BY BLUE KAUFMAN
Education Week Magazine recently released its annual Quality Counts statewide education rankings, giving the state of Florida an overall grade of C+ for the school year of 2011.
Every year Education Week judges each state in the following categories: chance for success, teaching, transitions and alignments, standard assessments and accountability, and school finance. Compared to the other 50 states, Florida now ranks at number 11, a 5-point decrease from the last survey.
Florida’s drop in rank can be attributed to the finance portion and per-student funding. All of the states must provide each individual student with a sum of money that is used for supplies, teaching and many other academic factors. New York spends $16,922 per pupil. However, Florida spends $8,963 and is ranked at number 47 for per-student spending in the nation. Because of this frustrating gap, Florida earned a “D” in overall spending and an “F” in per student spending. Within the last three years, the Florida Legislature has cut $4 billion from Florida’s education budget.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, 87% of Florida parents believe that not enough money is being spent on their children’s education. Sophomore Jessie Feinstein, who transferred to CCHS from Virginia this year, noticed the difference.
“My school in Virginia definitely had more supplies than the schools here in Florida,” Feinstein said. “My teachers could print out our assignments, sometimes large packets, and hand them out to us without a problem”.
Though Florida was found lacking in some areas, it exceled in others. Florida scored an “A” (95.4) in Standards, Assessments, & Accountability and ranked 5th in the nation in these categories. One of Florida’s strengths is testing and students are commonly given preparation for standardized tests in almost every subject.
“Each year Florida has notable testing scores,” Education Commissioner Ron Davis said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “However these kids are constantly having FCAT drilled into their minds as being the most important aspect of learning, and I believe that this detracts from Florida’s education as a whole.”
Here are some of Florida’s individual grades in the survey:
C Chance for Success
C- Achievement
A Assessments
D+ Finance/Funding
F Spending
D College readiness
