Parent not so easily led.

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Parent: Florida’s high rank doesn’t mean education is top quality

Denise-Marie Balona

Last week, I wrote about a new report from Education Week magazine that ranks Florida’s public-education system 8th in the nation.

At the time, I tried to interview some of the people who recently filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that Florida doesn’t adequately fund public schools or provide a high-quality education. The people I contacted, though, either didn’t call me back or declined to comment for my article.

Well, one of the parents who helped start the group Fund Education Now, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, got back to me this morning. So I wanted to share some of her thoughts with you.

Orlando mom Kathleen Oropeza said she had needed time to analyze the report, called “Quality Counts,” and speak with the researchers who wrote it.

In the e-mail she sent me, she stresses that Florida’s high ranking is based partly on the fact that it has a lot of policies in place meant to improve schools and teachers.

Student test scores are roughly average, however, according to the report. And Florida is near the bottom in terms of education funding.

“Legislators who latch onto a study like Quality Counts as ’see, I told you so’ proof that public education in Florida is the best it can be are not doing their homework,” Oropeza wrote in the e-mail. “Being ranked 8th in our ability to set standards and policies is nice, but it’s not evidence that Florida makes public education a priority nor does it reflect performance.”

She added: “We’ve got to stop kidding ourselves. No study is going to mitigate the fact that we have a mighty problem here. ”