Bush says House bill sets standards for pre-K too low
The bill "sends the wrong signal about the importance of literacy," he says. He expects the Senate to aim higher.
By Associated Press
Published March 23, 2004
ORLANDO - Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that a House bill's proposed standards for a statewide prekindergarten program fall short of what he would like to see.
"I'm not going to sign a bill into law that from the very beginning sends the wrong signal about the importance of literacy," Bush said after visiting an elementary school in Orlando.
Asked if he thought the House bill was below the level of standards he wanted, he said, "Yep."
The Senate has yet to unveil its prekindergarten proposal. But the governor said he is confident the Senate's version will resemble the proposal he supports.
"My prediction is that we will have a final law that will be very close to what we proposed," Bush said. "If we don't, if we get below a threshold in terms of quality that is not acceptable, we'll do it next year."
Major differences between a pre-K proposal approved by the state Board of Education last month - which Bush supports - and the amended measure sponsored by Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, include the number of hours 4-year-olds would spend in school, the amount of education and training required for pre-K teachers, the ratio of teachers per pupil and which state agency should oversee the program.
At a hastily called news conference in Tallahassee on Monday, Barreiro said, "I'm in agreement with a lot of things the governor has worked on. ... At the end of the day, I'm hoping we'll ... come to an agreement and provide the best quality education for 4-year-olds."
Barreiro also said he considered last week's comments by Miami-Dade County Mayor and Democratic Senate candidate Alex Penelas "irresponsible." Penelas said the House measure waters down the pre-K proposal to the point where it would be little more than a "babysitting program."
"I really found that to almost be like trying to intimidate the Legislature," Barreiro said. "I thought that was really an irresponsible statement by a public official."
The pre-K amendment pushed by Penelas was approved by 59 percent of voters in 2002 and provides for free "high quality" prekindergarten to 4-year-olds starting in 2005. The startup cost is estimated at $262-million.
The House bill would call for as little as 540 hours of pre-K class time over 180 school days, compared with the Board of Education plan calling for 720 hours, and would allow a student-teacher ratio of up to 18 to 1, in contrast to the board's recommendation of 10 to 1.
