Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:
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Jan. 9
Miami Herald on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ inauguration:
Newly installed Gov. Ron DeSantis sent Floridians a bipartisan message that they haven’t heard from leaders in Tallahassee for a while. In his 16-minute inauguration speech on Tuesday, DeSantis sounded sincere when he spoke of Republicans and Democrats working together for the good of Florida.
Standing outside the Old Capital, DeSantis at 40 a young state chief, spoke as a regular guy, admitting that he is “conscious of my own deficiencies.” He vowed, however, that Floridians would get “a full heart, my best judgment and the courage of my convictions.
We’ll take it - and hope for the best.
Regardless of whether or not one voted for DeSantis, for whom President Trump went all in early in the campaign, Floridians can take heart that he comes across as personable and, even better, approachable. We hope these characteristics extend to his relationship with the media, whom former Gov. Rick Scott stonewalled and too often shut out in the face of challenging questions. We hope DeSantis is committed to openness and transparency with the people he represents.
DeSantis said he will build on an inherited solid economic foundation and, unlike Scott, now Florida’s junior senator, he will champion Florida’s environmental future and protect it. He highlighted his commitment to deal with the blue-green algae and red tide, bedeviling Florida’s coasts. That’s a first in eight years for Floridians, who endured a governor for whom climate change did not exist. At least DeSantis gets the critical link between our environment, our economy and our very future.
He also signaled he will tackle health care in Florida, likely a project for new Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, a health care executive, the highest ranking Latin woman in the state’s political history - and a Miamian. DeSantis should be praised for selecting Nunez, a respected veteran member of the Florida Legislature.
“The people of Florida deserve relief,” DeSantis said of the state’s health care woes. He’s right, but let’s hope that relief entails at least a compromise that includes expanding Medicaid for 1 million needy Floridians - relief that Scott refused to grant.
The new governor signaled a slight change in school curriculum. DeSantis believes we should return to teaching civics, so students can learn the “duties of citizenship.” That’s a solid idea. DeSantis also says that vocational education should be enhanced - building on the conservatives’ idea that not every student should head for college. He is a proponent of school choice, of course, and we urge him to not undercut public schools solely to boost for-profit charters.
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DeSantis appears to be off to a solid start. Let’s hope - for Florida’s sake - that he stays on track.
Online: https://www.miamiherald.com/
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Jan. 4
Tampa Bay Times on the letter grades for public schools based on students’ performance:
Most everybody knows Florida public schools get a letter grade based in large part on how well their students do on standardized tests, whether it’s how many are working at grade level or whether the school’s lowest-achieving students are making adequate progress. But that letter grade doesn’t take into account key factors that the federal government considers important in its education and civil rights law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis should move to correct this flaw and ensure that all children receive the education they are entitled to receive under the Florida Constitution.
Florida doesn’t factor into its school letter grades the performance of subgroups such as students still learning English, those living in poverty, minority students and those with special needs. That’s one of the reasons Florida was the last state to receive federal approval for its plan. Schools want to earn A’s, and so they naturally focus on the elements that key contribute to the grade. One of those metrics: Did the lowest performing 25 percent of students improve enough in English language arts and mathematics?
Under the new federal ESSA standards, that is not enough. ESSA requires that the achievement be broken out of specific subgroups such as English learners and students living in poverty. Otherwise it’s too easy, to borrow from the phrasing of the old federal law, to leave some students behind. So Florida now will report such numbers to the federal government, but it does not make them part of the letter grade. That means a school could achieve a good letter grade by Florida’s reckoning but still do poorly on the federal scorecard. It’s easy to guess which one parents and politicians will focus on.
It is not hard to fix the worst of these problems:
- Break out the performance of sub-groups - don’t just treat all students in the lowest-performing 25 percent as members of one big group - because there are different reasons for their low performance. And make the performance of those subgroups part of the school grade.
- Make progress in English proficiency part of the school grade. There is no better way to ensure children are learning English than literally to grade how well schools are doing at it.
- For students who are still learning English, offer subject matter tests in the language they know best. A math test, for example, should measure a student’s math ability, not how well she knows English. Offering a Spanish-speaking student a math test in Spanish will give a true assessment of her math achievement, which is the point.
The logic underlying all of these points is basic. Human nature is to teach to the test, certainly, if it’s high stakes, so what becomes part of the school grade becomes important to the school. The federal government forced Florida to revise its plan five times before finally approving it last fall. But unless it makes still more changes, Florida will not be ensuring that every student succeeds.
Online: http://www.tampabay.com/
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Jan. 9
The Florida Times-Union on the state’s new prison chief:
Florida is a state that values efficiency and performance, so it’s been an outrage that our elected leaders have allowed the state’s prison system to take a back seat to those in Georgia and Texas.
In those similarly conservative Southern states, prison reforms have protected public safety and saved money; in fact, both states have closed some prisons.
In contrast, Florida has been mired in an archaic system that keeps people in prison, scrimps on rehabilitation and does nothing as offenders keep returning.
The system doesn’t work. It wastes money. It’s just dumb.
Smart justice programs target prisoners who aren’t threats to society; the programs give these offenders the tools to become productive citizens - an approach that also protects the public.
That principle finally got through to our leaders in Washington: they recently passed the federal First Step Act, which will implement a number of prison reforms to promote rehabilitation.
A PROMISING HIRE
In our state, meanwhile, it’s promising news that Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Mark Inch, the former head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to lead the Florida Department of Corrections.
Inch has built a career specializing in prison management, and has received a lifetime achievement award from the American Correctional Association. Inch is also a retired U.S. Army major general, and served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
In his announcement, DeSantis called Inch “one of the foremost experts on criminal justice.”
In an opinion column, Inch supported the First Step Act because officials in the federal prison system deserve the resources necessary to perform their duties successfully. That’s the case in Florida, too.
If Inch is as smart as his resume implies, he will immediately meet with experts at Florida State University’s Project on Accountable Justice and FSU’s Institute for Justice, Research and Development.
The Project on Accountable Justice has been promoting the use of smart justice techniques for years; it has noted how both money and lives can be saved with data analysis and best practices.
The Institute for Justice, Research and Development in FSU’s College of Social Work is in the midst of an impressive study that is examining best practices for transitioning prisoners to productive lives outside the bars.
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The challenge for Inch is to persuade the Florida Legislature to fund more rehabilitation initiatives, to provide sufficient funding and training for prison guards and avoid more devastating setbacks like the one that occurred last year when the corrections department slashed substance abuse services, transitional housing and reentry programs because of a $28 million deficit.
That was a classic example of dumb justice. It’s now time for Florida to try the smart kind.
Online: https://www.jacksonville.com/
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