Rick Scott is making a mess of public education

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/21/2905785/dozens-of-fla-school-grades-bumped.html#storylink=cpy

First it was Florida's FCAT debacle where without a serious grading curb this year nearly 80 percent of test takers would have failed. Now comes the chilling news that school grades in 40 of the state's 67 school districts have been bumped up  after they were miscalculated under a questionable evaluation system.  Under Gov. Rick Scott Florida's public educational system is in shambles.

Then there's the $300 million budget cut Scott and his cronies dealt the State University System this year, all while calling for more university graduates in the expensive STEM disciplines.  Scott has also hammered universities on their graduation rates, while simultaneously cutting resources and destroying Florida's public school system.

Here is the latest, according to the Associated Press:

Now, on Friday the Florida Department of Education “alerted school district superintendents that it was adjusting many of the school grades assigned because of an error in calculating student learning gains. The error raised further questions about the state's system of evaluating students and comes as the grading system is under some of the sharpest criticism it has endured in the years since former Gov. Jeb Bush first pushed it into place.”

“More than 100 schools statewide jumped from a B to an A grade. Fifty-five school grades changed from a C to a B. Thirty-five school grades changed from a D to a C, and seven school grades changed from an F to a D. “

“Each year the state hands out A-to-F grades that are used to financially reward top schools and sanction those that get failing marks. The grades are based primarily on student performance on a series of high-stakes tests in reading, math, writing and science. Part of the grade is also based on whether students demonstrated learning gains over the previous year.”

Bob Sikes, a high school teacher in Crestview, has done an excellent job chronicling Scott's educational missteps on his blog.