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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Wednesday, December 01, 2004

"Water[ing] Down" the Standards

    Less than two weeks before Florida lawmakers try to craft a universal pre-kindergarten program, top Republican lawmakers and Gov. Jeb Bush have finally worked out key details that appear to water down the higher standards once espoused by Bush and his administration. "Pre-K plan gets downsized".

    What's happening here? Could it be politics - now that the election is over, "Jeb!" and his amen chorus don't see the issue as a priority, and its time to pay back the campaign contributors:
    Bush, after vetoing the uninspired pre-K effort by the last Legislature, has been keeping an unusually low profile this time. Two weeks ago, his own Board of Education proclaimed that it no longer wants to administer the new pre-K effort, as though the program was really child care and not education. The reversal is also peculiar in that it directly conflicts with the recommendations of Jennings' task force.

    Lawmakers, meanwhile, seem entirely too eager to let day care center operators write the law. Many of these centers may be capable of providing quality pre-K, but their business interests don't always align with the educational interests of 4-year-olds. There is a reason day care operators are fighting the requirement for teachers with degrees: virtually none of their teachers possess them. But the point of pre-K was to provide a high quality learning environment for young children, not a state-subsidized day care center.
    "Don't cheat 4-year-olds". Even the Jeb!" cheerleaders are on the issue: "Bush must not back down on quality pre-K". See also "Time To Pay Piper For Pre-K".

6:23 AM

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