March 20, 2004
House demands a quality education for some
Children of active military personnel and veterans would qualify for vouchers to attend private schools under a bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee 25-10 Friday.The bill, which was sent to the full House, would give active and retired military parents vouchers for as much as $3,600 to be used at private schools. The "K-12 GI Bill" also would pay as much as $500 for transportation.
Rep. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, is sponsoring the bill (HB 549), which is similar to one that passed the House last year but died in the Senate. Baker, a first sergeant in the Florida Army National Guard, returned from Iraq in February.
"We owe these people something; they put their lives on the line, and this is something we can do to help them," said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
Uh, maybe we could do something to help the whole state and strive to improve a public education system that is second to all? Just a thought.
...students at nearly nine out of 10 (Florida) schools last year failed to meet reading, writing and math standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which measures how subgroups (including blacks and poor children) fare in each school.Meanwhile, the latest national rankings show that Florida's public high school graduation rate in 2002 was 49th in the nation, besting only South Carolina. That's down from 47th in 1999 and 48th in 2001. The state ranks 46th in the nation in its average SAT score, 26th in average teacher salary and 40th in expenditure per pupil (50th in per capita spending on education).
That last point should not have been parenthetical: Florida ranks dead last in per capita student spending.
UPDATE: Fiore on (Florida?) schools.
Posted by Norwood at March 20, 2004 09:28 AM