Importance of education in Florida

Florida Budget

For all its talk of being a world leader and one of the richest countries in education, the United States is doing poorly when compared to other developed nations. A report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that came out just this past November states that the "United States is no longer the world leader in secondary education." It only places 18th among the 36 nations examined. Moving toward the top of the list is South Korea, where 93% of high school students graduate on time compared with the U.S., where only 75% receive their diplomas.

Given the fact that "knowledge" is supposedly the product of the 21st century, this news is very disconcerting. How can the U.S. be a strong competitor when its products are second to so many other countries? Economists are worried about these results: The United States has rested on its laurels way too long," Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington stated. "Other countries have increasingly caught up and surpassed the United States." Richard Freeman, a Harvard economics professor adds: "We've been asleep for a good number of years as a country. it's not that we're doing horrible. But the other guys are moving faster." Forty-six countries across the globe are in the midst of a major effort, through the "Bologna Process," to create what can be called a common market for higher education. Country rankings reflect the nations' interest to see how they compare to the world's best role models and eventually join them in the United States, despite of the federal "No Child Left Behind Act" which was passed several years ago, most of the advancement (or lack thereof) of education comes from the state level. Today's poor economic climate does not bode well for the states. Even before the stock market fell, the states were struggling to maintain status quo with their education budgets. Unfortunately, Florida is a prime example of such budget concerns. This is not good news, considering that Florida ranks 30th of all states in 4th Grade reading and mathematics and an abysmal 39th in 8th grade reading and math, according to the U.S. Department of Education Nation's Report Card, the national assessment of educational progress. NAEP assessments are valuable tools, because they use the same sets of test booklets across the nation and act as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts. Basically, the assessment stays the same from year to year, with only carefully documented changes. This allows NAEP to offer a clear snap shot of student academic progress over time.

Just today, January 15, 2009, what was feared by many over the past several months would occur in Florida has come true. The biggest bite of budget cuts, $466 million, is to come from public school and pre-kindergarten programs. In addition, the state's higher-education programs will see about $184 million in cuts. Daytona State College, alone, will lose about $2.1 million.

Besides the immediate impacts such short-sidedness will bring in daily educational programming, is the much more devastating long-term effects. When children do not do well in second grade, that poverty of education follows them throughout all of their years of schooling, and eventually hits the state hard when the students graduate. These are the country's future leaders that are being educationally starved. What does that mean for the state of Florida and of the country as a whole?