Florida

Florida is a Southern state in the United States. It is known as the Sunshine State. "Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery." It was discovered by Spanish explorers during the Easter season, which is called Pascua Florida in Spanish. The U.S. Postal abbreviation is FL.

Education

Florida's public school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually ranks in the bottom 25% of U.S. states. Average teacher salaries rank near the middle of U.S. states.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Florida public schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 25% of many national surveys and average test score rankings. It should be noted that many education surveys are not scientific, but do measure prestige. Governor Jeb Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, such as the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Major testing organizations frequently discount the use of state average test score rankings, or any average of scaled scores, as a valid metric (see psychometrics for more details on scaled test scores).

Related Topics:
Jeb Bush - Standardized test - FCAT - Psychometrics

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2000, Governor Bush and the state legislature acted to abolish the Board of Regents that governed the State University System of Florida. Instead, each public university is now controlled by its own Board of Trustees who are directly appointed by the governor. As is typical of executive-appointed government boards, the appointees so far have been overwhelmingly Republican. This has not been without controversy. http://www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml In 2002, Democratic Senator Bob Graham started a ballot referendum designed to revert to the Board of Regents system.

Related Topics:
2000 - State University System of Florida - 2002 - Democratic - Bob Graham

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colleges and universities