Poll: Voters skeptical about Florida's Racist Education Proposals
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In photo Florida Lt. Governor, Jennifer Carroll who serves as Gov. Rick Scott's Pet Negro in Charge. Amid national public outcry for a statement they remained silent for 22 days after the Trayvon Martin killing. Carroll also said nothing in the face of purposeful efforts to disenfrancise non-white voters during "Don't Re-Nig 2012." This sold out McNegro did actually say that racist suspect, Rick Scott epitomizes the values and the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King. From Beach Peanuts July 13, 2012. And now Florida wants to set different goals for student achievement in reading and math by race and ethnicity.
From [HERE] A poll released Thursday shows Florida voters are strongly opposed to many of the latest public school, college and university proposals advanced by Republican Gov. Rick Scott and state education leaders.
The Quinnipiac University survey found the largest margin of opposition — 71-7 percent — to the state Board of Education’s new policy of setting different goals for different racial and ethnic groups.
The board in October set student achievement standards for reading and math that are based in part on race and ethnicity. Many parent groups and educators decried the approach, which state officials defended as part of an attempt to meet accountability standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Law.
The Quinnipiac survey results, however, showed 71 percent of registered voter think it is a bad idea, with 20 percent having no opinion and only 7 percent saying it is a good idea.
“Voters, with little difference along political, racial or gender lines, find setting different goals for different races to be distasteful,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
It wasn’t the only education proposal that voters met with skepticism.
“The data from this survey finds that voters like the idea of treating all students and colleges the same,” Brown said.
For instance, those polled oppose, 73-16 percent, the idea of designating some public universities as “preeminent” and allowing them to charge higher tuition than other state colleges.
The poll also found that 66 percent of voters oppose charging lower tuition to college students who major in subjects such as math, science, engineering and computers, and higher tuition for liberal arts majors. Only 26 percent supported charging different tuition in such a way.
The “preeminent” university concept has been proposed by the University of Florida and Florida State University. Scott vetoed legislation last year that would have authorized UF and FSU, and eventually other schools designated preeminent, to set their own tuition rate. But a similar bill is expected to reemerge during next year’s legislative session.
Scott has promoted the need for Florida universities to offer more programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — the STEM disciplines that many educators and economists say are central to the evolving economy. And to accomplish that goal, some proposals have been floated that would charge lower university tuition to students majoring in the STEM disciplines.
Opposition ranged from 57 percent to 74 percent across all racial, education and income groups, with the greatest opposition coming from those with college degrees and those making more than $100,000 a year.
Scott’s recent pitch for state colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees that could be obtained at a cost capped at $10,000 also was greeted coolly by voters. Some officials have tarred the idea as a gimmick, and most Floridians seem to agree, according to Quinnipiac.
Sixty-six percent of those surveyed said they doubted the $10,000 degree would happen, while 29 percent said they thought such degrees would be offered.
Since Scott unveiled the idea in November as a challenge to schools, Palm Beach State College and more than a half-dozen other schools have agreed to try to offer $10,000 four-year degrees. The areas of concentration for the lower cost degrees are limited, though.
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute surveyed 1,261 registered voters Dec. 11-17 for a poll with margin of error of 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers called land lines and cell phones.
In other questions put before voters, the survey found Floridians’ opposition to same-sex marriage is easing — with 45 percent now opposed compared to 43 percent supporting such unions, a difference that is within the margin of error. Opponents had outweighed supporters by a 10 point margin in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in May. The issue is likely to be shaped heavily next year by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to review a couple lower court cases.
Asked if marijuana should be made legal in Florida, 52 percent of those polled said no and 42 percent said yes.
Asked about public employee pensions, voters said 53-34 percent that it’s a good idea to make new state employees participate in a 401-k type retirement plan rather than the defined-benefit pension plan offered to current state workers.
