Rick Scott's budget plan calls for deep cuts

[uptowngirl]

OK, we are 50th in spending per pupil, but certainly do not receive the worst education grade out of those 50 states!

I only disagree that money=education. If more expensive =better education than we should send are urban core kids to Bolles. Oh wait, Bolles wouldn't take them as they have some standards for their students, besides just being able to afford the tuition.

It isn't all about the money, I mean even Bush graduated from Princeton :-)

I think Stephen posted a study on kids being self taught on the internet, and their scores were pretty damn good if I remember correctly.

I think people are getting tired of the "throw some more money at it and it will all turn out good" when they more we throw at it the worst the performance is.

I am by no means blaming the schools, or the teachers...well maybe a little, but the true failure here is for all of us to own and it has nothing to do with how much of our taxes are flowing into the school districts coffers.


and some interesting stats:

Not the top nor bottom in spending or in scores…..

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_bes_edu_ind-education-best-educated-index
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/of-all-states-new-york-schools-spend-most-money-per-pupil/



Interestingly enough NY is one of the highest per student, but one of the lowest in SAT scores:
http://blog.bestandworststates.com/2009/08/25/state-sat-scores-2009.aspx


Interestingly enough in higher education you see the same trend…… FL is low in spending, but has a higher ranking then some of the highest spending states:
http://blog.bestandworststates.com/2010/01/03/does-increased-spending-on-higher-education-lead-to-better-state-university-rankings.aspx

[stjr]

Uptown, I am not suggesting "throwing money" at schools.  But, as I previously stated, being 50th, no one can accuse Florida of so doing.  (And, now, Scott is whacking off another 10%.)  On the other hand, continuously cutting funds to education isn't going to fix anything either.

Kids that go to Bolles, etc. are tested and hand picked by an admissions committee.  Let the public schools do that, and, I am sure they can equal or better Bolles.  In fact, I would suggest our magnet program, such as Stanton, Paxon, and Douglas Anderson already do.  It shows that, given similar footings, public education works splendidly.  But, for most schools, comparing their situation to a selective private school is a waste of time.

By the way, what is your "fix" for our schools?  How much more $$$ cutting do you think it will take to "improve" them to your standards?  How will you educate those coming to school from troubled homes and do it for the same cost as those kids coming from "good" homes?  We won't even mention the costs of educating special needs kids that would never be considered by an "elite" private school.

[cityimrov]

Yes, there are "lazy" parents and there always will be.  We can't make every kid turn out great if there are other factors weighing in against their success.  What needs to be done is to address the underlying problems in these families.  But, that's not a failure of the education system, it's a failure of our community.  Blaming the schools for problems they don't make and can't fix is a fool's errand.  We are throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  I will agree, it would be great (and I'm sure teachers would agree) to separate the "troubled" students from those truly trying to learn.  But, the problem remains, those "troubled" students need to be "fixed" by the community, not the schools.

Actually, there is a radically expensive way out of that situation where more money = possible better education. If we really want to throw money at the problem (Florida isn't throwing money at the problem as noted by earlier posters).  

Public Boarding Schools

You control the environment of the kid from morning to evening.  The state will be in charge of not only education but morals, upbringing, and everything in between.  Will it kill creativity?  Probably.  However, it does solve the problem of dealing with terrible home conditions - supposing it isn't designed be like the prison system.   Not sure anyone want's to go this route.  

Anyways, as for Scott.  So far, Rick Scott is doing what he pretty much doing what he was voted to do by that 49%.  If this is truly what the majority Floridians want, Rick Scott seems to do whatever it takes to give it to them.  There are millions of people cheering for him when he does things like this.  Luckily for Scott, for now, those people don't really care what he cuts as long as he cuts something, anything.  If he happens to selectively cut to his advantage, they are ok with that as long as he cuts something.