Jeb back in spotlight, but just for education?

Jeb Bush is back.

This week, in the center of the state he governed for eight years, Bush ends his 18-month hiatus from Florida public life. The chosen occasion: a high-profile education conference, organized by his foundations.

The timing: a political season in which Bush and his allies are expected to campaign, if only behind the scenes, for two school voucher proposals they helped usher onto the November ballot.

Is this just Jeb being an education policy wonk? Is it his attempt, in the shadow of his popular successor Gov. Charlie Crist, to assure his legacy as Florida's "education governor?"

Or is the two-day conference another entry onto the political stage?

"No," Bush said. (Read more here)

Comments

isnt JEBBA's criminal brother -- no, not the DRUNK -- NEIL, involved in all sorts of "projects" connected with "edjewkashun"?

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!

just one more example of the bush/pierce CRIME FAMILY going all out to cash in on the public $$$$ floating around in another corrupt repiglican administration!!

[Republican Borrow & Spend Failure]

The Bush economy is on track to be the worst since the Great Depression in 1929.

The Economy is going to be much worse going forward as we have yet to even Start paying any money for the Iraq War.

We have Borrowed ALL of the money we have used in Iraq from China.

There have been No bond drives like we had in WWII because we have Not started paying for this War. It is hard to believe isn't it. I can't believe it myself sometimes.

So, when we finally do get around to Having to pay back the money America borrowed to fund the war it is going to be extremely painful, and debilitating to the entire Middle Class.

[Thank you Bush Republicans]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- "The economy is being squeezed by higher prices on one hand and by a collapsing housing market on the other. Neither problem seems to be getting any better in May, economists said ahead of key economic data in the coming week".

"Builders are desperately trying to reduce the supply of homes on the market, which has been aggravated by the increase in foreclosures. They've reduced the starts of new homes by 55%, but it still hasn't put much of a dent in the number of new homes languishing on the market".

Source:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/housing-inflation-getting-worse-data/story.aspx?guid=%7B307C3018%2D831A%2D4D98%2D9576%2DD591FE2EF48C%7D

What a sharp contrast between Governor Jeb Bush (a man of vision, competence, and integrity), and that disaster Charlie Crist.

[Bush's Third Term]

(Bloomberg) -- CEO forecasts $250 oil. At $250 a barrel for crude oil, food prices double. The U.S., Japan and Europe plunge into deep recession. Companies go bankrupt. Airlines are nationalized. Sport-utility vehicle sales dry up as gasoline tops $7 a gallon.

The scenario may not be unimaginable. Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of OAO Gazprom, the world's biggest natural- gas company, said June 10 that crude will climb to $250 a barrel in the ``foreseeable future.

"Some investors are already betting on Miller's forecast. At least 3,008 options contracts have been purchased giving holders the right to buy oil at $250 a barrel in December, data compiled by Bloomberg show".

"US Airways Group Inc. would need an average fare of about $1,000 per round trip to break even with oil at $250, President Scott Kirby says. That's more than triple the current average of $300".

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWwoUcZaR5BY&refer=home

[mikegrant440]

The article, and the incoherent responses it prompted, present us with two long term long-term issues: a)education and b)the shortsightedness of our political culture.

Jeb fought a long and difficult struggle against an entrenched statist culture. The view was that nothing was wrong with Florida’s educational structure that more cash would not solve. It was a view that recoiled at the barest whiff of accountability or competition. He sought to make both concepts part of the solution.

Any solution to education would require years to fully manifest itself. After all, the ossification of the system took decades to create the current problem. Throw into the mix the inability to sack incompetent teachers, the decline of the family structure and the opening of options to bright women beyond teaching (which accelerated the dramatic decline in SAT scores among education majors in the 70's and 80's) and no quick fix was or is possible.

I know that spewing inchoate rage at the Jeb’s brother made the authors feel better. It may even have given them the self delusion of wit. But it has nothing to do with the long term solution of our education problem.

So what part of education is he wanting to privatize so he can get a job on their board????

"isnt JEBBA's criminal brother -- no, not the DRUNK -- NEIL, involved in all sorts of "projects" connected with "edjewkashun"?

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!

just one more example of the bush/pierce CRIME FAMILY going all out to cash in on the public $$$$ floating around in another corrupt repiglican administration!!"

REMEMBER the dubai ports fiasco, wasnt it?

give foreign governments entry to OUR ports' management?

behind that was $$$$ -- BIG $$$$ -- for NEIL BUSH's "edjewkashanul" reading program

or did we forget that little bush-pierce crime family's foray into feeding once more on PUBLIC $$$$$$$$?

see, ya first ya get your vouchers, then ya can open "charter schools" -- most of whom have been abysmal failures, right??!!?? -- and buy little NEIL's "edjewkshnul" products.

NEIL gets the BIG $$$$$$$$$$ pay-off, the "charter schools" crash in a couple of years like a georgeW-owned oil company, and the taxpayers have ONCE MORE been SCREWED over by the bush/pierce crime family, enjoying their martinis in kennebunk, laffing their butts off at the foolish lumpen who will never learn...THANK GOD!!!!!

the LASH and STOCKS are too good for any of them!!!!

YOU DAMNED FOOLS!!!!

[It's Hot out thurr, y'all. And very wet too.]

Iowa's Floods: A Midwestern Katrina?
No looting, no shooting, no blaming Bush. The similarity
seems to stop with neck high water. MSM disappointed.

May 9th, 2008

State News in Florida

AP: FCAT gains in writing continue

AP: Standardized test essay scores

Democrat: First round of FCAT scores released

Herald: Hands Up If Your School Aced the FCAT

Sentinel: What's the word on FCAT? Central Florida students post mixed writing results

Herald: Broward kids do well in writing exam

Sun-Sentinel: Broward County students show gains on FCAT writing exam

Post: Most local FCAT scores exceed state average

Daily News: Release of FCAT scores generates praise and bewilderment

News-Journal: Escambia FCAT writing scores improve

Post: Martin FCAT scores up, Jensen Beach High goes to 92 percent

Tribune: Hillsborough Students State's Best Writers

Post: St. Lucie gains on writing FCAT

DBNJ: Volusia schools' FCAT scores improve, mostly

Today: 82 Brevard schools meet state standard

Herald Today: Manatee kids lag on FCAT writing exam

Herald Today: Local FCAT writing scores up

June 11th State News in Florida

AP: 2008 FCAT scores at a glance

Tribune: State Officials Tout Rising FCAT Scores

DBNJ: FCAT scores mostly gain

Herald: Science scores show gains

PNJ: Santa Rosa tops the state in reading in four grades

Post: 10th-grade reading propels high scoring

Post: Scores improve, but trail state average

Post: Okeechobee gets mixed results in FCAT scores

Post: County FCAT scores show kids hanging on to gains

Today: FCAT a breeze for Brevard

Sun-Sentinel: FCAT reading, math scores rise for all but 5th-graders in Broward

Times-Union: More good news from region's FCAT scores

Democrat: Leon, regional school districts score well on FCAT

Herald Today: Manatee FCAT scores improve

Sun-Sentinel: FCAT science scores mediocre in PBC, but one school scores above rest

Sun: 'F' schools improve FCAT scores
Ledger: Polk, State FCAT Scores Improve

The article mentioned that Gov. Crist is his "popular successor,"(has an approval rating of 59 percent); but it did not mention that Gov Bush is the only twice elected Republican governor and left office after 8 years with an approval rating of 65%.

Education reform is an issue he has been committed to and has had phenomenal results.

[Crusader]

I've noticed a remarkable phenomenom when discussing Jeb Bush and education with people. This includes parents, teachers who belong to unions, teachers who don't, Democrats, Republicans, et al.

Generally, the less someone knows about how education actually works, the more he or she is likely to agree with Jeb Bush on education issues.

It's amazing.

But heck. Let the He-Jeb and his think-tank drinking buddies keep fighting the last war.

Look where its leading his brother.

[Teachers need a living wage]

Teachers are under paid and under appreciated.

Indeed, teaching for paupers wages does not assuage the lack of respect teachers receive.

Also, student Debt means many New Graduates of University Can’t Afford to be Teachers.

Thank you jeb for all your service to florida! you were the greatest governor our state has seen.

Mega Dittos 3:31

MIAMI — Florida’s public high schools have some of the worst student retention rates in the country, with half qualifying as “Dropout Factories,” four times the national average, according to a new analysis of U.S. Education Department data.

http://tinyurl.com/643bsw

Thank you Jeb, Crist, and the Republican led Florida Legislature - under your guidance, Private Prisons are Florida's #1 growth industry!

Remember in November!

Thank you Jeb, Crist, and the Republican led Florida Legislature, under your guidance, Florida ranks 50th in children's health care. (Only Oklahoma is behind us. District of Columbian was included in the ranking to make 51.)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed04108jun04,0,2107392.story

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/561621.html

Jeb Bush is the greatest Governor Florida has ever seen. No one else has ever even begun to tackle the educrats and the corrupt teachers union.
Also don't try to blame the curent economic downturn on him when the Democrat party refuses to allow the development of domestic energy sources. If you love $4 per gallon gasoline, thank a Democrat.

If you love our schools being drop-out factories, if you love private prisons being the #1 growth industry, if you love paying surcharges on any insurance policy you have so those who own beach-front vacation homes can have cheaper insurance, if your property taxes "droped like a rock" and if you're paying more and mores fees for fewer and fewer services - THANK A REPUBLICAN!!!

They are committed to driving the middle-class into the working poor one corporate subsidy at a time!!!!

correction: "your property taxes DIDN'T "drop like a rock"

Remember in November.

1:14 PM

DEMOCRATS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL!!!!

What we can expect under Obama: a return to the economic and foreign policies of the Carter administration. When Carter was defeated, the Misery Index, an index combining rates of inflation and unemployment, had attained an all time high of 21.98% -- up from 13.5% when he was elected.

In his last full year as president, inflation was at 13.5% and unemployment at 7.2%. Today, the Misery Index is at 9.1%. During Carter’s time in office the prime rate moved from 7% to 20%, and the home mortgage rate was almost 18%.

This is the “change” Obama and the Democrats want to give us. Not the change the country needs. And on top of this, a return to a tax structure that DOES NOT benefit those of us who need it most— it would actually take money from us

And we are being lied to about the plans to stop the war in Iraq. Obama and the Democrats know very well that his withdrawal plan is not possible. They will continue to try to dupe us into believing him, when they know occupation of Iraq will continue for many years into his term or McCain’s term—whichever is elected.

We can not stand the kind of change Obama plans. John McCain’s policies are much more similar to those of the successful Ronald Reagan era than those of the George Bush.

We don’t need the “say anything to get elected” Obama.

[Chris W]

Jeb could do us all a favor if he'd move to some other state and take his poisonous little henchmen with him.

Another predictable, pointless, cicada-like post from Chris W, bashing Jeb.

[Jason Straight]

Jeb put more black males in jail than any other gov..He sold the prisions to private cos like Wackenhut and Prison Health Services..Hey they need to put all the black and hispanic drop outs somewhat..He stood by and watch taxes and ins explode and did nothin because his base was makin money..

We need to vote democratice for all local elections and Republican for the Presidency. We simply can't afford the Republican indifference to state education and state taxes and state homeowners insurance and state property insurance.

Just as we can't afford having a Democratic President who supports raising the gas tax by $1.50 per gallon, making friends with terrorists, and sending tons of financial aid to Africa while the middle-class - the base of this society is being driven into poverty.

Jason,

You're a hoot! JEB DID NOT put the blacks in prison. The judges did.

Man, you need serious help!!

Do you want this man speaking for you, your family, and America?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iWYAOMYmp0

The ability to articulate, an bring to fruition, a grand vision of the future of America is a must!

Sounds good to me.

Thanks for the video.

I'm voting for John McCain.

[Chris W]

6:50 - Yeah, but you didn't say I was wrong. Does that mean you agree with me and you're just indulging in a one-person circle-jerk?

The jerk off is you, Chris W.

How can you support Obama the baby killer?

Perhaps you have jerked off so much it is screwing up your mind. Something sure has!!!

A little touchy, aren't we, Chrissy? Yes, you're wrong and you're petty and vulgar and go jerk yourself off, boy.

Liberals are utterly insane. I love a simple post like this that sends them into Bush Derangement Syndrome euphoria. Stupid, stupid little people. Chris W, Chattahoochee awaits!

[Pissy Chrissy W]

Why don't you Bushbots, who put together aren't half as smart as I am, go get yourselves a motel room and have at a circle jerk.

It is soooo easy to bait the liberals like Chris W. They think they have all the answers but don't or they wouldn't be spending time on a crappy blog like the rest of us commoners.

[Down With The Killer]

What Chris W and other Obamabots want to ignore but can't. And it will bring down the Messiah in November.

Barack Obama is for unfettered access to partial birth abortions up to the date of delivery. He is also against giving medical care to a baby showing signs of life after a abortion allowing that baby to die.

Obama the Killer!!!

[Chris W]

You guys *have* been in a political fight before, right? You don't lead with your BS right off the bat. You have to start establishing credibility by saying stuff you can back up with sources, *then* you go into the loopy over-the-top stuff.

9:59 - Touchy? Nah. And if you're going to call me "Chrissy", you might come up with the nads to sign *your* name to your posts. Otherwise, you're just a chimp at the zoo flinging poo on the walls.

[Fred For Freedom]

Ex-gov Bush only seeks to extend his deplorable separation of "haves" and "havenots" for personal gain-thru his appointment to boards- The Bushes are self-grandizing family bent on "selfish interest" at expense of all others.
Are children better off? educated? prepared for college? NO! Are teachers better paid? NO! Any and all program pushed by any Bush is for all Bushes not the working public- Maybe Fidel C. will welcome him to aid in their educaiton program--

I have no problem with Jeb's A+ Plan for accountability. BUT, the idea was that a strong accountability system would lead the way for greater investment in the public education system. The cuts from the past two years are utterly unacceptable. The Constitution requires a high quality system. The Constitution requires the Legislature to fund from general revenue (not local property taxes) the full costs of CSR (get to the cap or reduce the averages by two) each year. How can these two requirements be met with the state contribution for the schools has dropped by $1.3 billion between May of 2007 and May of 2008? This is over a 12% drop. Costs for CSR in the same period should have increased by at least $1.2 billion based upon Patricia's figures during the first year of planning for CSR. Now that there isn't any money, CSR is free? I guess so. And, the "free" press isn't questioning any of this.

Fred at 6:26 am

You asked: are children better off? educated? prepared for college?

Scroll back and read the titles os news headlines from the posts at 2:25 and 2:30 yesterday. The answers to your questions are yes, yes and yes.

[Aquaserpent]

The answers are No, No, and No.

I have two children in school, and they both spend thirty percent of their school year practicing for the FCAT. A parent has to hound most teachers to give extra assignments, and or reports. I have participated in a show day with one of my children and only one teacher was ready to see me and bring me up to speed on my child’s progress. One teacher was completely lost in the classroom and even marked her absent that day. After seeing an unexcused absence for that day on Parent Connect, I called the school and had it fixed. The amazing part was the teacher graded their work and spoke to them and still marked them absent.

The problem as I see as an involved parent is a lot of time is spent focusing on the FCAT, and not much else.

The voucher system is just a ploy for state sponsored religion, just like the new vanity plates that are coming out. I mean every time I get behind a pro-life license plate I wonder how many unwanted kids is that person taking care of. The answer usually is none, but they want to protect life until it comes time to put someone to death in our prison system, then they are all for it.

Jeb Bush like his brother is an ignorant lackey, for his corporate masters. Jeb never did anything some couldn’t make money off of; take his privatization of our prison system, or the Florida State Personnel System. He spent twelve million dollars on a private corporation to manage the State Personnel System, and got nothing in return.

Jeb did enough damage to education in Florida.

Jeb should try some other state to damage.

Jeb did enough damage to education in Florida.

Jeb should try some other state to damage.

[Chris W]

Jeb and his (hopefully dimishing) hordes are so firmly convinced that the private sector is always better that they can't accept that there are some things that are better done by governments .. because governments don't have shareholders and aren't set up to make a profit. If you put people in charge of government who have a good idea of what it can and can't do, you'll get decent governance. If you put smart idiots like Jeb in charge, they'll try to make it do things it wasn't meant to do and make it work in ways that are bound to make it fail. (Jeb is a "smart idiot" because he's right in that zone between arrogant intelligence and real wisdom where he thinks he's got all the answers and hasn't had his reality check yet.)

Obama is a "smart idiot" because he's right in that zone between arrogant intelligence and real wisdom where he thinks he's got all the answers and hasn't had his reality check yet.

Old John McCain will give the boy a reality check come November.

Jeb Bush - laughing all the way to the bank as he serves on the boards of companies that he required the State to outsource with or award contracts to!

Yep! I'll remember in November.