The people of Florida in 2002 voted and approved class size limits in Florida to make sure that the State pays for smaller class sizes and not local districts.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think our voters have made it clear. Unless someone can demonstrate to me that having larger class sizes is better than having smaller class sizes, I'm not going to support it.
There's been an unfortunate history of efforts to make sure Florida's votes don't count. Given that history, it's clear why people here would be especially concerned about efforts undertaken by Super PACs and the corporations that fund them to dictate the outcome of elections.
To help the parents make the choice of which school to send their child to, I would insist that schools are graded on a simple basis that parents can understand, A through F. The way Florida is done.
A strong accountability system needs to broaden, not narrow, the curriculum. That cannot happen if you only have accountability without adequate school funding. Until Tallahassee understands the need to raise the bar as well as the financial investment, Florida will continue to celebrate mediocrity at the expense of true achievement.
Florida is one of the first states that sort of gives the legislature a very clear criteria for re-drawing electoral district maps. Basically, all the criteria do is tell the legislators that you can't draw a seat that helps yourself or a political party. That's really critical.
The Florida Supreme Court wanted all the legal votes to be counted. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, did not want all the votes to be counted.
Election victories increasingly depend on factors other than who votes, or tries to vote, and for whom. In 2000, the presidency was awarded by the Supreme Court, pre-empting the count of thousands of Florida votes.
Of course there are critics who believe that no matter what we do, the Florida dream is over. They claim that we must accept the idea that inevitably our future is one of high taxes and big government.
I'm going to work with the Senate and the House to make sure we have a bill that lowers tuition for all Floridians.
Students who have spent their childhood here in Florida deserve to qualify for the same in-state tuition rate at universities their peers and classmates do.