There is a big difference between Governor DeSantis and Governor Sununu when it comes to improving public education. Democrats will claim that Republicans do not care about public education because they are the party of tax and spend.
All of that spending hasn’t helped public education when you look at how the United States compares to the top-performing countries. You can scroll through the TIMSS results to see that.
What would it take to improve public education in America?
We know the recipe because we saw students in Massachusetts rise to the top of the nation when they developed high-quality academic standards and tests. That recipe also included teacher training that was focused on academic quality versus the low-quality training many teachers receive in professional development today.
All of that was done prior to the national movement during the Obama administration, where academic standards were dumbed down, and dumbed down workforce training began. (Competency Based Education)
Governor DeSantis took this failed model and turned it around. Not only did they develop higher quality academic standards in Florida, they also now use one of the best tests to determine if your child is learning quality academic content. This is how you improve public education. You don’t ignore what children are learning.
In New Hampshire, Governor Sununu was never in support of Common Core when he first ran. He even hired Commissioner Frank Edelblut to run the Department of Education. So what went wrong? Why, after Governor Sununu’s tenure, are we still saddled with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards? Why did Governor DeSantis prioritize public education while Governor Sununu ignored it? That’s a good question.
When Democrats in New Hampshire claim that Republicans do not care about our public schools, they have a point. How will Republicans claim they care about this important issue?
We did get some good legislation passed by some of our Republican legislators. Students must now pass a U.S. Civics test before they graduate high school. There was legislation highlighting the importance of cursive writing and multiplication tables. But all of this came from Republican legislators who were trying to do something while the Executive branch failed to prioritize the most important tasks in front of them. FIX the ACADEMIC STANDARDS and TESTS!
None of this is easy, but DeSantis got it done. DeSantis and the rest of the Republicans in Florida can make the argument that they care about the quality of education their students receive in their public schools.
Not only did Governor Sununu fail the kids in our public schools, but he also failed the rest of the Republicans in this state who could have taken those accomplishments and shown the rest of the country that the failing public schools created by Progressive policies were addressed and fixed.
I hope Republicans will learn a lesson from Governor DeSantis. He took a lot of hits on his education policies and legislation, but in the long run, he’s helping to return public schools to a focus on academic excellence versus dumbed-down indoctrination centers.
Republicans can take the issues in public education and WIN moms over across the country. They can make this issue a Republican success story. It takes leadership.
As Joan Jacobs wisely points out in her article, Death wish: Contempt for parents will destroy public ed: “Public schools are trouble. Trust is low. Enrollment is falling. Parents are embracing new alternatives.”
Democrats are now the party that is helping to destroy public schools across the country. They are the party that is hostile to parental rights. Their solution of funneling more tax dollars into a failed system has left us in trouble on the world’s stage.
When you have to wait months to see your doctor or your care in the hospital is of poor quality because there is a shortage of medical staff, remember who was okay with sticking with dumbed-down public schools and who fought to provide a better public education for those enrolled in our public schools. We need highly educated graduates from our public schools, or we will suffer. Don’t believe me? Jacobs also wrote in her article titled: The path to nursing starts in 9th grade: Girls from lower-income families all want to be nurses, the community college dean told me. Few make it. They fail the science and math pre-reqs.
The Democrats have been failing public schooled children for years. We now have an example of someone willing to fight those powerful forces to improve public education. Hopefully, Republicans running for Governor in New Hampshire to replace Governor Sununu will learn from this failure. We already know that Democrats will do nothing to improve our public schools.
