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Democrats scoff at the governor's campaign, which highlights a record voters disapprove of.
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2002
Faced with voters skeptical of Gov. Jeb Bush's education record, the Republican Party on Tuesday launched a $2-million statewide TV campaign to reclaim education as Bush's issue.
"Not only does he value education, but he values the educator as well," says 1998 Teacher of the year Grace Williams of Jacksonville in one of two ads airing statewide. "He wants teachers to make more money, children to have better test scores, schools to be higher quality."
The ads effectively mark the start of the governor's public reelection campaign, much of which will be fought over how Florida's public schools are faring. The party bought its biggest chunk of air time in the Tampa Bay market.
But the party chose an unusual place to shoot the ads: a private Christian school in Miami. And some of the students pictured in the ads were not real students but children of friends and supporters.
The ads immediately drew fire from Democrats and the state teachers union, which has endorsed Democrat Bill McBride.
Florida Education Association President Maureen Dinnen called the ads misleading on testing and spending, and called on the governor to pull them.
State Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe said the GOP chose a private school because public school teachers, parents and students would have laughed Bush off campus if they had his claims.
A GOP spokesman downplayed the choice. "A lot of times, the public schools have different rules about campaigning on public property and that kind of thing," Republican Party spokesman Towson Fraser said.
Airing the ads now, nearly seven months before the general election, reflects both the massive amount of money the state GOP has raised and Bush's potential vulnerability on education.
Florida voters consider education far and away the most important issue, a March St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll found; and most disapprove of Bush's education record. Still, he's easily leading all Democratic candidates.
"There's widespread concern about our schools and widespread dissatisfaction with the steps the governor is and is not taking to improve our schools," said Nicole Harburger, campaign spokeswoman for Democratic candidate Janet Reno.
The Bush campaign released extensive documentation for every assertion made in both ads, but the spots are still ripe for attack by critics.
The ads boast that education spending increased $2-billion under Bush. The St. Petersburg Times reported in February that spending increased by $10.21 per student, after inflation and student growth.
Bush says in the ads that Florida needs more teachers that they should be paid well. Florida ranks 43rd in teacher-pupil ratio, and teacher pay is $5,101 below the national average.
The ads include testimonials from "teacher of the year" winners and tout dramatic improvements in student test scores.
The governor's education message has evolved slightly during the past few months. In his January state of the state speech, he hailed school improvements under his watch that are "nothing short of amazing."
Lately, he has stressed how schools were neglected by Democrats for decades but are finally turning around under his administration. His rhetoric embraces both the conservative approach of requiring more accountability through testing, and the traditionally Democratic approach of increased spending.
"We're not there yet, but we're making progress," says Bush sitting in a classroom in one of the ads. "Testing is a good start, but testing alone isn't good enough. We need more teachers, and we need to pay them well. I want education to be Florida's highest calling and everybody to play a role -- parents, teachers, students."
-- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.