Let's make those phones ring in Tallahassee -- protect teachers and students

Call 850-488-1450 and protest the way the Republicans are ramming SB6 through the House.

Text of Obama's schools message

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Wow, this is so controversial. He says study hard and he once lived in Indonesia.

UPDATE: Here's a link to Dan Gelber's blog, with his post about the Obama talk to students. Gelber points out that it's routine for public officials to speak to schools. And never to get filtered, which is nonetheless what's happening at the school where Gelber's three kids go in Miami Beach. As he said, what's happening is "absurd and sad."

UPDATE 2: It's late Wednesday and maybe too late to add to this item, but I just learned that Noah Gray, our local youth videographer, did reporting from Palmetto Senior High, where students could opt out of listening to the president if they had a note from a parent. Here's a link to the report on Channel One News, a youth production that I hadn't seen before. Noah Gray appears in a later part of the segment. Hope the link lasts. Good show, Noah!

Jeb is half-right; he recognizes there's a problem. If he had a mirror, he could see it.

Thanks, Larry, for welcoming me to post here at the Miami-Dade-Dems blog. I'm not just your candidate for State Representative in District 119, but I've been building online communities, blogging, and using the net to foster interactivity for the past 10 years. While my posts here won't be directly about our campaign, I look forward to discussing some of the issues that matter most to us Floridians and I suspect my perspective as a Young Democrat born and raised here in Miami-Dade will shine through.

I don't want this to be a place to preach. I want to fully encourage you to interact with the bloggers here. Let us know where you stand. We can learn from each other, and together, implement some of the change we need.

Our kids' education is always among the top concerns of Florida's parents and voters. And though it's taken a backseat lately to more immediately pressing economic issues (this week, the crazy offshore drilling plans), it's an issue that deserves attention.

At this weekend's national education conference in Orlando, former Governor Jeb Bush used the following metaphor to describe our schools:

"The world is much more interconnected, much more technologically advanced, and it is much more interdependent. And yet our education system is an 8-track system living in an iPod world."

I couldn't have said it better myself. But that's as far as Jeb and I agree.

Bush's education gamble hasn't paid off for Florida's students.

Our dropout rates were worse when he left than when he came into office. They're the worst in the country — and that's using some funny math that includes students who don't really graduate.

Our students are being exposed to less learning as they're being taught how to pass the FCAT. Rep. Dan Gelber probably said it best: "Most parents want more than minimal competence for their children." I'd add that most companies want more than minimal competence for their employees as well.

Our per-student spending is shameful. Bush's counterparts at the conference spend far more and their students see the benefits. New York spends more than twice what we do. And yet, the legislature keeps cutting funding, even after promising to "hold education harmless."

I like metaphors. I think they can help make points more clear. So let me stretch this one out a bit.

Our public school system is not the outdated 8-track. No, what's obsolete is the stereotypical politician who thinks he knows better than experts.

Our public school system is the music we all want to hear. The artists performing that music — our teachers — need to be given the freedom to teach as their students need them to.

If we want to be a well-rounded society, we need to listen to different types of music. A wide variety of different subjects have to be important in school.

And if we want that music to sound the best it can, we need to be willing to make the investment in our children's future. For our kids to be competitive, we have to recruit and keep the best talent, we have to upgrade the technology used, and we have to remix our curriculum.

We need a strong system of public education. Let's be honest about the real problem. The real problem is that we've had people in leadership roles who don't want to see it work. We need to rise above ideology and embrace the solution that works. Public schools work, but we have to give them the resources and freedom to prosper.

Look out for constitutional amendments headed to the ballot this year that, if passed, will further damage public schools and make it more difficult for our children to get the education they need. I'm sure we'll have a chance to discuss them soon.

Edit: Wouldn't you know... just hours after I originally posted this, Ray Seaman adds some information on Progress Florida's initiative to fight the amendments on FLA Politics.

Neil Bush: Finally someone sees the link

Here’s a headline I’ve waited years to see: “Bush brother’s firm faces inquiry over purchases.” It was in Wednesday’s NY Times, back on p. 18, but at least it was there (the headline, I must say, is from the on-line Times, not the printed edition, which worded it differently).

Might there be a conflict of interest when the brother of the U.S. president, also the brother of the governor of Florida, is selling software to the United States and to Florida?

This came to my attention a few years ago via, I believe, the teachers’ union, which thought it was at least a little dubious.

Now finally CREW – the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (there’s an uphill battle) – has lodged a complaint, and the inspector general of the federal Department of Education will look into whether federal money was used appropriately by three states to buy educational products from a company owned by Neil Bush. Florida, Texas and Nevada are the states.

I raised this connection early this week at a meeting the Miami Beach Democratic Club had with Richard Steinberg, city commissioner and candidate for the state House district 106. “Isn’t this a scandal? Why isn’t anyone at least asking?” I asked. He didn’t know.

A few years ago I asked the same thing of Eric Copeland, candidate for Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer affairs. He didn’t know.

Now, maybe we’ll all have a chance to know.

One thing that’s coming out as this scandal gets an airing is that the software isn’t much good, at least in the view of a former curriculum director for the Houston schools, Jay Spuck. He’s quoted in the Times saying, “”It’s not helping kids at all. It’s not helping teachers. The only way Neil has gotten in is by his name.” That's what's really wrong about this: it doesn't work!

The sainted Barbara Bush also is part of the conspiracy: she gave some of the stuff to schools attended by hurricane evacuees.

We’ll have to ask the Miami Herald’s Washington bureau how they got scooped on something so relevant to their state. The NY Times had it for the Wednesday paper, while the Herald got it on the Naked Politics blog only Wednesday morning, and in the on-line edition in the afternoon.