Thanks for Listening Mr. Olenick

This week it became clear that at least one Florida Board of Education Member has been listening to stakeholder concerns. We appreciate his efforts to address our public school concerns.

Last month, after the election of Ron DeSantis as Governor, the Florida State Board of Education (FLBOE) added a meeting to their schedule where, despite pleas from public education advocates, they appointed former House Speaker Richard Corcoran as Florida’s new Commissioner of Education. This month it became clear that the Board is going to give Commissioner Corcoran free range to advocate for whatever he likes, and that is unlikely to be good for public schools.

One member, attorney and former Martin County School Board member, Micheal Olenick at least tried to get the Board to discuss some legitimate legislative priorities. He attempted to involve the Board in the process of setting their priorities, rather than merely accepting whatever priorities the department had chosen for them. We thank him for his efforts.

Historically, the FLBOE has discussed their legislative priorities annually, during their October or November meeting. Last October, the Board was presented with a fairly narrow, mundane set of priorities by department staff (see below). At that time, Mr. Olenick asked that the board be allowed to further discuss these priorities in January when he hoped members would be able to add additional items. He noted that a January discussion would allow adequate time prior to the start of the March legislative session. At the time, he specifically mentioned his desire to add “flexibility with Guardian funds” as a priority.  Chair Marva Johnson assured him the October priorities list was “not final” and that the board would have time to discuss it again.

Fast forward to the January 16th meeting and legislative priorities were not on the agenda as promised, so Mr. Olenick brought his concerns up during time set aside for “Member Comments.” He said that over the previous 6-8 months, the Board had repeatedly heard certain specific issues and he hoped, with the guidance of the new commissioner who has “tremendous legislative experience,” they could look at these issues and move them forward. He had a four item list (which he said was in no particular order):

1. Increase funding for mental health services.
2. Increase funding for school safety and security and allow flexibility with Guardian funds.
3. Teacher recruitment and retention, including how to attract and retain highly effective teachers, as well as looking at teacher salaries and the growing teacher shortage.
4. Re-evaluate cost per student station and Construction regulations. He elaborated: “cost per student station, which is the bench mark for construction is antiquated, it’s not working, labor costs have gone up, material costs have gone up, many school districts, like Osceola, talk about an “impossibility”  to build the required schools.”

At this point we want to interrupt and suggest that, if you have been following education policy in Florida, this is a pretty good list of priorities. Olenick’s list reflects many of the concerns of the stakeholders (the superintendents, school boards association, teachers and parent groups).  He has clearly been paying attention. Focusing on these issues should be a priority (IF you want to improve public schools in Florida, that is). 

Chair Johnson was willing to allow Commissioner Corcoran to respond to Mr. Olenick’s list but reminded the Board that they were in the Members Comments portion of the meeting and no action would be taken on anything discussed. Mr. Olenick reminded her that “its either now or never, because when I brought it up in October or November we said we had a meeting in January, we have no meeting in February, session starts in March and, so this is the opportunity if we want to get on board and again giving the commissioner that kind of authority to progress or move these issues forward …”

We think it is cute that Mr. Olenick believes Commissioner Corcoran thinks he needs the Board’s approval to move forward on this or any other education issue… That is not the Richard Corcoran Tallahassee has known for the last decade.

Corcoran did tell Mr. Olenick “I think we’re going to move forward on all four of those in a very dramatic way,“ suggesting that Governor DeSantis had been outspoken on all four of Mr. Olenick’s concerns, calling them “front and center” on the Governor’s agenda. Mr. Olenick suggested, in light of the commissioner’s promise, that the board schedule a conference call formally advance the four priorities. Chair Johnson, citing procedural issues, refused to agree to an additional conference call but did suggest she was “happy to further the conversation and I’m sure during the next board meeting we’ll hear more about legislation that’s planned.”

Mr. Olenick’s frustration was evident. He reminded the chair (again) that the next scheduled meeting was already in the middle of the session, the Commissioner had assured them that these four priorities had the Governor’s attention and a simple conference call would allow the board to formally advance these issues. He said “I understand procedurally it is members comments, it’s just these four issues are so important, at least from my perception and from what I’ve heard over the last year that I don’t want to just let them… go into to air…”

The Commissioner tried to assure Mr. Olenick that his concerns would not fade away, he had taken notes and would put everyone’s ideas together and then work closely with the Governor to advance the Governor’s agenda. Chair Johnson agreed the process worked well because the department staff were good listeners.

Another interruption: if you think that Mr. Corcoran doesn’t already know what bills he plans on pushing through the legislature this session, then we have a bridge to sell you…

On the day before the January FLBOE meeting, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Senate President Galvano told a Sarasota business audience to expect the expansion of Education Savings Accounts to all students, which would essentially result in universal vouchers in Florida. With Florida’s new conservative Supreme Court, due to Governor DeSantis’ recent appointments, Galvano said Florida will “probably see some more bold steps in education and revisiting some of the ideas that Gov. Bush brought to the table back in the day.” For the record, that means voucher expansion….

When “insider” (former lobbyist Step up For Students and Jeb’s Foundation for Excellence in Education) Sara Clements wrote “7 things insider expects from Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran” the only thing on her list that matched Mr. Olenick’s list was “Revisiting teacher recruitment and retention.” She expects legislative leaders will look at the use of alternative certification routes or overall changes to teacher certification to “recruit and retain top talent for the classroom.”

In here closing comments, Chair Johnson praised Governor Desantis for being “a man of action:”

The best representation of Governor DeSantis’ commitment to education and that it is a priority for his administration is his recommendation of you (Corcoran) in this role. I think you are going to offer fantastic opportunities for us to not just stay stagnant but to even excel at greater pace.

Marva Johnson, FLBOE Meeting 1/20/2019

We appreciate Mr. Olenick’s attempt to guide the new Commissioner to advocate for policies that will addresses some of the serious issues impacting our public schools. Sadly, we suspect, Mr. Corcoran isn’t going to be the kind of commissioner that really wants this board’s guidance. As a legislator, he was the kind of guy that liked to negotiate education “deals” in private. Pretending that the Governor’s “front and center” priorities are aligned with Mr. Olenick’s thoughtful list and not “expanding school choice” defies belief. This is the list of Education Priorites from Governor Desantis’ campaign website:

While teacher retention IS there, the DeSantis campaign was clearly focused on expanding school choice (see here, here or here), and not on addressing the needs of Florida’s 2.7 million students who currently attend public schools.

After 20 years of single party rule, during his first few weeks, Governor DeSantis seems to be bringing a fresh set of ideas and has been willing to question “business as usual” when it comes to the environment and medical marijuana. Why not take a fresh look at public education?

We hope Governor DeSantis will eventually put the needs of our public schools “front and center” but we don’t expect Commissioner Corcoran to be the messenger.

Maybe he will listen to you. Please contact the Governor with Mr. Olenick’s 4 point priority list. You can email him at www.flgov.com/contact-governor/ or call his office at  (850) 717-9337. Tell him you want a Governor who truly puts our public school children front and center.