The Cure for Accountabaloney: Vote the Sausage Makers OUT
In December 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), an overhaul of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This over 1,000 page bill promises to return control of public education back the States. (Read about it here and here.) The ESSA purports to allow states greater flexibility for the design of their education accountability system, which is great news for us because we have been calling for a complete overhaul of Florida’s accountabaloney system since day 1 of this blog! For example, ESSA eliminated NCLB’s waivers, meaning it is no longer required to use student test scores to evaluate teachers. This would be a welcome change. Sadly, ESSA also opened the door to Competency Based Education (which we have written about here) and the further privatization of public education.
Over the summer, the Florida Department of Education took public input regarding ESSA’s opportunity to adjust Florida’s Accountability system and, almost simultaneously with the close of the public comment window, Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education. In her letter, she “touts Florida’s existing system, and reminds the secretary that the federal government cannot force states to adopt new rules beyond the scope of ESSA.” You can read her letter here.
Tallahassee-based education consultant Cheryl Sattler, as reported in the Tampa Bay Times, summarized Ms. Stewart’s letter: “Overall … this letter is basically one statement: ‘Florida already has a great system, knows what it’s doing, and shouldn’t have to change.'”
Indeed, when the Florida Board of Education discussed the “opportunities with ESSA” during their June 22, 2016 meeting (watch here beginning at 40:50), the overriding sense was that the Department and the Board were completely happy with our current Accountability system and we shouldn’t have to change anything because, after all, Florida is a “leader” in accountabaloney and, well, our 4th grade NAEP scores are awesome. Please read our Brief Letter to Pam Stewart reading 4th grade NAEP scores.
We, of course, do NOT think all is well. We continue to encourage a serious look at our entire Accountability system. Now is the time to roll back some of the damaging policies of NCLB. Now is time time to put the brakes on the rapid path toward CBE. How can we take advantage of what ESSA offers? We need legislators in Florida who are willing to do so, like heroes of Public Ed, Dwight Bullard (district 40) and Debbie Mayfield (district 17). We need to keep the heroes and vote OUT the sausage makers… we need Education Voters to vote OUT those who have supported bad accountabaloney policies in the past.
How can you determine whether your incumbent is a sausage maker? It is really quite simple because, like the USDA grades beef, the sausage factory (Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future, which you read about here) grades legislators. The higher the grade, the more likely your incumbent is a sausage maker. If your incumbent has an “A” grade in the FFF Report Card, your incumbent is likely a sausage maker. Vote them out! They are unlikely to reverse the bad legislation they created and passed. (Please do not be fooled by Debbie Mayfield’s “A” rating in 2016- we suspect this is a miscalculation and certainly does not reflect Ms. Mayfield’s hero status, she had a D rating in 2015 which better reflects her support for public education. We can assure you, Debbie Mayfield is an excellent choice for education and for Senate District 17).
You can also use Fund Education Now’s Report Card to help you decide if your incumbendent deserves re-election. Fund Education Now supports public education, so you want to vote FOR candidates with A, B, or C ratings, in this case. If your candidate has a D or F grade, they are probably a sausage maker and unlikely to support an overhaul of current policy. Candidates that receive a, b, or c grades have shown their support of public education and have voted against, at least some, accountabaloney policies, they are probably “keepers.”
Some candidates have shared their views via The Opt Out Florida Network Candidate Survey. You may find information about your candidates and their challengers there.
Remember, the passage of ESSA allows changes to Accountability systems NOW. We need legislators who are willing to make those changes. Please do your homework, learn about your local candidates, be an Education Voter and VOTE THE SAUSAGE MAKERS OUT.