(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
Florida governor-elect Rick Scott is making it clear that he is deadly serious about the next wave of Florida K-12 reform. Worrying about tenure reform is soooo 5 months ago, because Governor-elect Scott mentioned the possibility of letting parents control education funding through Education Savings Accounts. The Goldwater Institute study cited in the paper will be coming out in the not-so-distant-future.
Reactionaries have already started howling. Mother Jones hates the idea, and started spouting conspiracy theories interrupted only by occasional name-calling. Why wait to actually read a plan when you can go ahead and start complaining about it in advance? Some of the Florida papers have been almost as silly, having apparently learned nothing from having opposed Governor Bush’s reforms only to watch with sheepish silence as Florida shot up the NAEP ranks.
Someone even placed a call to Little Ramona, who as usual these days sings straight out of the AFT hymnal.
This particular rant takes the cake so far. Wow, I mean W*O*W. Check it out:
After a half century of broadening the wealth gap and decimating the middle class, there are many people who would prefer a return to near feudal conditions, when religion, educational disadvantages and abject poverty were used to more easily control the lower classes. A massive expansion in vouchers would be a giant step in that direction and it should be no surprise that billionaire members of the ruling class (like Scott) are lending their support.
When does my “ruling class” membership card arrive in the mail? I mean really, feudalism gets such a bum rap these days. We don’t need feudalism-we need Neo-Feudalism! You know, the Dead-Hand-of-Clericalism grasps the Invisible-Hand-of-the-Market around the neck of the working class and squeezes!
Oi vey
Stay tuned for the study…I’m afraid the reality will seem terribly reasonable in comparison to the fever dreams of opponents.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
The irony being, the government – ie feudal lords – dictated your every private and economic move in life while vouchers give people the power to buy the education, of any type, they want.
I do not see how they are related.
Some people prefer hyperbole to history I guess.
Mr. Ladner appears again to have forgotten part of the information. Florida’s grade 12 NAEP results placed it among the bottom 3 of 11 states,scoring below average in Reading and Math.Florida, W.Va., and Arkansas share this status. His other stats have been refuted recently as well. Not everyone falls for cherry picked info, Some even see gaming behind the results. When political motive is key, responsible presentation of information does not seem to matter.
Panic may reflect the overtaking of the majority by the minority. Let’s look at Facebook groups as a slice of community interest. FCAT Florida’s Children Are Tortured has about 32,000 fans. Stop Senate Bill 6 nears 47,000. Foundation for Florida’s Future nears 200 and Foundation for Excellence in Education nears 250. Jeb trumps all, I guess.
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