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Rick Scott Fails to Lead on Education, Sides With Far Right

“Like so many times before, Florida’s students, teachers, and parents are collateral damage of Rick Scott’s Tea Party pandering,” said FDP Chair Allison Tant

Tallahassee, FL — Yesterday, Rick Scott offered voters yet another failure on education. In his latest reversal, Rick Scott is now against the PARCC testing he advocated last year as a system that “will accurately measure whether our students are learning the skills they need to succeed in college and their careers.”

But when the political pressure rose on Common Core, Scott instinctively ran back to his Tea Party base, offering wholly unsubstantiated claims about federal government intruding on Florida’s education system. This is despite his endorsement of Common Core last August. This is despite his own Department of Education, which “debunks all the rumors of federal intrusion through Common Core,” as the Tampa Bay Times’ John Romano reports.  

By isolating Florida from the other states, Rick Scott isn’t just hurting our children. He’s hurting Florida’s economic competitiveness, because states whose education systems are unable to be systematically evaluated will lose the tough competition between states new jobs.

“Rick Scott is isolating Florida from the rest of the country, depriving parents of any means to compare their kids’ performance to other states. The bipartisan consensus around high standards and commonsense testing is strong, it is what Floridians want, and it is what Common Core provided. But, like so many times before, Florida’s students, teachers, and parents are collateral damage of Rick Scott’s Tea Party pandering,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant.

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