WorsttoFirst.org News Blog

Legislators Vote- Yeah on Guns. Nay on Kids.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:49:28 GMT

This week the public got a stark affirmation that the needs of average families and children don't count with legislatators. One of their first acts was to pass a law to protect the trust that funds handguns and other weapon purchases. Now that's amazing. They are the ones who authorized in law all these State Trust Funds: the Lawton Chiles Endowment for Children and Elders, the Sadowski Fund for affordable housing, environmental trust funds, etc. They don't even pause when it comes to invading these important safety net funds rather than make tough budget decisions. But the gun fund. That's a whole different matter. Why? Because the gun lobby has bought the votes of the legislature with the coin of the realm. Too bad the kids couldn't afford to pay to play.

More from Miami

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:10:17 GMT

Miami has a rich tradition of powerful community leadership. Over the years, advocates have successfully tackled homelessness, education, health care and community safety. Additionally, the magic city has led the way in establishing a Children’s Trust, a special district supported by local taxes and entirely dedicated to children.

During our time in South Florida, the Worst To First team toured a world class facility, the United Way Center For Excellence in Early Education. This center is a phenomenal laboratory for cutting edge early learning and has partnerships with fourteen universities including Harvard. On top of running their own exemplary early learning school, the staff trains, certifies and provides resources to early learning schools throughout the region as well.

Visiting the center helped me understand the challenges and opportunities for early learning in South Florida and also underlined the need, statewide, to leverage this marvelous resource and all that they have learned about how to prepare our kids for success in school and life.

Purrr-fect Miami Day

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:24:19 GMT

"Walking across the state can be tiring," said Bud Chiles, as he continued putting one foot in front of the other on his walk through Miami today. When asked about what keeps him marching on, he states, "Florida's kids." At the teams first stop, the Miami Children's Museum, he had ample opportunity to spend time with that motivation; about 50 young children. He bumped into someone special as well, The Cat in the Hat. As one of Dr. Seuss's most beloved storybook characters, The Cat in the Hat stopped by the museum to celebrate his creator's birthday and interact with the children present.

Geoff Chiles, Bud's son and a Worst To First team member, said, "The museum was an inspiration to me. To see the incredible exhibits for kids and spend time celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday, a man who has inspired so many young minds, was fantastic. Dave Berry, a famous author, was also in attendance and he read to all the kids gathered there."

In addition to the Dr. Seuss celebration, the Worst To First team got a tour of the museum and learned that the museum is also a charter school to about 270 children. All in all, the day was special and the company purrr-fect!

Bud Asks a Question- Is Local Control the Solution?

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:34:00 GMT

During my statewide walk, everyday on the road seems like a great day when inspired by the work being done by wonderful children's advocates in the cities and counties I visit. For example, on a trip to Fort Lauderdale last week, I met with The Children's Services Council of Broward County, United Way, and a number of other community organizations and leaders. Learning about the work these groups are doing, in addition to others around the state, often leads me to conclude that local community problems can be solved locally. If this is true, it would seem that control over education and social services be retained at a community level.

Do you agree? Should local control over education and social services be retained at the community level?

Bud Tells a Story

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:05:17 GMT

Five years ago, Akin came to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida, the Osceola branch. He was, by his own admission, a troubled kid; failing classes, in trouble at school, acting out at home, angry and mistrusting. After half a decade, however, Akin has changed. He is now an A student, model citizen, and recognized as a national teen representative at international Boys and Girls Club conferences! He is also living proof of how effective local community-based after school programs can be in terms of turning lives around.

Stories like these teach us some powerful lessons, ones that must be heeded. From them, we learn that young people need encouragement, a wholesome place to interact with peers, play sports and participate in character enrichment activities. Given Akin’s story, is it not foolish for the state of Florida to be so shortsighted when allocating resources to programs like Boys and Girls Clubs? The investment up front in programs like these, ones that yield such great return, need to be funded. Doesn’t Florida want to produce youth, like Akin, who dream about going to Ivy League schools, instead of teens pondering time behind bars?

Akin's hope is to attend Harvard University one day. After spending time with him and people like Andrew Kirkland, service director at the Osceola branch and a fantastic role model, my bet is on Akin.

Visit to Chiles Academy Makes News

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:00:19 GMT

Florida's 4-year-olds could get shortchanged by budget cuts

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:32:31 GMT

After a few years of progress in developing better quality preschool classes in Florida, the state's pre-kindergarten program is being looked at for cuts by the Florida Legislature. The state's lawmakers meet for 60 days every year, beginning in March, to decide how much they'll spend on education. Next month they will be looking at a $29 million budget shortfall in statewide pre-K programs, according to a story this week in the Orlando Sentinel.

Those cuts would hurt quality in a pre-K program that is already among the poorest in the nation, according to national rankings. In a report from the National Institute for Early Education Research, Florida ranked 34th out of 38 states that fund pre-K programs, spending about $2,500 per child in 2008 compared with an average of more than $4,000.

As reported by the Tampa Tribune last year, the NIEER also graded Florida poorly for quality programming, because Florida's pre-K teachers don't need bachelor's degrees unless they work in the summer voluntary program, and during the school year, Florida requires only one teacher in each pre-K class to have a child development associate credential. The state also gets low marks for not providing teachers with more training or offering children at least one meal a day, and no vision, hearing and health screenings.

Part of Florida's problem has been growing enrollment in preschool, which is popular with parents and helping improve school readiness among kindergarteners. The statewide deficit is projected to balloon to at least $42 million next year if enrollment continues on track and with no more cuts, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation. Last year, lawmakers cut the pre-K budget in mid-year, cutting money to run the classes and supervise pre-K sites.

"What you will see is an erosion of quality," said Karen Willis, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, which expects to be out of pre-K money in May.

More than 141,000 children are enrolled in pre-K programs in Florida, which include private schools and child-care centers and public schools.

Our goal: World leader in education by 2020

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:40:41 GMT

Our partners at the Children's Forum linked to the big news this week, via their Facebook page, about the Obama administration's overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law. There's a good summary of what President Obama is proposing from the New York Times and Business Week, or you can just go to www.WhiteHouse.gov to get the information straight from the source.

The administration's overhaul of Child Left Behind will include changes in how schools are evaluated, as well as the elimination of a 2014 deadline for bringing every American child to academic proficiency, which would be replaced by a requirement for all students to leave high school “college or career ready.”

The White House is also revising federal financing formulas so that a portion of the money is awarded on academic progress, rather than by according to the numbers of students, especially poor students. That probably means big changes for the annual budgeting process in Florida school districts.

Overall, Obama is proposing a 7.6 percent increase in U.S. education spending -- $49.7 billion to fund education programs in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011. The proposal includes increased spending on early childhood education, competitive grants to encourage school innovation and new programs to train teachers.

The Obama administration said it aims to make the U.S. the world leader in college graduation rates by 2020. At Worst To First, our goal is to make Florida the national leader by 2020. We'll need your help to get there.

Improve education by investing in innovation, says Microsoft founder

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:23:48 GMT

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is investing a lot of resources in promoting innovation in America's schools, including a project getting under way in Tampa that is intended to improve teacher effectiveness. Foundation co-chair Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, writes in a column in this week's Newsweek that ingenuity can help make the difference between a bright future and a bleak one.

"Our education system has been fundamental to our success as a nation, but the way we prepare students has barely changed in 100 years. If we don't find ways to improve our schools, making them more effective and more accessible, we won't fulfill our commitment to equal opportunity, and we will become less competitive with other countries," Gates writes.

Gates is promoting incentives and processes to help teachers teach better, and his foundation is also looking at ways that interactive technology can help schools deliver the right resources to students.

You can read more about the programs the foundation is supporting in Bill Gates' annual letter here.

Editorial: Education Week is grading Florida on the curve

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:54:58 GMT

An editorial in today's Treasure Coast newspapers points out that the "No. 8 in the nation" ranking from Education Week isn't quite what it seems to be. The magazine's report card for Florida looks good at first, but Florida is being "graded on the curve, and the competition isn’t too tough," the newspaper writes

While Education Week praises Florida for gains by poor students, and equal distribution of funds to school districts, the magazine didn't actually account for last year’s budget cuts, which capped off a decade-long trend of declining state support for schools.

The Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy also calls attention to our D-minus for student achievement (scores on national standardized tests), F for funding per student, and F for college readiness (the state’s high-school graduation rate is 45th in the country).

Chiles: Don't sell our future for short-term gain

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:32:03 GMT

This week, as part of the state's annual budget process, Gov. Charlie Crist released his proposal for paying for the state's education system. To be clear, we don't like it. Read more in today's Lakeland Ledger.

In Florida, the state budget process starts with the governor releasing his proposal, then the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate release their proposals, then they work out their differences over the course of a 60-day legislative session starting in March. It's a process that has been responsible for Florida's decade-long trend of reducing state support for education, and this year doesn't promise much better.

Gov. Charlie Crist released his plan for education funding this week, and it includes another withdrawal from an investment fund that was intended to pay for services to help children and elderly residents. That means we can get a little extra money this year, but in future years there won't be as much income from the investment fund. We call that selling off our kids future. There's also a proposal to expand gambling, which won't help our children either. Here's what Bud Chiles had to say about it this week:

“There’s a culture in Tallahassee that says it’s OK to sell off our state’s future in exchange for short-term political gain, and Charlie Crist’s budget exemplifies it. I hope that lawmakers find a better way to support children and the elderly than selling off the last of their savings and buying into gambling. It’s no wonder that the people of Florida have lost trust in their elected leaders. There are only so many promises you can break before people start to wake up to the truth of what’s happening. Charlie Crist has proposed yet another corporate benefit using funds that were supposed to be a permanent endowment for the needs of our state’s children and elderly.”

The Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund was created for the people of Florida in 1999 with money from Florida’s tobacco settlement. The funds were to provide a perpetual resource for enhanced funding of children’s health programs, child welfare programs, children’s health and human services initiatives, elder programs and biomedical research. The money was invested in order to generate income, and formerly produced from about $100 million to $50 million in state revenue annually.

In 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist convinced legislators and children’s advocates to allow a withdrawal of more than $350 million from the endowment to meet a budget shortfall, then surprised advocates with a second raid on the fund that led to an additional $700 million withdrawal in 2009.

In Florida, graduation doesn't mean you're ready for college

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:09:00 GMT

Top education officials in Florida are acknowledging that the FCAT has not worked in improving the college-readiness of Florida's high school graduates, but it remains to be seen whether legislative leaders will devote the resources necessary to improve things.

In a story published in the Tampa Tribune, Frances Haithcock, state chancellor of K-12 public schools, said that a high school diploma in Florida prepares students for little more than remedial education in college.

There's a movement toward phasing out the FCAT, at least at the high school level, but getting Florida from Worst To First is going to take more work than just phasing out a failed policy.

Unless Florida invests serious financial resources to improving education now -- adding classes, funding quality afterschool programs, and improving a broad-based curriculum for students at all grade levels -- our leaders are at risk of failing another generation of children.

It's clear from the news coming out of Tallahassee that Florida's parents and students are paying for failure -- remedial education to make up the gaps in what we provide for in our high schools. It's not clear whether that means the Legislature will begin investing in success.

Building a movement one step at a time

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:12:10 GMT

The kids from Orlando Day Nursery join Bud on his walk.

From Sunday’s Orlando Sentinel, reporter Kate Santich caught up with Bud as we walked in Orlando on Thursday last week and wrote up some of her interview. On Friday, Bud walked a few miles on the road from Lake Alfred to Winter Haven, chatting a little with The Lakeland Ledger while he was in Polk County, then headed over to the WEDU studios to tape an episode of “Florida This Week” with Rob Lorei.

We appreciate the good discussion of Florida’s indicators, because public awareness is the first step to inspiring action to change things.

“We are 50 out of 50 states in our per-capita funding for education. We are second-worst [nationally] in the percentage of uninsured children,” Bud said in his interview. “And in any other indicator of well-being you want to look at, we're close to the bottom. … The only way you can fight what has been happening is by collective citizen action. And once people start coming together, you won't be able to stop them.”

You can read the rest of the Sentinel’s interview HERE.

One Million Steps in Orlando - a great day with the United Way

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:26:52 GMT

Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel.

A warm welcome from the United Way. Happy and healthy kids at the Orland Day Nursery. An energizing lunch discussion with children's services groups from the entire Central Florida Region. Some great media attention and public recognition for the people doing good work in the community.

That type of energy is what Worst To First set out to harness with One Million Steps For Florida Kids in 2009, and as we launched back into the final stages of the walk in 2010 we were happy to see our vision coming to life.

The Orlando Sentinel was there to cover us, so jump over to their website to see some of the photos (and special thanks to Sentinel photographer Joe Burbank, who shared with us his memories of Gov. Lawton Chiles' inauguration and the iconic photos he shot).

AP: Moms say Florida denies kids good healthcare

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:44:40 GMT

The Associated Press reports today that several mothers are testifying in a class action lawsuit this week that Florida doesn't give their children access to quality health care. In a state that ranks the second worst in the U.S. in kids without health insurance, the shocking number revealed by the lawsuit are that 390,000 children did not get a medical checkup in 2007 and more than 750,000 received no dental care.

Bud Chiles wrote about this issue recently in an op-ed published in Florida newspapers, along with the disturbing news that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has chosen to defend the state's practice in court.

Florida's reimbursement rates are among the lowest in the country for doctors and dentists, so most won't accept Medicaid. There's a real human cost for what Florida's leaders decide is good enough for Medicaid patients.

According to the AP report, mother Rita Gorenflo says her 10-year-old son Thomas had to wait 16 months in 2005 for a back surgery to correct scoliosis that was affecting his left lung, an avoidable delay that worsened the curvature of his spine.

Another sad example of why Florida is among the worst states for children, and why our work is so important.

One Million Steps is coming to Orlando on Thursday

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:07:14 GMT

Worst To First will be in Orlando on Thursday, January 14, to walk with the Heart of Florida United Way and a group of children and educators in central Orlando. Please come out and walk with us, or just honk and wave if you see Bud out on the road.

We're starting the day early at 8 a.m., and the walk begins at Orange Ave. and S. Orlando Avenue. From there we'll walk about 4 miles south on Orlando Avenue and west on E. Colonial Drive to get to the Orlando Day Nursery.

We'll spend some time with the kids and meeting the staff, then take a short walk with them around Lake Dot. Hope we'll see you there.

Report: State child abuse deaths rise as parents lose jobs

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:35:12 GMT

A new state report urges the Legislature to expand oversight into child-abuse deaths and increase funding for Healthy Families Florida, a home visitation program aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect, but it's unlikely to get more money in 2010, according to a story in today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

While deaths resulting from child abuse spiked 23 percent in Florida, Broward County led the state with 26 child-abuse deaths in 2008, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Florida has one of the highest child-death rates in the country, which officials attribute to better reporting procedures and a sinking economy. Part of the solution should be better education for parents, said the state's top child welfare official.

Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon told the Sun-Sentinel, "I think we've got to have a much more aggressive educational effort. What's happening right now is probably the biggest economic crisis this country has ever faced. You have a 25-year-old who lost his job, can't pay the rent, a 6-month-old crying in the middle of the night and you have a recipe for disaster."

Why is our state fighting our children?

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:28:49 GMT

An op-ed from Bud Chiles in today's Tallahassee Democrat questions why our state is in federal court fighting to limit the amount that Florida pays for medical care for uninsured children, especially considering the clear evidence that Florida's kids get inadequate care.

Federal law requires the state to provide Medicaid-eligible children with medical care as good as the care provided to children with private insurance. As more men and women in Florida lose their jobs and their benefits, more children are losing their coverage too.

It's a real problem, but Florida is especially stingy in what the state pays medical providers to care for uninsured kids, virtually guaranteeing they don't all get adequate care. You can read more about the lawsuit challenging the state at the Miami Herald.

Worst To First has found hope in the work being done in local communities to help. As Bud writes, "Health care providers are finding creative ways to bring care to the children who need it, instead of waiting for them to show up in the emergency room. Local communities are stepping up and filling in the coverage gaps where the state and federal governments can't or won't help. ...It has given me hope that we can accomplish real change in Florida, by demanding that our state leaders honor the values that our parents instilled in us. Looking out for your neighbors. Giving in times of need. Taking care of our children first. But we all need to get involved and raise our voices."

You can raise your voice by signing the Pledge For Florida's Children today, and asking a friend to do the same.

We told you so: Claims of education gains not entirely true

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:12:34 GMT

The St. Petersburg Times' award-winning PolitiFact.com took a close look at the claims that Florida has improved its national ranking from 31st to 10th in education, and found out that we haven't been getting the whole story on the Education Week rankings.

The verdict: Only half true (or half false)

While Gov. Crist claims that Florida's rank in education has improved from 31st to 10th in three years, the annual studies "didn't examine the same factors. In other words, the governor is comparing apples to oranges." Crist was right, however, in identifying Education Week as the source of the ranking, so that's something.

For more of the "Truth About #10" click over to our sister site at www.worsttofirstcampus.org.

Bud Journals from his Hometown

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:43:56 GMT

Our time on the road this past week was significant for me in many ways. We started in DeLand, at the Museum of Florida Art. Jennifer Coolidge, the executive director, assembled a strong group of community leaders to show the Worst To First team what a powerful educational and cultural asset the museum has become, a true statewide treasure. As I listened to the group, I came to a deeper conviction about the FCAT and what I believe to be the devastating impact the “FCAT is all” approach is having on our children, in terms of critical thinking and problem solving. The arts, physical education, history and civics have all virtually been forsaken in the stampede for memorization. Though accountability must live on as one aspect of an evaluation process, I believe it is time for the FCAT to go away.

After our DeLand visit, we moved into Lakeland. My cousins, Joe and Karen Ruthven, live in Lakeland and conducted a brief tour for us while there. When the tour ended, we made our way to Family Fundamentals, a program built on the Success By Six strategy which focuses on providing a wide range of services to struggling families and their children. Amazingly, fifty community organizations are partnering with Family Fundamentals which makes it so much easier for these families to get linked to a comprehensive range of social support services. Director Shawna Butler is a driven and energetic leader. The primary catalyst and financial benefactor of this wonderful program is Carol Jenkins Barnett, and United Way, active in so many Florida communities, is a key player as well.