Let Florida Voters hold the Commissioner Accountable for Accountabaloney

For most of us, the November 8th election cannot come soon enough. Still, there is one race missing from my ballot that I wish we were voting on: Florida’s Commissioner of Education. In the past year, Commissioner Pam Stewart has called textbooks the “bane of our education system“, described the 3rd grade FSA and the threat of mandatory retention “a fun opportunity“, supported the retention of proficient 3rd grade students from 7 districts, and told parents who questioned state assessments “like it or leave.” Personally, I would like voters to be able to hold her, as the administrator of our education accountability system, accountable for the harm it is causing to our schools and our children.

I want my voice to be heard at the ballot box (like in “the old days”).

Before Jeb Bush was elected Governor, Florida’s Commissioner of Education was an elected position and part of the Cabinet. When Governor  Bush was elected, he advocated for an Education Commissioner appointed by the Governor and no longer elected by voters. Additionally, Bush worked to remove the education commissioner from the Florida Cabinet. With approval from the Legislature, the constitutional change (Amendment 8, in 1998) was approved by Florida voters. In doing so, the Florida Board of Education was created, populated by Governor appointees, and it became their responsibility to appoint the education commissioner. The end result is a Board and Commissioner who are accountable only to the Governor and, apparently, Jeb’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. Parents and educators’ voices are seemingly dismissed.

Need proof?

–Parents, feeling their voices have gone unheard, have had to resort to lawsuits to have their concerns addressed:

• Over inadequate school funding
• Over state testing requirements for disabled students
• Over the retention of proficient 3rd graders

–In an effort to combat “education reform” policies, growing numbers of parents have resorted to civil disobedience, instructing their children to sit for the state mandated test but answer no questions. This so-called “opt out” or “minimal participation” was recently declared, in court, to legally satisfy the State’s requirement for “participation” in state testing.

–Teachers have been threatened by the Commissioner for speaking out against current accountability policies. Commissioner Stewart went as far as to send educators a letter, threatening teachers’ certifications if they encourage students to opt out.

–Thousands of public school teachers descended on the Capitol in January 2016 to say “Enough is Enough“, protesting high-stakes testing, for-profit charter schools and other statewide education policies they feel are harming students and devaluing classroom teachers.

–Superintendents have testified against the current accountability system:

• Brevard Superintendent, Desmond Blackburn, declared he had no faith in the current school accountability system, calling for a review of the system.
• Miami Superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, penned an op-ed complaining that using state test scores beyond their legitimate purpose (to inform and improve instruction) “lends itself to misinterpretation of results, erroneous conclusions, perversion of the system itself, and potential harm to students, teachers, schools, and communities.” He called the tying of “inconclusive and statistically unreliable achievement data” to teacher evaluation and performance pay “questionable at best, unethical at worst.” In calling for a review of the system, he concluded “ultimately, what is at stake here is not only the strength and trustworthiness of our state’s accountability system, but the system itself.”

–The Florida School Board Association has, also, called for an overhaul of the State’s Accountability system.

–In 2015, after public outcry over excessive testing and validity concerns regarding the new FSA, the FLDOE announced the formation of the Keep Florida Learning Committee (KFLC).  More than 2,800 citizens applied to be on that committee, 11 were chosen, of which a majority questioned the attachment of high stakes to state test scores and the punishing nature of Florida’s accountability system. The committee members’ concerns regarding high stakes testing were dismissed by the commissioner, prompting the resignation from the committee by Superintendent Owen Roberts, who hoped his announcement would encourage parents to “demand a change to the state accountability system that is driven by testing.”  In the end, although the KFLC came to a consensus on a list of recommendations, no report has ever been issued and it is unclear if any actions have been taken on the committee’s recommendations.

 

With all the parents, teachers, superintendents AND School Board members speaking out, we would hope that these concerns would be addressed. They have not.

Even with the passage of the federal ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), which allows states greater flexibility for the design of their education accountability system, our Commissioner and Board of Education have made it clear that they believe our current accountability system is just fine and they expect to make few, if any, changes to our test and punish system. In response to ESSA, Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education this summer. You can read her letter here but it can be summarized as “Florida already has a great system, knows what it’s doing, and shouldn’t have to change.”

So the question is: How can we hold ACCOUNTABLE those who continue to ignore real concerns regarding Florida’s flawed accountability system? How can we hold them accountable for failed education reforms?

Answer: the ballot box. An elected Commissioner of Education or Board of Education would allow the PUBLIC to hold the policy makers accountable for the problems in our public schools.

The idea is not new. Politicians from both sides of the aisle have suggested going back to an elected commissioner for several years. Last session, proposals were filed by Rep. Debbie Mayfield (HB767) and Senator Rene Garcia (SB942) calling for a constitutional amendment to reinstate the education commissioner as one of five voting members on the Florida Cabinet. Neither bill made it out of committee but we hope both will be re-filed this session. An alternative would be to create a system, like they have in Utah and other states, where the Board of Education is elected and they appoint the Commissioner of Education. Either system would be better than what we have now, a Commissioner and Board who can seemingly ignore all but the most powerful Foundations.

It is time to allow voters to hold the Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education accountable for all this #accountabaloney. That is an election I look forward to voting in.