When reviewing Pinellas County School Board races, it's important to take into consideration various issues affecting the campaigns and also past performance in previous cycles. With that in mind, here are a few issues unique to PCSB campaigns:
IssuesThrough my fun boots-on-the-ground perspective, there are not exactly a whole lot of issues happening in Pinellas that aren't happening everyplace else in Florida. It's a long held belief that an effective candidate need only campaign on a triad of three issues. A sampling of what's happening:
Testing: The perennial favorite in Florida is support or criticism of the Florida A+ plan, more specifically the use of a single day of the diagnostic Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in order to determine the effectiveness of the teaching in a single school. Most career educators and curriculum experts feel that the one size fits most FCAT is detrimental to Florida schools and the fact that the state has tied a school's funding and teacher pay to this test has served to alarm them further. Passing the high school-level FCAT is a requirement for a traditional high school diploma in Florida and has resulted in several situations where honors students suffering from severe test anxiety are not able to graduate due to their poor performance. The flip side of this issue is that the FCAT presents policy makers with an objective, standardized rubric with which they may evaluate schools. Unfortunately, most elected and appointed policy makers in Florida do not have the experience or savvy necessary to understand the complex dynamics of evaluating the effectiveness of education.
Racial Issues: Since the days of segregation, desegregation, court-ordered busing, and the like, there has always been a feeling that minority students do not receive the same quality education as their white peers. This claim is substantiated by standardized test scores indicating lower average scores for minority students.
Busing and Integration: Another issue is the end of court-ordered busing. Pinellas County has implemented a school choice plan and many parents have opted to send their children to neighborhood schools, oftentimes within walking distance of their home. Facially, this is a convenient arrangement and is seen as an avenue to increase parent involvement. However, it is necessary to take this in the context of Pinellas' demographics. Historically, black residents have tended to live in a few concentrated neighborhoods. This means that there is a distinct possibility that some neighborhood schools may wind up to be majority black or almost entirely black.
Budget: Pinellas County schools are facing a massive budget shortfall. Enough said.
Clayton Wilcox: The Superintendent, Dr. Clayton Wilcox recently announced that he was departing his position for a job as a Vice President of Scholastic Education. Before you jump to conclusions about inside deals, the Times did some research and found no indication of inside deals of preferential business dealings. The School Board must now complete a nationwide search in order to find a new candidate for this position. In the meantime, the School District is without a permanent administrative leader.
Next up is a discussion of voter behavior in these this and other nonpartisan races in Pinellas County.
