Why do we need to reinvent K-12?

• Our children will have to compete in a global economy. Several studies have concluded that when compared globally, the U.S. public K-12 education system is producing an inferior product - Global Comparison – our “educated” children. And, while doing better than in the past, Florida has a lot of room for improvement.
• One of those studies compared the cost of education for each participating country after adjusting their purchasing power to the U.S. dollar; we outspent them all - in most cases, by as much as 5 times. Global Comparison
• Almost 20% of the Appropriations for the State of Florida go to funding K-12 education.
• Roughly 50% of Property Taxes go to funding K-12 education.
• In 2006 – 07, the Manatee County School Board spent $21,188 per student including capital expenditures and $12,143 per student excluding construction of new schools. Where does the money go? Your county is probably not much different.
• Most people would believe that we have too few classrooms. However, currently statewide there is one existing classroom for every 17.7 students. View Exhibit 1 PDF
  
• Non homesteaded property owners are dying under crushing property taxes.

We spend more, but get less - an interesting problem. The problem was so interesting, that I puzzled over how to “fix” it. I came to the conclusion that what we really need to do is "Reinvent" K-12. Over the last 6 months I have worked on a plan to commission a Task Force to Reinvent K-12. You can either read it online or you can download a PDF version. You might ask, "Who are you to suggest that you could come up with the plan for such a Task Force?” It is a valid question. My background information is here.