People need to realize that we DO NOT have a health care problem! It is the health insureres that are out of control. Their lobbyists control the congress and senate. Once we dunp the lobbyist and our elected officals stop taking "gifts" all this nonsense will stop.

WE need to take these insurance companies in hand! They are the root of the problem!!!!

If Obama was a white guy there would not be all this hoopla! Remember on 9/11 when the idiot Bush was in a classroom in Tampa and the kid was reading him the book because Bush cannot read beyond a 4th grade level???
At least Obama wants to see the graduation rate rise and stop all this welfare!

Hey, I wonder of Sonia Sotomayer wanted to give the students a speech if this would happen???

Frankly, I am in California and trying to get out to Nevada! I originally came here from Florida first MISTAKE! The high taxes, illegals that sucked the budget bone dry and yet demand rights. The "me and I am entitled attitude" is horrid and everyone want to be a star!
My experiences in Nevada have been nothing but pleasant in all my 100+ trips. People are friendly, polite, caring and will lend a hand even if asked for directions.

Yes, every area has crime but here in the LA area just turn on your TV and all you read about is shooting after shooting. Just shooting everything up like Little Texas!

Doing price comparisons even in the supermarket Nevada is so much cheaper. I just hope that the great state of Nevada stays that way!

NCLB has to go. It has created a climate where teachers have to teach to a test! I am not saying that a measurment it not needed but NCLB abuses it.

Look at New York State where they have had regents for the past 150 years.(I am a proudct of the NYC schools and tuaght there for many years!) They are so successful (not every system is foolproof and I am sure that there are flaws)that New York State has ranked #1 for well over 50 years. They must be doing something right!

Parents need to take an interest in tneir child's education and not think that the school districts are highly paid babysitting services.

We also have to give students more real life skills instead of all this useless book knowledge that they are never going to use. Bring back BUsiness/Vocational Education so kids can function in the real world. EVeryone has to work and should be taught good work habits and ethics!

Not everyone is going to college and will make bucks. Remember the guy who fixes your car is good for 60+ per year, the air conditioning contractor you call to your homesgets $85.00 just to say I am here, then the charges begin!

Get real folks not everyone is going to be a doctor or lawyer. NCLB has to go!

I hope I am one of the 200 hired!

You do not play by the rules bye bye you freeloader!

Once again Mr. Gibbons you have avoided most of my thoughts and questions as most folks in think tanks do, Numbers look great on paper but practical experience is the best teacher. Let me input that from experience some of these numbers can be altered to look anyway the districts want them too!

I would like to know how many years you have spent in the classroom on the k-12 level and what areas you an expert in? My expereince in the classroom and administrative areas speaks enough after 20+ years!

Once again 3000-4000 teachers leave Florida every year. Florida once again has the highest teacher turnover rate in the nation!

All these stats look great on paper, so now why does Florida have the highest teacher turnover rate in the nation? As I mentioned 3000-4000 teachers leave the state each year? I know I was one of them after 20+ years.

Florida colleges have more remediation courses for freshman than anywhere in the nation. Students are not being prepared for college but dam it they can pass that test to get the dollars into the schools. Your missing the point!

The white population are running out of Southern Florida in alarming numbers. Dade and Broward are now over 65% hispanic.

Like I mentioned unless you have lived and taught in the South Florida area all you have is numbers to go on. Take a position (if you can get one) for a while and see everything in action!

Patrick:

I understand that you are reading charts and data, everything looks wonderful on paper, but the end result on the middle and high school levels are not cutting it. Unless you have spent time in the system and have experienced the lack of education going on EXCEPT to teach to that test nothing is being accomplished. Did you read my comment about college and remediation courses? I taught middle and high school in Florida for over 20 years. I could NOT teach my curriculum because I had to teach to the test to get the scores that you reference and the dollars at stake for the school!!!!!

Every teacher gets test prep books and scripted lesson plans to take them through the first six months. Heaven forbid you stray from the lesson plans! Schools spend money they do not have on pep rallies and incentives so the students will come to school and pass.

In the 20 plus years in the Florida system I have seen education go down the tubes because no teaching is going on! As I mentioned, every wonder why Florida has the largest teacher turnover rate in the nation? School population and families are moving out of the state and heading to Georgia and points north because of the poor educational system.

These students can not make it in the real world because they have no real life skills etc. But dam it they can tell you all about taking the FCAT! (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test) we called it FCRAP!

I am all for accountabilty and assessment but Florida and other states have it all wrong! Take a hard look at NY, NJ and Ct. They have had state regents for over 100 years and rank in the top 5 in the nation. If Nevada wants to model take a look at NY, NYC for some real education.

It is a shame to compare Florida to Nevada. Florida is 49 in education and has the lowest standards in the nation. Teachers are leaving Florida at the rate of 3000-4000 per year because of poor salary, benefits and conditions.

They cannot even recruit teachers from within the US but go to China, Japan, South America and the near east. This is these folks ticket into the US. These folks cannot even read and write English correctly and they are teaching! Florida also has the lowest certification requirements in the US

Teachers in Florida DO NOT teach! They teach to state standardized tests from August-March! No curriculum is taught because each student must past the test because each school is graded and given a dollar award to be split among the staff depending on the outcome of the tests.

Florida has also bascially done away with all Business/Career, Technical and Vocational Edcuation because everyone MUST pass these state tests. Most students entering the college system in Florida must go through remediation courses in college because they are so ill prepared. A Florida student has problems getting into an out of state school because all students in Florida can do is take state tests!

I taught in South Florida for over 20 years and finally got out. Please please do not let the fine state of Nevada short change their students by following Florida. It would be a death sentence!!!

Nevada strives on the tourist industry, imagine turning out students who cannot do basic skills but than can take a state test!

I hope that the parents and educators of this finie state will not let this happen! You want to raise standards not lower them!