Disingenuousness oozes from intern commissioner Pam Stewart
Mrs. Stewart wrote in Florida Today: By almost every measure, from national rankings to our economic climate, Florida’s teachers and parents have many reasons to be proud.
If that is the case then why has the state of Florida done all it can to kneecap teachers and public schools. They stripped teachers of work protections and they stole three percent of their pay, they have rushed to replace public schools with charter schools and they have sought to funnel more and more money into vouchers that don’t produce better education outcomes.
She then rewrote history saying: There is much we can brag about in Florida. In the past two years, Gov. Rick Scott has proposed more than a $2 billion increase in K-12 funding that lawmakers approved, including $480 million for teacher pay raises.
First of all we are spending less now than we did in 2007, Scott cut billions of dollars and according to Superintendent Vitti the money is not reoccurring, making it a bonus not a raise. Who knows what Scott would do as a lame duck governor to education?
Education successes are happening in spite of Tallahassee and Scott not because of them.
I could have gone line from line and debunked each one but the stunning hypocrisy, disingenuousness and rewriting of history overwhelmed me.
You can give it a try if you like: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130816/COLUMNISTS0205/308160009/Education-chief-Moving-right-direction
Mrs. Stewart wrote in Florida Today: By almost every measure, from national rankings to our economic climate, Florida’s teachers and parents have many reasons to be proud.
If that is the case then why has the state of Florida done all it can to kneecap teachers and public schools. They stripped teachers of work protections and they stole three percent of their pay, they have rushed to replace public schools with charter schools and they have sought to funnel more and more money into vouchers that don’t produce better education outcomes.
She then rewrote history saying: There is much we can brag about in Florida. In the past two years, Gov. Rick Scott has proposed more than a $2 billion increase in K-12 funding that lawmakers approved, including $480 million for teacher pay raises.
First of all we are spending less now than we did in 2007, Scott cut billions of dollars and according to Superintendent Vitti the money is not reoccurring, making it a bonus not a raise. Who knows what Scott would do as a lame duck governor to education?
Education successes are happening in spite of Tallahassee and Scott not because of them.
I could have gone line from line and debunked each one but the stunning hypocrisy, disingenuousness and rewriting of history overwhelmed me.
You can give it a try if you like: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130816/COLUMNISTS0205/308160009/Education-chief-Moving-right-direction
