Last night on Pundit Review Radio, State Rep. Ted Spiliotis (D-Danvers) was kind enough to join us in studio to discuss House Bill 1641 “An Act to Provide Health Education in Schools.” The bill is nothing but a sop to Planned Parenthood and the radical homosexual lobby whose fingerprints are all over this treacherous piece of legislation. Rather then spending time and tax payers’ money devising new ways to indoctrinate pre-schoolers, our elected representatives should read this article from today’s Wall St. Journal by Gov. Jeb Bush entitled “Five Rules for School Reform.” (subs req.)Given the fact that Mass education ranks toward the bottom in student achievement and graduation rates nationally especially among minorities trapped in failing goverment run schools, the reps responsible for drafting HB 1641 should be ashamed of themselves that they are so focussed on teaching transgenderism 101 to 4-year olds instead of solving the real problems facing our children in this state:
The governor lays out five rules that our legislators should emulate:
The first rule is that when you run for office, you need to say what you’re going to do and then do what you said you would. Candidates who aren’t willing to take political risks won’t take the policy risks required to drive real change.
By taking a stand during our campaign, my running mate and I gave voters a chance to examine and debate our plan to transform Florida schools. As a result, our election came with a mandate to implement a comprehensive education reform based on high standards and expectations, clear measurement and accountability, and rewards and consequences for results
The second rule of reform is that if you don’t measure, you don’t care. You have to be willing to measure the outcome of reform and to let the world know what the real results are — the ones you’re proud of and the ones that show more work is needed.
Today, 53% of Florida students are reading at or above grade level, up from 46% in 2001. That’s 161,000 more students with this critical skill. Our graduation rate is up from 60% to 72%, our drop-out rate is down by half, and our students are making greater learning gains than their national counterparts. The biggest gains are being made by our minority students as they close the achievement gap more each year.
The third rule is that big reforms require long-term commitment. We’ve been testing 4th grade reading since the 1998-99 school year. At that time, only 51% of our 4th graders could read at grade level — two years later, the number had risen to just 53%. Now that our education reforms have been in place for six school years, 71% of all Florida 4th graders have the ability to pick up a book and read it independently. It’s the cumulative effect of incremental improvement that creates significant progress.
Another rule — the fourth — is to communicate what you’re doing, especially to parents. Education reform can only be sustained when families know it’s working. Florida gives parents a comprehensive report card tracking their child’s performance year-over-year, along with the school’s performance against state and national standards and explanations of each.
The fifth rule is that success is never final and reform is never finished. You are either in ascendance or decline, so if you aren’t moving forward you are losing ground as well as opportunities for students.
This year, Florida will introduce the largest reform package since the sweeping changes we made in 1999.
These reforms include differentiated pay and performance-based pay for teachers to attract and retain talented educators in critical subject areas, encourage them to teach in economically challenged schools and reward them for improving student performance.
For critics who claim that private choice voucher programs are ineffective the governor provides this info:
Researchers from the Manhattan Institute, Harvard and Cornell have independently studied Florida’s private school choice programs. All three studies concluded that the threat of vouchers actually creates the greatest improvement in struggling schools. Given the choice between losing students and raising the quality of education, schools rise to the challenge and make tremendous gains.
Memo to Rep. Wolf (Alice Wolf of Cambridge who is the author of HB 1641) and the rest of the liberals at the state house who are endorsing this legislation:
We elected you to reform education not use our children for your sick social experiments. Scrap the sexual indoctrination and teach our kids how to read, write, and reason effectively so they can compete in the global marketplace. That’s the the best way to achive a high standard of living and good “health.”
