“The sleeping giant did wake up and the state of Florida Legislature was taken aback. Educators, parents, students and local community members came together to say enough is enough. Rallies, letter writing campaigns, telephone calls, school tube videos and personal visits made an impact. The initial strategy to divert our attention by attempting to play us against each other and to put local school boards in the line of fire by having to make no-win choices lost its steam. But it isn’t over. Now they are trying a second strategy of ‘appeasement’ to continue to violate the state Constitution by inadequately funding education. Both the Senate and the House are sharing plans that appear, on the surface, to fund education at last year’s funding levels in the classroom-the hope being to quiet the giant by creating the illusion that we are no worse off than we were. But a closer look shows that there are significant flaws within both plans. The total number is not the real total number, as costs that used to be covered by other funding sources are now included in these funding packages, and there are significant trade-offs that will not sit well with parents, students, teachers and community members. The plans are also based on the assumption that we will get stimulus dollars. Still, by creating the illusion that they are ‘matching’ last year’s dollar amount, the Legislature is hoping to have accommodated the now wide awake giant. Unfortunately for them, it isn’t that easy and we are not that naive anymore. This is not a fix; this is simply a diversion to take our eye off of the ball.”

-- Michael Armbruster, principal of Ocoee High School.
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Read the blog entry and post a comment on orlandosentinel.com.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_educ...-approach-.html
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Thanks to Mark Pudlow for the clip and the lead.