BlogWood: MT Archives

OFFaL! lies about graduation rates

OFFaL! (JEB!, Our Feckless FloridA Leader) reports fewer dropouts. He’s a liar.

Florida had fewer dropouts and more high school graduates again last school year, according to figures released by the governor's office on Friday.

The statewide graduation rate improved to 69 percent in the 2002-03 school year, up from 67.9 percent the previous year. That means nearly 7 out of 10 Florida high school students graduated within four years.

"Thanks to the efforts of students, teachers, parents, and principals, we have kept more students in high school through graduation, while ensuring that a Florida diploma signifies real academic achievement," Gov. Jeb Bush said.
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Researcher Jay Greene, who lives in South Florida, calculated Florida's 2001 graduation rate to be 56 percent, while the state reported a 63.8 percent rate that year. One difference in the calculation is that Greene excludes students who pass the GED (General Educational Development) test for a diploma from his graduation rates because those students are not getting traditional diplomas. Florida counts those who pass the GED test as graduates.
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The governor and Education Secretary Jim Horne were particularly pleased with the results because critics predicted that the state's new accountability measures would adversely affect the state's graduation and dropout rates. Last school year was the first time that students had to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to get a standard diploma.

Hmmmm shades of Houston, where a city school system under pressure from OFFaL!’s brother manipulated statistics and lied. But that was Texas, and they promise they don’t do that anymore. This is Florida.

A ccording to a study by the Manhattan Institute, Florida has the lowest high school graduation rate in the United States, followed by Georgia and South Carolina.

The study contrasts sharply with the low dropout rates reported by a number of states because it calculated the percentage of ninth-graders who leave four years later with a diploma and doesn't figure in students who drop out of school but eventually receive a high school equivalency diploma.

``What we're trying to do is make graduation figures clear and useful,'' said Jay P. Greene, author of the study. ``We're amazed at official statistics that look very far off from what the truth must be.''

Florida Education Commissioner Jim Horne lauded the state's record in education and contended that graduation rates had ``skyrocketed'' under his administration, to 67 percent from 61 percent. He noted, however, that Florida counts as graduates those students who get equivalency diplomas or enroll in adult education classes.

Regardless of conflicting statistics, this is clear: Too many students are not finishing high school, and the graduation rates for minorities are often extremely low.

Now, this is from the openly conservative Tampa Tribune, and they are dissing their own governor. Still, it’s just an opinion piece. Here’s some hard news on the same study. Funny, but it turns out that the institute that did the study is conservative. Hmmmm... another conservative organization contradicting their own?

Just over half of Florida's public school students earned a standard diploma in four years, giving the state the lowest graduation rate in the country, according to a study released today.

But the Florida Board of Education vehemently disputes that claim, saying the researchers' estimates are faulty and other states' statistics aren't trustworthy enough for a fair comparison.

Fifty-five percent of Florida high school students who should have graduated in 2000 earned standard diplomas, according to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

The national average was 69 percent.

"It certainly does paint a disturbing picture of Florida education," said Marcus Winters, a researcher with the conservative think tank, which has an office in Davie.

The state's computations say 62 percent of Florida students graduated in 2000.

"We don't do estimates of the graduation rate, we calculate the graduation rate, and that's a world of difference," said Florida Board of Education spokesman Bill Edmonds.

"Putting Florida at the bottom, that's ridiculous," he said. "You would guess those states that have the hardest time are those that are largely rural, with a high rate of poverty."

State statisticians track individual students using student identification numbers to count how many students complete high school four years after they enter as freshmen, including students who earned special diplomas and GEDs within four years of their freshman year.

The Manhattan Institute compared the number of freshmen in 1996 with the number of graduates in 2000. Privacy laws kept them from accessing individual student records. The Institute did not count those who earned GEDs or those who needed an extra semester or year to earn a full-fledged diploma.

Winters said counting GED recipients as graduates is not the most accurate picture of high schools' accomplishments: "These are dropouts who took it upon themselves to earn a certificate."
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While Florida educators doubt the situation is as disappointing as the institute claims, they blame several factors for a poor showing:

a large minority and low-income population that traditionally drops out at a higher rate than average.

thousands of students who either do not speak English, are still learning English or who live in homes where English isn't the primary language.

thousands of students who move in and out of schools. Studies show mobility undercuts student learning.

classes with more than 40 students for every teacher, in some cases larger than college classes, reducing chances for individual attention.

Uh, aren’t OFFaL! and his cronies in the legislature fighting tooth and nail to overturn the class size amendment that voters passed last year? (From a BlogWood post on 9/25/03)

Here’s the deal: in Florida, voters can amend the constitution and mandate that the State enact their wishes. Republicans hate this, as it forces them to actually listen to the voters needs and wants and cuts into the Legislature’s ability to control discretionary spending.

Jeb Bush has been leading the fight against two high profile amendments, and has basically said that he and his administration will not follow the law and the will of the people.

Official: Class size law futile

Education Commissioner Jim Horne said Wednesday that the state can't meet the voter-approved mandate to reduce class sizes in Florida.

"The class-size amendment will never be implemented," Horne said at a meeting of the Board of Governors, which oversees higher education in Florida.
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The amendment requires the state to give schools enough money to lower class sizes from kindergarten through high school. By 2010, they can be no larger than 18 in grades pre-K through 3, 22 in grades 4 through 8, and 25 in high school.

Horne, a Bush appointee who opposed the amendment before the November election, said Wednesday he can't force superintendents to reduce class size.

Jeb has been pitting K-12 against state universities, claiming that there is not enough money for both:

Florida's university presidents told Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday that the state's national reputation for short-changing higher education is making it hard for them to recruit top faculty.
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"The word is out that Florida is not committed to higher education," said Modesto Maidique, president of Florida International University in Miami.
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The governor is proposing cuts of $148.8-million from university operating expenses while providing no money for increased student enrollment. He also would cut up to $30-million out of Bright Futures scholarships.
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For the 260,000 students at Florida's 11 universities, that would mean fewer teachers and degrees, larger classes and more competition to get into schools because of enrollment caps.
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Bush, who also met with student leaders Monday, has repeatedly blamed the cuts on the cost of a voter-approved constitutional amendment mandating a reduction of class sizes in public schools.
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Next year's proposed cuts would come on top of a $167.5-million drop this year and could leave Florida last in the nation in per capita spending on higher education. When inflation is factored in, the amount of state money allocated for each university student has dropped 15 percent in the past four years.

Bottom line: headlines say “Graduation rate increases yet again,” but even OFFaL’s supporters say this is bullshit, and reality shows us that OFFaL! is all talk and no money when it comes to supporting Florida’s schools.