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Education

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Preparing our Children for the Future:

The quality of our public education system is essential to the economic vitality of our state.  The effectiveness of bold reforms that began under Governor Jeb Bush can be measured by improvements in the national standing of our students.  Florida has dramatically improved student outcomes, rising from 31st to 8th in the nation in 4th grade reading and math scores, but we must do much more.

As Governor, Bill will not rest until Florida’s public schools are rated the very best in the nation. Bill will work to focus our schools, colleges and universities on creating a 21st Century workforce. He will advocate policies to increase accountability, provide merit pay for teachers, support charter schools  and promote more choice for parents and students.

21st Century Education Solutions:
Bill McCollum’s Roadmap for Florida’s Future

Pre-Kindergarten

  • Develop standards for pre-kindergarten curriculum
  • Increase the quality of pre-kindergarten teachers
  • Collect data on pre-kindergarten use to improve the program

Kindergarten through High School

  • Raise the standards for school grades
  • Raise the bar on high school graduation
  • Reform Florida’s approach to teacher quality, compensation and removal
  • Provide teacher support structures
  • Require specific subject area proficiency
  • Create a merit based compensation system
  • Phase out tenure
  • Empower superintendents and principals to remove non-performing instructional staff
  • Institute the High Performing Teacher Exchange Program
  • Expand school choice and increase access to quality education for low-income families
  • Leverage Career and Professional Education (CAPE) academies to increase student choice by providing professional certifications
  • Connect local industries with school districts
  • Corporate partnership tax credit program
  • Fully deploy CAPE academies
  • CAPE counseling for students failing high school
  • Support Amendment 8 to “right size the class size”
  • Extend full certification in Florida for Troops-to-Teachers and Teach-for-America teachers
  • Better integrate technology into the classroom
  • Eliminate barriers to virtual education
  • Open Florida’s virtual education market to allow competition between service providers
  • Require Florida high school students to take at least one internet based class

Colleges and Universities

  • Incentivize greater STEM degree production
  • Link education funding to graduation rates
  • Produce more professional certificates, undergraduate and graduate degrees
  • Refocus Florida’s financial aid programs to accomplish concrete goals
  • Build incentives for performance into Bright Futures
  • Encourage students to apply for federal student aid before state funds are awarded
  • Provide greater flexibility for students to pursue graduate degrees
  • Integrated financial aid solutions
  • Develop stronger public/private partnerships for higher education in Florida

Workforce Training

  • Prioritize targeted workforce training program funding
  • Develop the Florida “Back to Work Program” through competitive funding for programs that target local industry needs
  • Update the Community College funding formula

A 21st Century Education Solution – Bill McCollum for Governor