Blog

Education

Jeb Bush Addresses CT Education Reform at CPI Forum

  • Sep 20, 2012
  • CT Policy Institute

Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida from 1999-2007 and chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, today met with many of Connecticut’s business, education and political leaders at a Connecticut Policy Institute forum, "Reforming Connecticut's Schools: Lessons from Other States."  The forum took place at the GE corporate headquarters in Fairfield, CT.

Governor Bush spoke on the importance of education reform for the nation's future and laid out four essential ingredients that have proppelled successful reform efforts in other states: accountability, effective teachers in the classroom, school choice and higher expectations.  

The results of Governor Bush's education reform record speak or themselves. Between 2000 and 2007, only one state improved its graduation rate more than Florida, and between 2003 and 2009, no state made a bigger jump in eight grade reading. These gains were particularly pronounced for minority students.  The percentage of black students scoring basic or better on the 4th grade NAEP reading test increased from 31% in 1998 to 56% in 2009.  And the percentage for Hispanic students increased from 46% to 71%, putting them nearly on-par with their Caucasian peers.

Governor Bush stressed that meaningful education reform doesn't come easily.  "When there’s a conflict" between student leaning and status quo interests, he stated, "you fight."

A full video of the event is available at this link