Loser of the week
Jeb Bush. The Lee County School Board voted to opt out of Common Core. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a presidential contender, sued the federal government over Common Core, while Rick Scott is scrambling to distance himself from Common Core and standardized testing. Bush's strength as a presidential candidate looks much more dubious today than a few months ago, amid widespread backlash against education accountability policies closely associated with him.
In addition, even though, despite the opponents running valiant, but underfunded campaigns (Thanks to Jorge Bonilla, Michael Dreikorn, and those that ran an anti-Common Core platform in CD 26); some of Mr. Bush's preferred candidates did win, there are at least two legislative candidates and a veritable army of school board candidates who won or advanced to the general election on an anti-Common Core or anti-high stakes testing platform. They are ready to do what Lee County did, even though bullying tactics from Tallahassee may reverse that on Tuesday. Here is just a partial list (please let us know who we are missing) with more to come:
Florida House of Representatives:
District 74 - Julio Gonzalez
District 31- Jennifer Sullivan
District 31- Jennifer Sullivan
School Board
Alachua County
District 3 - Gunner Paulson (won & opposes high stakes testing)
District 5 - Rob Hyatt (won & opposes Common Core completely)
District 5 - Rob Hyatt (won & opposes Common Core completely)
Collier County
District 1 - Kelly Lichter (won & opposes Common Core completely)
District 3 - Erika Donalds (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
District 3 - Erika Donalds (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
Flagler County
District 2 - Janet McDonald (advanced and opposes Common Core completely)
Hillsborough County
District 4 - Terry Kemple (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
District 6 - Dipah Shah (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
District 6 - Dipah Shah (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
Indian River
District 1 - Shawn Frost (won over the current FSBA president & opposes Common Core completely)
District 4 - Charles Searcy (won & opposes Common Core completely)
District 4 - Charles Searcy (won & opposes Common Core completely)
Lee County
District 4 - Don Armstrong (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
Marion County
District 4 - Chase Basinger (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
District 5 - Kelly King (won & opposes Common Core completely)
District 5 - Kelly King (won & opposes Common Core completely)
Pinellas County
District 4 - Beverly Billiris (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
Suwanee County
District 5 - Ron White (won & opposes Common Core completely)