Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Scott Plays Trump Cards
January 9, 2016
On the last week before the Legislature returns to Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott and his administration were the center of attention in the Capitol.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced he is stepping down after a months-long struggle with Scott about the regulator’s future. Education Commissioner Pam Stewart won approval from the State Board of Education for test-score and school-grade standards that were too weak for the liking of allies of former Gov. Jeb Bush. And while Scott didn’t exactly endorse Donald Trump, he still had a yuge amount of praise for the real estate tycoon in a headline-generating op-ed.
Meanwhile, some of the adversaries Scott has clashed with over the last year had a less-than-stellar week. The Republican Party of Florida, headed by a chairman who took out the governor’s choice for the top job, faced questions after one top staffer left and another was let go. And Senate Republicans, who fought Scott fiercely over health care in the 2015 legislative session, were trying to straighten out a potential primary fight between two prominent incumbents because of a new redistricting plan.
THE LONG GOODBYE
For months, McCarty fought off a determined effort by Scott to depose or undermine the insurance commissioner. If anyone knew how to survive in government, it was McCarty, who spent almost 13 years in his position under three different governors with a variety of views on property insurance.
But on Tuesday, McCarty said he would step aside.
In a prepared statement, McCarty said he is “looking forward to exploring new opportunities.” He will stay in the job until May 2 “to facilitate a smooth transition.” Scott will name a potential replacement and, if he gets agreement from Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, then will take the nomination to the state Cabinet for approval.
“The privilege of serving the people of Florida as insurance commissioner has been the highlight of my professional career,” McCarty said.
A high-profile job, perhaps with the National Florida Insurance Program or the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, could be McCarty’s for the taking, according to industry insiders.
“(McCarty’s) opportunities are endless,” said Lisa Miller, who has spent nearly three decades as an insurance regulator and lobbyist. “He’s a rare breed. He’s funny. He’s brilliant. He asks tough questions. He’s no shrinking violet.”
But Miller acknowledged that Scott’s effort to remove McCarty from office played a role in the decision.
“I think the events of this past year have given him the realization that his work is done here,” Miller said. “He can move on and leave Florida with his head held high.”
The governor’s response was low-key.
The decision by McCarty came a week after Florida Department of Revenue Executive Director Marshall Stranburg announced he will leave for a job in Washington.
The moves by Stranburg and McCarty came about a year after Scott called for the Cabinet to replace them and Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Drew Breakspear, who remains on the job. Breakspear spokeswoman Jamie Mongiovi said in an email Tuesday that “he does not have any plans to resign.”
MAKING THE GRADE
For years, Bush’s education apparatus has loomed over Florida policy when it comes to schools. Through two nonprofit foundations and the political capital he built up as a popular state official, Bush and his allies have been difficult to beat when it comes to education initiatives.
The Board of Education’s decision this week to back Stewart’s proposals about test scores and school grades over the objection of business groups and Bush’s network might not signal an end to that influence. (For one thing, Bush is more focused right now on trying to win the Republican nomination for the presidency.) But it was notable nonetheless.
On a pair of 6-1 votes, board members set two critical benchmarks of the state’s education accountability system. One involved “cut scores” that determine the levels of achievement students get based on their performances on standardized tests. The other focused on school grades tied to how well students do on those tests.
Business groups and education-reform advocates had pushed for the state to line up what is essentially considered a passing score on the state test to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a highly regarded, nationwide standardized test. That would have increased the number of students who would fall short of passing the Florida exams.
They were also disappointed in Stewart’s recommendations for school grades under the new system, arguing that more students need to be required to pass the tests for schools to receive certain grades.
The system the board adopted would see 189 schools receive “F” grades for the 2014-15 school year, according to a simulation run by the department. But under one of three options proposed by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an advocacy group founded by Bush, the number of “F” schools would have been 503.
As board members debated the proposals in the Cabinet room at the state Capitol, two of the governor’s top aides sat in the audience. And after the meeting, Stewart didn’t directly answer a question about how much input Scott’s office had in crafting the standards or how board members, appointed by the governor, voted.
“We work closely with the governor’s office on many policy issues, so this would have been like any other policy issues,” she said. “Again, as I mentioned before, I have the luxury of being able to make the recommendation that I believe to be the best one, and that’s what I did here.”
PARTY OF SIDES
The week also brought fresh indications of some of the divisions and problems that face the state Republican Party and the national GOP. But whether any of those issues seriously threaten the GOP’s firm grip on power in Tallahassee was debatable.
In Tallahassee, the state party announced that two high-ranking officials were departing: Executive Director Brad Herold, who is moving to Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis’ campaign for the U.S. Senate; and longtime Chief Financial Officer Richard Swarttz.
Swarttz, who was making six figures in his job as CFO, is leaving as the party reorganizes to take on a more streamlined mission ahead of the 2016 race for the White House.
“We are making these needed adjustments now to ensure that we are in the best position possible to do just that,” party Chairman Blaise Ingoglia, also a state House member, said in a statement following Swarttz’s departure.
That streamlined mission has something to do with the fact that Scott is no longer raising money for the party — Ingoglia ran against Scott’s pick for party chair — and that state Senate Republicans have moved to separate their campaign efforts from the party.
The Senate GOP had its own problems this week. A random renumbering process for the newest version of state Senate districts threatened to trigger a match-up between incumbent Republicans in Pasco County.
The potential match-up revolves around the likely future Senate presidency of Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. Under a redistricting proposal approved by Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds, Simpson would be paired with Sen. John Legg, R-Trinity, in a district that includes most of Pasco County, along with Hernando and Citrus counties.
Before Tuesday — when numbers were assigned to the districts, essentially deciding how long each senator could serve — Legg suggested he would stand aside if it would clear the way for Simpson to become Senate president ahead of the 2021 legislative session. But Legg said in an interview Tuesday that he was willing to do so if it was the “only pathway” for Simpson to claim the top spot — something that is no longer the case.
Long story short: Because of the way that the districts are numbered, Simpson could run for the state Senate in one of two districts and not be locked out of office by term limits ahead of the 2021 session. Legg basically said Simpson should run in the other district.
“Looking at the numbers now, I feel like there are other pathways for him to remain in the Senate,” Legg said.
But Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said Tuesday he will run in the district Legg mentioned, in order to avoid another incumbent-vs.-incumbent battle with Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is expected to become Senate president before the 2019 session.
Regardless, Simpson said he has no intention of moving out of the district he’s represented since being elected to the Senate in 2012.
“My community and my friends live in this district … and I’m going to run in that seat,” he said Tuesday. “That’s where I belong, and that’s where I’m going to run.”
Far away from that fight, Scott nodded in the direction of the most elegant comb-over in the Republican race for the White House. In an opinion piece for USA Today, Scott praised Trump, the Republican front-runner and a part-time Florida resident.
In the piece titled “Donald Trump has America’s pulse: Rick Scott,” Florida’s second-term governor credited the billionaire real-estate developer as someone “who speaks and tweets his mind freely.”
But Scott said Trump’s standing in the polls is more about Trump’s ability to capture “the frustration of many Americans after seven years of President Obama’s very intentional government takeover of the American economy.”
“Have you tried to start a business recently? That used to be the American dream,” Scott wrote. “But, after seven years of endless and tedious regulation and taxation, it is nearly unaffordable to do so. Americans are mad, and I agree with them.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: After nearly 13 years on the job and having weathered months of scrutiny from Scott, longtime Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty stepped aside.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If it’s good enough to get you into a college, it ought to be good enough to graduate you from a Florida high school.”— Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, on legislation that would allow districts to use national standardized tests like the SAT and ACT to measure student learning instead of the state’s exams.
by Brnadon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Four Traffic Crashes Near Four Area Schools
January 8, 2016
There were no serious injuries in four unrelated Friday morning traffic accidents near four different local schools.
In the first about 7 a.m. on Highway 95A at Jim Allen Elementary School, a driver lost control and slid off the road. Escambia County Fire Rescue and EMS were called to the scene, but the driver refused medical treatment.
The second accident was on West Highway 4 near North Highway 99, not far from Bratt Elementary School about 7:30 a.m. There were no injuries in the rear-end two vehicle crash.
The third crash occurred about 8:40 a.m. on West Highway 4 at the entrance to Northview High School where a vehicle was rear ended. One person received minor injuries. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Atmore Ambulance and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash.
The fourth accident, also a rear-end type collision, involved four vehicles at the Kingsfield Road entrance to Tate High School about 8:43 a.m. Everyone involved in the crash refused medical treatment. The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Officer responded to the crash.
All four accidents are under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Pictured top and inset: Two of four vehicles involved in a crash on Kingsfield Road at the entrance to Tate High School. Pictured below: A single vehicle crash Friday morning on Highway 95A near Jim Allen Elementary School. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge. Pictured bottom: This vehicle was rear-ended in two vehicle crash that occurred at the entrance to Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Healthy Start Program Growing, Expanding To Former Health And Hope Location
January 8, 2016
The Escambia County Commission has agreed to lease the former Health and Hope Clinic building to the Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition.
The Health and Hope Clinic in Century closed and moved out of the county-owned building at 501 Church Street last fall. Now, the Century Healthy Start location will expand from next door at 511 Church Street to the former Health and Hope building, which Healthy Start will lease for $1 per year from the county.
“Great things are happening in Century,” Healthy Start Century Office Manager Laura Nelson said. “We are going to do so much more from the new building and continue help more and more women and children in Century.”
Each month, the Women, Infant and Children nutrition program (WIC) is currently seeming over 120 clients — preganant women and children up to age five. When the current Healthy Start location opened in Century, WIC planned to be in Century just one Tuesday per month. In August, they increased to two times month, resulting in the increase of over 30 clients.
Healthy Start nurses and social workers see pregnant women and parents of children up to age 3 at the Century Healthy Start clinic, often in conjunction with a WIC appointment, to provide them with education and support services including parenting, smoking cessation, and referrals to other community agencies for substance abuse treatment, nutrition counseling, and other critical services.
Jay pediatrician Dr. Marian Stewart will begin providing pediatric services the third Wednesday of every month beginning January 20 at the Century Healthy Start location. Patients can call Jay office at (850) 675-4546 now for an appointment.
Through a grant the Healthy Start Coalition received from the March of Dimes, the Coalition partnered with the OB residency program at the University of Florida (formerly with FSU), to provide prenatal and interconception care beginning in February.
In addition, Nelson is onsite daily to provide walk-ins with information on food bank assistance, and to assist clients with accessing needed services online. For more information, call Nelson at (850) 619-1469.
Healthy Start plans to move into their new, larger location in early February.
Pictured: Thanks to Escambia County, the Healthy Start Coalition Century is moving from 511 Church Street (pictured below) to the former Health and Hope Clinic located next door at 501 Church Street. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Gets 25 Years For Burglary
January 8, 2016
A Cantonment man awaiting trial for the burglary of the tax collector’s office in Molino has been sentenced to prison on unrelated burglary charges.
Markett Devon Simpkins, Sr., was sentenced by Circuit Judge John Miller to 25 years in state prison. Simpkins was convicted by a Santa Rosa County Jury of two counts of burglary of a structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, possession of burglary tools and resisting an officer without violence.
On November 24, 2014, officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Pensacola Police Department were conducting surveillance on individuals involved in a string of burglaries to businesses. Those burglaries involved breaking into safes and ATM units. The surveillance led officers to the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM located in the 8500 block of Navarre Parkway in the Soundview Plaza Shopping Center. Officers conducting surveillance saw three
individuals: Simpkins, Noral Scott, and Donald Robinson enter the building at the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM while another suspect, Johnnie Lee, drove around as a lookout.
When officers converged on the building, they discovered the suspects had cut a hole in the wall and entered into an adjacent pet grooming business. The three suspects, including Simpkins, were located in the attic of the pet grooming business and were removed by officers from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. Several wires were cut on the outside of the building in an attempt to disarm the security system. Additional damage was done to the walls, doors and ceilings of the businesses.
Simpkins has also been charged with three other burglaries in Santa Rosa County involving banks and ATMs. Simpkins also has two pending cases in Escambia County for similar offenses.
Robinson was prevously sentenced to 10 years in prison ,and Scott is awaiting sentencing on February 18.
Simpkins was charged with burglary and criminal mischief property damage for their alleged roles in the Molino burglary. During the burglary, Simpkins and two co-defendants allegedly attempted to disable the alarm system and used long pry bars to break open the doors of the Tax Collector’s Office in the Molino Community Complex on North Highway 95A. according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. Both the building and ATM suffered extensive damage.
Escambia Commission To Host RESTORE Workshop
January 8, 2016
A special Escambia County Board of County Commissioner workshop will take place Monday, January 11 to discuss overall goals and objectives for RESTORE Act dollars.
The workshop begins at 1 p.m. at the Kugelman Center for Telecommunications, in the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio, at Pensacola State College, located at 1000 College Blvd., Bldg. 23 in Pensacola. Individual projects will not be selected for funding during this workshop, but commissioners will discuss general priorities for what they would like to accomplish with RESTORE funding.
Initial project review for the first round of funding totaling $10.6 million is currently being conducted by the RESTORE Advisory Council, who is tasked with drafting a multi-year implementation plan to present to the Escambia County Board of Commissioners for approval.
Projects not funded in this cycle will be eligible to apply for future funding through an additional $59 million in direct component funding available to Escambia County, with approximately $4 million released annually over 15 years by the U.S. Treasury Department. The funding for the county’s multi-year plan is just one of the many sources of funding associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
Tate High Names Students Of The Month
January 8, 2016
Tate High School has named Students of the Month for November. They are Paigge Gibson and Logan Blackmon, pictured with Principal Rick Shackle. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Senate Panel Could Hold Key To Gun Bills
January 8, 2016
Florida lawmakers will enter the annual legislative session Tuesday with a full clip of firearm-related bills.
And it appears a Senate committee could play a pivotal role in determining whether two of the more controversial proposals advance this year.
One of the proposals (HB 4001 and SB 68) would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry firearms on state college and university campuses, while the other (HB 163 and SB 300) would allow people with the licenses to openly carry guns. Both issues await decisions in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the campus-carry measure died last year.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said last month that he told Senate Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, not to drag out the decision.
Diaz de la Portilla, who did not respond to requests for comment, has not said if he will bring up the bills during the 60-day session.
House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said he hopes the measures will be “killed or slowed down” in the Senate.
“It’s irresponsible gun legislation,” Pafford said. “Hopefully, the Senate will come to its senses. It’s reckless behavior.”
Second Amendment advocates say if the campus-carry and open-carry issues are muzzled this year, they will continue to pursue the measures in future years.
“It would mean the bills will be back next year,” influential National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer said in an email.
Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry, Inc., said passing the bills is “inevitable.”
“Florida’s law-abiding gun owners will not stop advocating strongly for the right to bear arms. … Ever,” Caranna said in an email. “Elected officials who oppose constitutional rights will have a reckoning to contend with from their constituents at election time. The right to bear arms is a primary issue to most gun owners, and gun owners vote at a much higher rate than other segments of the population.”
Florida started the year with 1.48 million people holding concealed-weapons permits.
Other firearm measures before the Legislature include:
— A proposal (HB 169 and SB 344) that would shift the burden of proof to prosecutors when people invoke the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law in cases involving incidents such as shootings.
The proposal, opposed by prosecutors, appeared to die in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee in November when it failed to receive a favorable vote. However, the Senate version has moved through committees to the Senate floor, where, if approved, it could be attached to legislation that would go to the House.
— A proposal (HB 41 and SB 130), already teed up for votes in the House and Senate, that would seek to prevent people from shooting guns at backyard gun ranges in residential areas.
— A proposal (HB 4031) that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to bring their sidearms into meetings of the Legislature, city councils and school boards. The bill has not been heard in House committees, and a Senate version has not been filed.
Any pro-gun bills reaching Gov. Rick Scott’s desk would allow the governor to set a modern record for signing firearm-related measures into law.
Since he took office in 2011, Scott has signed 14 pro-gun laws. The ranged from the 2011 “docs v. glocks” law, which restricts doctors from asking patients about gun ownership, to a measure last year that allows people to bring their weapons with them when forced to leave home because of hurricanes or other disasters.
By comparison, Scott’s predecessor, former Gov. Charlie Crist, signed three pro-gun measures into law during a four-year span. Former Gov. Jeb Bush affixed his name to 14 pro-gun bills — including the “stand your ground” law — during his eight-year tenure as chief executive.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Houses Pushes Scaled-Back Pension Reform
January 8, 2016
House leaders are gearing up to take another run at overhauling the pension system for state and county employees in the coming legislative session, potentially by tying the controversial changes to limited tweaks sought by the Senate.
The approach mirrors a previous effort by the House to combine changes to the Florida Retirement System, or FRS, with local pension reform supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. When House Speaker Steve Crisafulli dropped demands that the local changes be paired with a revamp of state retirement benefits, the local bill was approved during last year’s session.
But Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, recently told reporters that House Republicans are interested in trying to tackle the retirement system again in 2016. The major thrust of the legislation would be changing the default choice for new state employees who don’t select a plan. The default would go from the traditional “defined benefit” pension system to 401(k)-style accounts.
That could dramatically increase the number of workers in the 401(k)-style “defined contribution” plan. The House has in recent years backed away from legislation that would require new state employees to enter the defined contribution plan, eventually leading to the defined benefit plan being closed down — something fiercely opposed by labor groups and a bipartisan collection of senators.
“Obviously, the House has a position, we’ve had a position on this,” Crisafulli said. “But for us, it’s about finding where we can work with the Senate to find a common ground. And the default is a good place for us to start.”
Supporters have eased away from pitching the plan as a way to help shore up the FRS, which is not fully funded. Opponents have countered that the retirement system is still financially sturdy and is in far better shape than beleaguered pension systems across the country.
Now, those pushing for a change are focusing on the need to allow state employees more flexibility. They point out that many workers change jobs before vesting in the pension plan — essentially losing the money that they’ve paid into the system for years.
“It’s about making sure that the majority of state employees walk away with something when they leave,” said House State Affairs Chairman Matt Caldwell, a North Fort Myers Republican who is working on the proposal.
Caldwell said he expected the bill to be released sometime in the next couple of weeks, after the House finishes up work on some environmental issues that his committee also handles. The annual legislative session starts Tuesday.
Crisafulli said he hoped the new plan would prompt a change in the Senate, which has long resisted House attempts to dramatically overhaul the program.
“I think there is some potential movement,” he said. “I think in the past we’ve taken big bites at the apple. I think this is an opportunity to maybe find some things that we can find common ground on.”
Even with a reduced scope, though, there could be challenges for the legislation in the Senate. A similar effort to change the default option for the FRS died in the Senate in 2014, when opponents used a procedural move to scuttle the proposal.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of appetite in the Senate to do FRS reform,” said Sen. Jeremy Ring, a Margate Democrat who chairs the committee dealing with pensions and has worked with Republicans on the issue.
The Senate has instead focused on a couple of smaller changes to the FRS. One bill (SB 7012) would double the survivor benefits offered to the families of certain state employees, like firefighters and law enforcement officers, who are killed in the line of the duty. Another proposal (SB 7014) would fix unintended consequences of legislation passed several years ago to cut down on “double dipping” by members of the FRS.
Ring said he was uncomfortable with discussions about tying either of those ideas with the House’s more sweeping goals on the pension plan.
“If they want to change the default, then there should be a bill to change the default,” he said.
Caldwell countered that the two issues are in the “same wheelhouse,” and there’s nothing wrong with blending both chambers’ priorities on the pension plan.
“I think it is prudent for us to negotiate those issues in concert,” he said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Three New K-9 Deputies At Work For The Escambia Sheriff’s Office
January 8, 2016
The new K-9 deputies went to work for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on December 26. In less than two weeks, Alek, Django, and Cairo and their handlers have tracked down suspects and taken illegal narcotics off the streets. Courtesy photo by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State Board Of Education Votes On Test Scores, School Grades
January 7, 2016
The Florida Board of Education voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to back Commissioner Pam Stewart on proposals about test scores and school grades, turning aside concerns from business and education-reform groups.
But even as the board went ahead with Stewart’s ideas on a pair of 6-1 votes, some lawmakers were floating ideas for making changes that could complicate the process of calculating school grades in the future.
Board members considered where to set two critical benchmarks of the state’s education accountability system: “cut scores” that determine the levels of achievement students get based on their performances on standardized tests and the school grades tied to how well students do on those tests.
The changes are necessary because of the state’s move to the Florida Standards Assessments, a set of tests given to public school students. Stewart’s proposals opened up a rare battle between board members, who were appointed by a Republican governor, and a coalition of business and education-reform groups that generally back the GOP’s education policies.
Those groups have pushed for the state to line up what is essentially considered a passing score on the state test to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a highly regarded, nationwide standardized test. That would have increased the number of students who would fall short of passing the Florida exams.
“Too often, Florida’s employers have difficulty finding and hiring qualified talent. … We need to ensure our students are not only successfully graduating from high school, but they are doing so based upon honest indicators they have actually achieved proficiency in math and English language arts,” wrote Mark Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, in comments submitted to the board.
Critics were also disappointed in Stewart’s recommendations for school grades under the new system, arguing that more students need to be required to pass the tests for schools to receive certain grades.
The system the board adopted would see 189 schools receive “F” grades for the 2014-15 school year, according to a simulation run by the department. But under one of three options proposed by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an advocacy group founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, the number of “F” schools would have been 503.
School superintendents, who have asked for the school grading system to be paused altogether, said they supported Stewart’s proposal over the others. Leon County Superintendent Jackie Pons said proceeding with school grades carefully was particularly important because schools that have historically struggled wouldn’t be able to rely on how much progress students made on the new tests in the first year.
The measurement for “learning gains” will not take place until the grades for the 2015-16 school year.
Pons and others said the stigma of receiving failing grades is a blow to morale at schools.
“When we give these schools an ‘F’ grade, what we do to those schools for a long time is devastating,” Pons said.
Some board members who supported Stewart’s proposal said they would be open to revisiting the school-grade standards later this year, when the department gets ready to issue the next round of report cards. But board member John Padget, the only member to vote against Stewart’s proposals, was skeptical about the chances to increase standards and cause more schools to fail.
“Are we prepared when we raise the bar (that) there might be more than 189?” he said. “That will be the pressure we’ll be under.”
As board members debated the proposals in the Cabinet room at the state Capitol, two top aides to Gov. Rick Scott sat in the audience. After the meeting, Stewart didn’t directly answer a question about how much input Scott’s office had in crafting the standards or how board members, appointed by the governor, voted.
“We work closely with the governor’s office on many policy issues, so this would have been like any other policy issues,” she said. “Again, as I mentioned before, I have the luxury of being able to make the recommendation that I believe to be the best one, and that’s what I did here.”
Meanwhile, some state lawmakers are already looking to introduce another element into the testing debate. Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who chairs the Senate’s education-funding committee, has introduced legislation that would allow districts to use national standardized tests like the SAT and ACT instead of the state’s exams.
Gaetz said Wednesday the legislation (SB 1360) has bipartisan support. However, it doesn’t currently have a House counterpart.
While shying away from directly addressing whether the bill was a good idea, Stewart indicated to reporters that it could complicate the state’s accountability efforts.
“I think if there were an alternate that were provided, it puts us in a bad spot from the standpoint of, we’re no longer aligned to what’s being taught,” she said. “Our assessment has to be aligned to what’s being taught.”
Gaetz said the current test also wasn’t completely lined up to the state’s education standards and that tests like the SAT and ACT can measure whether students are ready to move on.
“If it’s good enough to get you into a college, it ought to be good enough graduate you from a Florida high school,” he said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida