urging once again the passage of 65% solution (click here and here for background) as a way to undercut the voters' decision in Florida to limit class size:
Bush touts plan that would quash rule on class size
TALLAHASSEE - Saying the costs of building new classrooms were a "true hardship," Gov. Jeb Bush urged a conservative crowd Tuesday to help end a voter mandate to limit class sizes by forcing districts to spend a certain amount on classroom instruction.

Republican lawmakers are prepared to ask Floridians to vote in November to essentially end class-size reduction in exchange for a new mandate that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their money in classrooms.

Bush called the class-size mandate a threat to districts since it inflicts "artificial numbers" on the limits of students in classrooms while failing to provide flexibility for districts.

The "65 percent solution" is a national effort led by First Class Education to force states to require school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their operating budget for classroom needs such as teacher salaries, computers and other supplies.

Supporters say it's a common sense way to force districts to spend money where it can do the most for students. Opponents say it's a gimmick geared to woo voters that sounds good, but has no correlation to the quality of education.

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