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Suncoast Pasco News

A Real Bargain

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: January 10, 2009

This week Gov. Charlie Crist missed a deadline to challenge a court ruling that held the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission violated the section of the state constitution that says only school boards can control public schools. The Legislature created the Schools of Excellence Commission to give charter schools an alternative to being nit-picked to death by local school districts. The districts, after all, are the folks with whom the charters are supposed to compete in providing quality education to Florida young people.

Unless the Legislature rewrites the Schools of Excellence law and the new version withstands the inevitable next court challenge, we're stuck with no alternative to the public school status quo. So it was heartening to read that Education Week magazine this week gave Florida public schools a B-minus grade, up from a C-plus last year. The national average is a straight C.

Education Week, however, says Florida is one of the worst states when it comes to public school spending, at roughly $1,000 per pupil below the national average. That means we don't spend as much on public schools as the magazine's editors think we should.

We think this again calls into question the widely held notion that spending a lot more money on public education is the only way to increase student performance. In these days of financial turmoil it's good to know Florida public education is a relative bargain.

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