More Bush BS - Sponsored by Waltons

Plug your nose before reading this recent Jeb Bush verbal excretion. From 2TheAdvocate:

Wednesday’s talk by the former Florida governor was organized by Baton Rouge Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister and sponsored by the Bentonville, Ark.-based Walton Family Foundation.

After leaving office in 2007, Jeb Bush launched his own education organization in Florida, the Foundation for Excellence in Education, on which he serves as president and chairman. From that platform, Bush has continued to advocate across the country for the conservative “free market” education reforms he promoted in Florida.

Bush said changes in public education undertaken by Florida since 1999 have been successful and should serve as a model for other states, including Louisiana, which he noted is on a similar track.

He said strong reforms like Florida’s have five components: accountability with a “hard edge,” tougher and more-focused academic standards, increased school choice, more-effective teachers and greater use of instructional technology.

[Ken's note: by "instructional technology," does Jebby Boy mean something like his brother's COWs disaster?]

...

“I’m either really blinded or just believe in free markets so much,” he said. “I don’t see why this is such a controversial thing or courageous or extreme or other things I was accused of.”

During the question-and-answer session, Bush noted that Florida had to keep a tighter rein on quality as it expanded school choice and made sure charter and private schools were financially stable. He urged avoiding such pitfalls because early problems make it easier for critics.

“They use the failure of one school to try to destroy school choice across the entire state,” Bush said.

He did note that the “Berlin Wall is cracking,” crediting President Barack Obama for pushing states like Louisiana to start measuring teacher performance, over the resistance of teacher unions.

“If you build a first-class educational system, a lot of the other problems you face will seem small in comparison,” Bush said. “People will come, investors will come, capital will come. People that want to be in creative communities will come, too.”

Yes, Jeb, your endless faith in free-markets - especially when applied to social problems - is testament to your inability to imagine the common good. Maybe Jeb can join hand with Mayor Bloomberg (below) and encourage all students to pledge an unwavering faith to the free-market system that is incapable of tackling issues like global climate change, gross social inequity, and endless imperial wars.

The h/t for this story goes to Douglas Crets, Tom Vander Ark's right hand man and EdReformer blogger. And - surprise, surprise - the EdReformer webpage was "incubated by New Schools venture Fund with support from a donor committed to innovations in learning."