Bush, McBride air education differences

The governor defends his system of mandatory tests and school accountability. The Tampa lawyer says there's a better way.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 28, 2002

ST. PETE BEACH -- They spoke at different times, but Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride delivered campaign speeches here Thursday that amounted to a debate on school testing that is the heart of the governor's education reforms.

Bush vigorously defended his education program, which has led to mandatory testing in grades 3 through 10, grading public schools from A to F and vouchers for failing schools.

"A lot of people think that this is not a winning issue for me. They're wrong," Bush told the Florida Association of Broadcasters at the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa.

He said the statewide test, called the FCAT, has set high academic standards. "I'm not going to apologize for grading schools," Bush said.

In fact, he said the grading needs to be periodically toughened.

"Here's the prediction: Every time that you raise the standard, and put the resources where they need to be, you'll see that teachers, principals, community leaders and students will respond. We will see a reduction in the F schools, and we'll see continued rising student achievement."

McBride, a Tampa lawyer who polls show is trailing front-runner Janet Reno for the Democratic nomination for governor, called the Bush program "nuts."

"I think the FCAT is a good test; it needs to be used differently. And we need to have a better system for giving people information about the schools. This system he's got is nuts," McBride said in comments just after his speech.

He said it would make more sense to use the FCAT in a diagnostic way, giving it to students at the beginning of the year so teachers could learn where their pupils need to improve.

He said the FCAT "shouldn't be determinative of hardly anything. You certainly shouldn't grade a school upon only one measure."

Bush had earlier decried his opponents who "want to eliminate testing or not have it mean anything." He said, "They're basically saying that social conditions for some children make it impossible to learn."

McBride said Floridians should really be asking whether A, B and C schools compare well to those of other states. "The answer to that is unequivocably no," he said.

McBride also said teacher salaries have remained so low that northern states lure them away with more money. He pledged to fix that with a 50-cent tax on cigarettes.

The broadcasters association mounted a TV and radio campaign earlier this year to defeat a plan by Senate President John McKay, R-Sarasota, to cut the sales tax rate and replace the lost revenue by closing dozens of exemptions on goods and services.

Bush did not specifically discuss education finding but did speak about Florida's tax base, which critics say is too volatile because it relies too heavily on the sales tax.

Bush said it was "patently wrong" to argue that Florida's tax base cannot finance better opportunities for the next generation.

He cited the $28-billion deficit California lawmakers are wrestling with as an example of a state with plenty of problems despite a broad tax base.

Bush spoke in the morning and McBride in the afternoon before the conference of radio and television managers. Reno and Democratic candidate Daryl Jones were invited but did not attend.

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