TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The battle over tough new school standards in Florida — which is already creating a rift among the state’s Republicans — spilled out into full view on Tuesday.
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First the State Board of Education spent hours trying to decide how to evaluate schools between now and when Florida will put in place the new standards known as Common Core State Standards.
That meeting came several hours before a public hearing in Tampa where parents and teachers either praised or sharply criticized the standards. Some parents called the standards fuzzy, vague and a plan by federal bureaucrats to assert more control over the state’s schools, while some teachers said they would help transform the nation’s schools and make U.S. students more competitive with students from other nations.
Susan Smith, who called herself a “progressive Democrat” called the new standards a “boondoggle” that would allow corporate interests to have more control over public schools.
“Florida is on the wrong track,” said Smith, who lives in Odessa.
The board, responding to a request by Gov. Rick Scott, voted to officially drop the use of any examples that could help teachers meet the standards. The state had previously given teachers links to the materials used to illustrate how to teach the standards.
Kathleen Shanahan, a backer of the standards and former top aide to former Gov. Jeb Bush, questioned why the state was “disarming” teachers but wound up as the lone vote in opposition to the move.
But then Shanahan and other board members chided top officials with the Department of Education who suggested dropping the words “common core” when explaining the standards in the future.
“I believe Common Core State Standards is not a dirty word,” said State Board of Education chairman Gary Chartrand. “It’s something people understand.”
Scott initially backed Common Core standards, which set uniform benchmarks for reading, writing and math. But in recent weeks he has refused to take a firm position on Florida’s transition to the new standards, which have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, as opposition has mounted among local Republican Party organizations.
Scott late last month called for public hearings on the standards and set the groundwork for the state to pull out of a consortium developing a national test to see if school children are meeting the new standards.
The standards are a result of an initiative sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Opponents see them as the nationalization of education policy and standards, something they say should be left to the states.
The new standards are backed by Bush, who helped create the state’s current A-to-F grading system while in office from 1999 to 2007. It would be a huge defeat to Bush’s potential presidential campaign if his own home state suddenly changed directions on education, an area where he is seen as a leader.
The standards are already in place in Florida’s early grades, but they are supposed to be expanded to the rest of the grades during the 2014-15 school year.
One of the big questions for board members was whether or not to keep intact a “safety net” provision for schools during the transition period to the new standards.
By a 4-to-2 vote the board decided to keep in place a rule that would limit a school’s A-to-F grade from dropping more than one letter at a time. The rule when first proposed earlier this year was called “temporary.” It was used to prevent more than 150 schools from getting an F grade, but now state education officials argue that it should remain in place until the 2016 grades are handed out.
Shanahan said the decision to extend the safety net provision made the school grading formula — which is used by parents and businesses to evaluate local schools — useless.
“Isn’t that sad that we are sitting here voting on something that is going to have no integrity,” she asked.
Chartrand said it was “unfortunate” but that he did not see any other options for the state.
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Copyright The Associated Press