Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Shutting Down The Federal Department of Education ... Good Or Bad For Public Education?

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Shutting Down The Federal Department of Education ... Good Or Bad For Public Education? · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: City Foxes who Gosman America's listening to Fox News.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: The Morning Show with Preston Scott.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Does mother no you wear eth herdrepes.
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  Speaker 2: On News Radio one hundred point SEVENUFLA.
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  Speaker 3: Thirty six minutes past Morning Show with Preston Scott. You
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  Speaker 3: heard me ask the question of congress Woman Kat Camick.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: I think one of the big stories in the press box.
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  Speaker 3: I understand Trump loves to just pick and tease with
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  Speaker 3: the media. I just think you have to pick and
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: choose your battles. When the media does something falsely, that's
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  Speaker 3: when I think you're combative with the media. You point
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  Speaker 3: out the falsehood and you drop the hammer on him.
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  Speaker 3: But you can't you can't have it both ways. You
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  Speaker 3: can't toy with the media and throw out something like
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  Speaker 3: a third term, which is absurd, and not expect the
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  Speaker 3: media to jump all over it and turn it into
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  Speaker 3: an issue. And that I think distracts. I think to
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  Speaker 3: talk about Greenland, imagine you're the people of Greenland. For
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  Speaker 3: a second, You're I mean, it's almost as if you're
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  Speaker 3: being talked about like you're part of a lego set.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's remarkably distracting to the overall goal
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  Speaker 3: of what you're trying to accomplish. All right, thirty seven
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  Speaker 3: minutes past the hour, haven't had this gentleman with us
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  Speaker 3: in as they like to say, in a minute joining
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  Speaker 3: us Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida. He's
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  Speaker 3: manny is manny?
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  Speaker 2: How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Good morning? Doing great to be with you. How are
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  Speaker 1: you doing?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing well.
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  Speaker 3: I'm curious to get your take on the effort to
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  Speaker 3: dismantle the Department of Education. For those who aren't in
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  Speaker 3: your world, you know, this is what you do for
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  Speaker 3: a living. You're in the midst of it all, explain
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  Speaker 3: what difference would be made by the ending of the
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  Speaker 3: Department of Education.
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  Speaker 1: Really just a huge benefit to the states. I mean
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people they hear Department of Education and
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  Speaker 1: think that the Department of Education has actually been involved
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  Speaker 1: in improving the education and dealing with kids in our country.
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  Speaker 1: But they haven't. It's really just a large bureaucracy who's
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  Speaker 1: been used, especially by the Biden administration and other Democratic administrations,
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  Speaker 1: to really impose the will of the federal government on states.
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  Speaker 1: And we all know that education is a responsibility that
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  Speaker 1: belongs to this and how do they do it. They
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  Speaker 1: use the per strings. They put strings attached to those
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  Speaker 1: dollars that are appropriated by Congress, and they try to
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  Speaker 1: get states to do things like allow you know, men
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  Speaker 1: to play in women's sports, which is what the Biden
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  Speaker 1: administration's you know, final push was before they kind of
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  Speaker 1: get out of office there. So it's really not something
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  Speaker 1: that has an actual effect. The dollars are still appropriated
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  Speaker 1: by Congress. They are coming to the states. We will
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  Speaker 1: have a lot more flexibility on how to use those
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  Speaker 1: dollars appropriately within the state. And so that's really the
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  Speaker 1: big difference. It's a net positive.
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  Speaker 3: And I mean it would be fair to say that
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  Speaker 3: not just that there's more money. If X amount of
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  Speaker 3: dollars is allocated to education in America through the federal government,
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  Speaker 3: we don't have a bleed off of any of that
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  Speaker 3: money to run a bureaucracy.
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  Speaker 1: That's correct. And I mean, look, if you really kind
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  Speaker 1: of a dose theory, if you really wanted to take
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  Speaker 1: a deep dive into those dollars and how they've been
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  Speaker 1: used going back to the Carter administration when this was created,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to be very disappointed. So I think people
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  Speaker 1: have the misunderstanding that these dollars have all flowed down
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  Speaker 1: into the classroom, have been used to educate our kids.
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  Speaker 1: And so, you know, you hear those same folks saying
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  Speaker 1: what we need is more money. No, we spend more
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  Speaker 1: than almost any country in the world on education, but
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  Speaker 1: we're not getting great results. Part of that is because
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  Speaker 1: of this bureaucracy. Again. You know, you take someone something
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  Speaker 1: like Title one funding, which is supposed to come from
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  Speaker 1: the federal government down to help schools and students that
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  Speaker 1: are of low income improve performance. Well, when you're siphoning
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  Speaker 1: off a good portion of those dollars to have to
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  Speaker 1: build a bureaucracy at the district level just to respond
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  Speaker 1: to the needs of what the federal government is asking for,
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  Speaker 1: kind of defeats the purpose doesn't appress me. It's not
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  Speaker 1: really getting into that classroom to help those students. And
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  Speaker 1: so we hope and we're starting to see notifications from
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  Speaker 1: the United States Department of Education now under Trump and
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  Speaker 1: Linda of mcmmon that is giving us more flexibility. We're
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  Speaker 1: inquiring us to push that flexibility so that we can
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  Speaker 1: get those dollars into the classroom and helping our students
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  Speaker 1: here in Florida.
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  Speaker 3: Commissioner, Many Diaz Commissioner stand by. He'll be back with
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  Speaker 3: us one more segment here in the morning show with
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  Speaker 3: Preston Scott for plumbing emergencies.
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  Speaker 4: Still seeing a couple of accidents. One on Centerville Road
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  Speaker 4: at Centerville Place. Also on it in eastbound after Mayhan
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  Speaker 4: over on the right shoulder at mil mark er two ten.
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  Speaker 4: And from nine am until noon there's going to be
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  Speaker 4: a temporary lane closure on Centerville Road just west of
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  Speaker 4: Blairstone Road. And from nine am until four there's going
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  Speaker 4: to be a temporary lane closure on Sixth Avenue between
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  Speaker 4: Terrace and Mitchell Street. From the traffic Center. I'm shay tab.
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  Speaker 5: Needed rainfall yesterday, now a drier stretch of weathers starting
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  Speaker 5: today through the rest of the week. Lots of clouds
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  Speaker 5: this morning and a sprinkler two possible will turn out
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  Speaker 5: partly cloudy, warmer eighty four eighty six tomorrow. I've used
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: radio one hundred point seven WFLA s Terry Smith in
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: the Weather Channel forecast Center.
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  Speaker 6: Because some people like the truth. Use radio one hundred
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• 6:22
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• 6:31
  Speaker 6: Dizzy from the spin, don't know what to believe? Clear
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: the fog. The Morning Show with Preston Scott on NewsRadio
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  Speaker 6: one hundred point seven WFLA.
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  Speaker 3: Taking time away from a very busy schedule. Commissioner of
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  Speaker 3: Education for the State of Florida, Manny Diez, Commissioner, what
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  Speaker 3: are the priorities for you in the legislative session?
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  Speaker 1: But we don't have a huge bills this year in
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  Speaker 1: the legislative session. There's been a lot of big things
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  Speaker 1: done in Florida the last few years. There are a
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  Speaker 1: few bills moving through there that provide some tweaks for
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  Speaker 1: the scholarship program, just the logistics of it and how
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  Speaker 1: we get it rolled out as is now five hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty thousand students participating in that. We also like
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  Speaker 1: to see some streamlining when it comes to teacher certification
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  Speaker 1: and some of the other things that we just do
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  Speaker 1: and day in and day out, just to try to
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  Speaker 1: make it better for our districts to be able to
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  Speaker 1: recruit teachers and make it easier and make more sense
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  Speaker 1: for our teachers when they get in the classroom to
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  Speaker 1: have the right training and right certification. So we're really
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  Speaker 1: just looking overall at how we continue to improve our
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  Speaker 1: choice landscape, how we continue to improve teacher recruitment. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: the governor has come out again with the budget proposal
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  Speaker 1: that includes increasing teacher salaries and investing in teacher salaries,
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  Speaker 1: so we know that's important. We also know it's very
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  Speaker 1: important that we maintain our options for families and students
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  Speaker 1: and continue to thrive with our choice landscape here in Florida.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it's a good balance and that's kind
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  Speaker 1: of what we're looking at.
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  Speaker 3: One of the proposals I discussed in the last few
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  Speaker 3: days was one that would change that the graduation standards,
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  Speaker 3: removing a couple of the standardized barriers, namely, I think
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  Speaker 3: the biggest one, problematically to me, is the one of
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  Speaker 3: regarding algebra one. I just I think they're roughly half
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  Speaker 3: the students just are not mathematically inclined, and I think
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  Speaker 3: it's a kind of a silly requirement, especially when you
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  Speaker 3: apply it in GED settings. What are your thoughts on that, Well, Look, I.
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  Speaker 1: Think we have to have a requirement for math. We
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  Speaker 1: have to have a measurement right by which we're saying,
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  Speaker 1: we're giving us students of Florida high school diploma and
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  Speaker 1: we're expecting that they are going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: read in tenth grade level, which is what we're telling
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  Speaker 1: our folks when they graduate. I think there has to
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  Speaker 1: be requisite in math. And you know, some people will argue,
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  Speaker 1: is that algebra is a geometry? What is it? And
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  Speaker 1: some folks will tell you, well, you you know, do
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  Speaker 1: you use algebra the rest of your life? The truth
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  Speaker 1: is you do. It's the logic that you learn. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's the process of logic. You may not be doing equations,
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  Speaker 1: but I guarantee you that throughout your day there are
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  Speaker 1: there are equations you go through in your head using
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  Speaker 1: logic to to get answers to things, even if it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't look like an algebraic equation. So I think there's
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  Speaker 1: there's a you need to have a minimum math requirement
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  Speaker 1: when you're when you're saying you're going to give a
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  Speaker 1: student a graduation, a diploma from the State of Florida
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  Speaker 1: high school diploma, and so you also a lot of
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  Speaker 1: these students are going into the world has changed, as
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  Speaker 1: you know, and a lot of students are opting not
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  Speaker 1: to go to the traditional four year route universities. They're
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  Speaker 1: they're opting to go into the state college system and
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  Speaker 1: look into credentials to stack credentials to go into things
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  Speaker 1: like well electricity and all those things. Right, And I
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  Speaker 1: think it's important that students have a base when they
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  Speaker 1: do that. But they're all, you know, students have multiple
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  Speaker 1: ways that they can master that, including some alternative examinations.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think, look, if you look at our
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  Speaker 1: graduation rate, Preston, it's the highest it's ever been non COVID,
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  Speaker 1: you know, right we had during COVID the tests were suspended.
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  Speaker 1: We're almost at ninety percent graduation, which is the highest
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  Speaker 1: it's eighty nine point seven highest the state has had.
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  Speaker 1: So this is you know, students are graduating. It's not
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  Speaker 1: stopping them from graduating. They're just having some students are
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  Speaker 1: having to go through a process of remediation and getting there.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it's important that we don't if we're
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  Speaker 1: not getting students to the bar, that we don't think
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  Speaker 1: we just remove the bar just because students can't get there.
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  Speaker 1: Don't underestimate students. We're able to get them there.
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  Speaker 3: Manny, Thanks for the time today. Look forward to having
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  Speaker 3: you back sometime soon. Appreciate the work you're doing.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you great, great for having me on.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you Missioner Many Diaz this morning Florida Department of
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  Speaker 3: Education and our guest on the Morning Show with Preston
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  Speaker 3: Scott