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Bush, Perdue praise Obama's education program

October 30, 2009 —

With the Georgia-Florida game coming up the following day, it wasn’t surprising Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue would begin an educational forum featuring former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Friday with a scoreboard reference.

“Frankly, a scoreboard is nothing more than being honest with one’s self,” Perdue said. “I’m optimistic (about the upcoming game in Jacksonville) but at the end of the day there’s going to be a scoreboard to tell us how well we did against Florida.”

The message from both Republican governors was that the same principle should be applied to educational standards. At the morning conference, sponsored by Bush’s group, the Foundation for Excellence in Education in partnership with the Center for an Educated Georgia and the Heritage Foundation, Bush and other speakers made the case for results-based reforms, citing impressive statistics mapping progress since the reforms Bush instituted as governor.

Minority and low-income students have made some of the most impressive gains since the reforms, in which student progress is tested frequently, standards are raised as the overall school system shows improvement, and schools are graded by their ability to educate students.

Florida’s low-income students are now outpacing the average of all public school students in California, and the Florida average for all students is now tied with that of California students from middle to upper-income students in California. Florida’s Hispanic students now score higher than Georgia’s students overall, and African-American and Hispanic students have made big strides as measured by Advanced Placement and SAT test scores.

While the conference was nonpartisan – Bush declined to take any questions about his own political ambitions – it had a decidedly conservative tilt. But both Perdue and Bush were enthusiastic in their praise for what the Obama administration and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have done so far, particularly the Race to the Top competition in which the states compete for $4.3 billion in federal stimulus money by adopting education reforms.

“What I hear from this administration is exhilarating,” Perdue said.

Perdue suggested the administration's approach was "in synch" with what he and Bush were doing in education. Bush later concurred with that assessment.

“I have to admit I’m disturbed about the dramatic expansion of government in Washington these days, but in this one area I think both the secretary and the president have done an excellent job,” Bush said.

As an example, the former Florida governor noted that 15 states still have laws which prohibit student achievement data from being used to evaluate teacher performance, but several states are rescinding these laws in order to qualify for the federal money.

“It’s encouraging to see that they are sticking to their guns,” Bush said. “But for the president and the secretary advocating that, it wouldn’t happen.”

Asked how his views about education reform have evolved over the years he’s been involved in the issue, Bush said he felt his belief in school choice has been validated. But he said his views on local control as “the mantra of a more effective education system” have changed somewhat, “Having seen how local school districts resist change unless there is some power to get them to have an open mind about these things.”

Bush said he now believes there should be a balance of local and state influence in education, and he now also believes there should be a federal role.

“I’m less worried about the federal government’s involvement because this is a national security issue in my mind,” Bush said. “A decade from now if we haven’t improved our educational outcomes, we will not be competitive.”