Word: jeb
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Jeb Bush was euphoric on election night, but now he might be secretly wishing Democrat Bill McBride had beat him. While McBride gets to return to a life of wealthy retirement in Tampa, Florida's governor has to confront the biggest challenge of his political career: how to implement an expensive amendment to the state constitution that requires smaller public school class sizes. To add insult to injury, he campaigned against the idea, but now has to enforce it. Is that laughter coming from Tampa...
...That's why Jeb called the amendment a bad idea throughout his reelection campaign. At one point, he got himself in trouble when he told a group of legislators he had a couple of ?devious plans? up his sleeve if it passed. He didn't realize a reporter was present. McBride was a big advocate of the amendment, making education the centerpiece of his campaign. But Bush was able to attack McBride's inability to explain how he would pay for the costly measure. Bush predicted McBride would be forced to raise taxes tenfold. But elections never seem to have...
...That's democracy, though, so Jeb has been working hard to put the measure into practice. But he's certainly not happy about it. The day after the election he told reporters, "The first step of the process will be to seek input from people who supported this issue. As you know, I didn't." Last week he met with groups he rarely talks to, many of who opposed his reelection, like the state's teachers union and PTAs. This might be a shrewd strategy, because if the class size effort fails, Bush can always blame its advocates and remind...
...Jeb decides to attack the issue head-on, his biggest problem is money. How will he pay for all the additional teachers and classrooms at a time when the state is wrestling with its biggest budget crisis in over a decade. No one knows how much the class size amendment will cost, but estimates range from $8 billion to $27 billion between now and 2010. The state may have to hire 24,789 new teachers just for next year. Bush cut taxes repeatedly during his first term and counts it as one of his biggest accomplishments. He's not going...
...Faced with such attractive choices, Jeb is currently looking for wiggle room. The amendment is rather vague on specifics, so he has asked the state supreme court (not friendly to Bushes, if you remember 2000) to interpret it. What do the class size limits mean practically? Does the average size of classes in a school, or maybe a district, count? How much freedom does he have to change school zones within districts, bus students to less crowded schools and implement double shifts and year-round schools. He will end up exploring every possible solution to this measure. He needs...