Former Gov. Jeb Bush talks to Florida House members during a rare visit to the state capital.
During a rare visit to Tallahassee, former Gov. Jeb Bush told Florida lawmakers they were on the right track when they passed a "historic," but contentious, education law.
School districts have since filed three separate legal actions. The latest, and most dramatic, came this week, as nine districts asked the state Supreme Court to strike HB 7069 in its entirety.
"You know you're doing the right thing when you get sued by school districts," Bush said during a sit-down hosted by the Florida House.
Bush said the law would bring a "renaissance" to a stagnating charter school sector. Growth has slowed and fewer new charter schools are opening. More concerning, public-school student achievement seems to have flat-lined.
Among other things, the new bill is designed to help draw nationally recognized charter school operators to academically struggling areas of the state. This has long been a priority of key state policymakers.
Bush suggested that and other changes might reinvigorate Florida's public education system.
But he also recalled his experience losing the 1994 governor's race. After the election, he pushed for the charter school law, ultimately signed by Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1996. Bush then helped create one of the state's original charter schools in Miami's Liberty City. Getting bipartisan support for the new law turned out to be the easy part.
"It's a lot easier passing laws," Bush said, "than it is taking a law and turning it into a school."
In other words, the new law might not work as intended if the state's elected leaders don't make sure it's implemented properly.
And the new law isn't just about charter schools. Bush also endorsed an underrated premise beneath many of its provisions. It shifts control for many district-run schools from central offices to principals.
That includes district "Schools of Hope" that will transform their cultures while they try to turn around academic performance. It includes "Schools of Excellence." Roughly a fifth of the state's public schools will get freed from state regulations. And it includes other, contentious changes that shift control over things like Title I funds down to the school level.
"I would trust a principal — a proven principal that's a charismatic leader — over anybody outside the school about creating the right environment for children to learn," Bush said.
