It's Time to Benchmark Florida's Public Schools Against Other States

Florida's Constitution requires a high-quality system of public schools. But comparing ourselves to other states reveals that we're shortchanging our students.

By: Jon Mills

No function of civilization is more revered and considered more important than passing on knowledge to the next generation. We Americans have expressed that sentiment since the early days of our republic, and we continue valuing it today through gradual expansions of access to schooling from prekindergarten through college.

In Florida, we spend more on public education than on any other function of state government. In the past decade, citizens have passed three constitutional amendments seeking better schools. But are we getting our money's worth? Has the state met our demands as citizens for a high-quality education for our kids?

Those questions were addressed over the past year during the deliberations of a bipartisan study group, the Constitutional Accountability Commission, on which I served.

The commission, co-sponsored by the Florida School Boards Association and Florida TaxWatch, issued its report and recommendations in September.

In 1998, the people of Florida made a major change in defining the state’s duty to provide public education when it revised the state Constitution. The Constitution now says that education is “a fundamental value” and “a paramount duty” of the state. In addition to establishing this high priority accorded to public education, the Constitution sets a high standard by which to judge the state’s performance. The state must adequately provide for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high-quality system that allows students to obtain a high-quality education.

Providing Mediocre Schools is Not AcceptableThis provision has been called the most rigorous and demanding constitutional standard for public education in the United States by experts in the field. What does it mean? As one of the drafters of the provision on the 1998 Constitution Revision Commission, I can tell you what it was not intended to condone: Providing a mediocre public school system is unacceptable.
So in 2005 where do we stand compared to other states? Are we at a high- quality level, as required by the state Constitution?

It is difficult to answer that question definitively if one looks solely at Florida students’ performance on Florida-specific measures such as the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Nor is it possible to evaluate the entire public school system of the state, or the performance of the legislature and others in providing for public schools, only by measuring ourselves from one year to the next. While those year-to-year comparisons are useful, it also is fair--and necessary--to compare our state to others to determine high quality.

As the commission report said, although Florida has developed good internal accountability measures, “No standards have been adopted…by which Florida benchmarks its educational performance against the rest of the nation.”

An equivalent situation in business might be that of a business owner who discovers that despite yearly increases in production in one factory, that factory nevertheless fails to match the production of competitors.

Because Florida is a rich and prosperous state, we should aspire to be among the top school systems in the country and indeed the world. Increasingly, our children must compete with students from other states and other countries.
To be fair, Florida faces some challenges beyond those of other states: rapid population growth, growing demand for multilingual education and an increase in the number of students with disabilities. Regardless of the challenges, however, how well are we performing in preparing our children for their challenges of the future?

Benchmarks for Comparison: Florida’s Performance is Weak TodayTo answer that question, the Constitutional Accountability Commission identified 10 performance benchmarks (measuring student learning) and four funding benchmarks by which Florida’s public education system should be evaluated. Data for the benchmarks come from respected sources such as the nationwide National Assessment of Education Progress, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Conference Board.

Following are the benchmarks and Florida’s latest ranking among the states for which comparable data is available:

• Fourth-grade reading, 31st of 50;
• Fourth-grade math, 32nd of 50;
• Eighth-grade reading, 41st of 50;
• Eighth-grade math, 38th of 50;
• High-school graduation rate, 50th of 50;
• ACT scores, 19th of 25;
• SAT scores, 22nd of 25;
• Students completing bachelor’s degree within six years, 27th of 50;
• Students returning for the second year of study at two-year colleges, 1st of 45;
• Median pupil-teacher ratio in primary grades, 38th of 48;
• Expenditure per student, 46th of 50;
• Average teacher salary, adjusted for cost of living, 31st of 50;
• Average beginning teacher salary, adjusted for cost of living, 13th of 50;
• Appropriations for higher education per $1,000 of personal income, 28th of 50.