Broward Workshop is Out Of Step…Again
BY BUDDY NEVINS
The Broward Workshop is the longest running joke in Broward politics.
The choice of former Gov. Jeb Bush as the keynote speaker at today’s Broward Workshop breakfast is another illustration of how out of touch the business leaders are with the county’s voters.
Bush is getting a lot of buzz because of his presidential prospects.
But in Broward, most of the voters greet Bush and his conservative politics with hostility.
Take his two successful elections for governor. In Broward, Bush only got 38 percent of the vote in 1998 and 40 percent in 2002.
Democratic registration is even stronger today.
Broward Workshop, the 100 CEOs of the top businesses, have a long record of misreading the public. Thus, the group can’t achieve most of what they want locally.
Their two major pushes in recent years have both been roundly rejected at the polls — a strong mayor for Broward County and a transit tax.
They could never articulate why these two moves were necessary for the future of Broward.
The political community is glad handing the business types at today’s breakfast.
Behind their backs, local pols laugh at the Broward Workshop. They have never seen these millionaires really spend enough money to sway votes.
The Broward Workshop does a lot of talking and not a lot of spending.
Politicians know that spending is the only way to control the ballot box on big issues. Unless you can control the ballot box, you can’t change the community.
Especially when your politics is fundamentally at odds with the voters, like the politics of the Broward Workshop.
The Broward Workshop will be a glittery afterthought in Broward politics until they take steps they haven’t taken before – Step up to the plate with real money commensurate with their elaborate goals.
Don’t hold your breath.
March 21st, 2014 at 9:14 am
This is absolutely true description about the Broward Workshop. You have real guts writing this.
FROM BUDDY:
Guts? Is AutoNation’s Mike Jackson going to come and take my car away?
March 21st, 2014 at 11:51 am
A very expensive do-nothin’ club. They have never looked at a true needs assessment of the community. Just let them be… keeps them quiet and not bothering any one. I think they collect lots of papers and send out more to members who just want the name on their resumes. Waste of copying and postage.
March 21st, 2014 at 1:51 pm
When he started asking Jeb about whether he’s going to run for president that must have been a real hoot. Reminds me of an old saying about folks in a self congratulatory orgy slipping and falling on their own swords.
March 21st, 2014 at 3:09 pm
That ‘s funny, Buddy. You are right on. They’ve been at the public trough for years. It was very rewarding working with like-minded people to defeat their schemes.
I’m also very disappointed, to understate it, with Jeb Bush as he promotes Common Core from which his group feeds. Pearson, Gates and the entities that profit from selling requisite stuff for CC donate hundreds of thousands to Bush’s organizations.
And the teachers, both in regular public as well as charters, will bear the brunt along with the kids. It’s really an outrage and the R leaders in the Senate think CC opponents are stupid and will believe anything’s changed but the name of CC.
March 21st, 2014 at 3:50 pm
This is Buddy’s way of challenging the Broward Workshop people to get serious about their agenda. He is right to do it.
March 21st, 2014 at 4:19 pm
I guess after his buddies made all that $$$ on the Florida FCAT exams, they wanna take it nationwide now.
March 21st, 2014 at 5:03 pm
I was there this morning in a room filled about half and half is my guess Republicans to Democrats. Bush spoke about the economy, education and immigration in the main. These are my notes of his remarks on education.
Governor Bush said nations worldwide are holding students to higher educational standards than the US and Common Core was developed to bridge the growing educational gap between our nation and others. He underscored the importance of the educational gap or face the consequence of future economic failure.
He said the goal of other nations is to teach their students so well so they can eat our lunch in the future economy. He said they are making great and measurable strides to achieve their goals even as some here in the US continue to resist embracing higher learning standards which he found “surprising.”
He suggested that a substantial portion of community college entrants today are required to take remedial math and English course before they begin taking actual college courses because their high schools failed them when they took these required courses the first time and then graduated them anyway. He spoke very specifically about the dangers of social promotion in schools.
Bush asked who had more credibility on education; those wanting to teach students better or those more interested in protecting lower standards. He joked about the desire of some in the US to protect the self-esteem of students while other nations “don’t care” about self-esteem they care about outperforming America.
His arguments were compellingly stated and delivered in a refreshingly moderate and even tempered tone. He spoke for about 30 minutes and then answered questions from a moderator.
Throughout his remarks you could hear a pin drop in a full room of about 1,000 people. His remarks were eloquent and thoughtful and mixed with just enough informality to make his presentation pleasing. People hung on his every word and applause frequently and politely interrupted his remarks. He received a standing ovation before and after he spoke.
March 21st, 2014 at 9:43 pm
No other nation in the world is more diversified than the US. The Jeb Bush style of education is to try to shove every student into the same box and magically create a scholar. That will never happen. It does not happen in other countries either. In some countries, such as Germany and Japan, students who are not scholars are trained for jobs in which they can be successful. Jeb’s idea weeds out those who cannot meet academic standards and throws them away. The prison system, some of which is owned by private corporations, flourishes and society suffers. I would estimate that about 85% of American students can meet Common Core standards. The other 15% will live tortured lives and cause havoc if they are not given the opportunity to learn a skill that can enable them to support themselves.
March 22nd, 2014 at 7:25 am
#7..I don’t know who you are, but your comments were put together perfectly. I was NOT there, but by those comments, I know you paid attention, and are probably making a difference in whatever you do.
You must have had a good education too, punctuation, spelling, paragraphs, educated in…..Japan?….lol…
You are someone I would like to meet..
Rico Petrocelli
Former Councilman
City of Plantation
954-931-0242
March 22nd, 2014 at 8:17 am
@Alice: Bush said that his goal was to make every student college or career ready and he did specifically make mention of training workers to fill the 3 million estimated vacant jobs that America had difficulty filling for lack of qualified and trained workers. He made no indication or suggestion of an one size fits all education paradigm.
I would insert this much. If your estimates are true and 85% of students can meet Common Core standards, since we do already have vocational schools, the degree of opposition to Common Core is indeed surprising.
March 22nd, 2014 at 9:38 am
@ Rico. Thank you. My feeble attempt to write in the style of content and tone that I recall in quality newspapers of yesterday.
On immigration, Bush does not believe US should allow people to enter because they are sponsored family members of US citizens, as is the case he claims with the majority of new immigrants. He supports filling specific, hard to fill jobs with immigrants and better guarding the borders. He wants the federal government to better ensure they know where foreign visitors travel within the US so that if they exceed their Visas, as is the case he claims with most illegal immigrants living here today, the federal government can find them more easily and “politely ask them to leave.”
He did say one sentence in Spanish, which I am unable to report.
However, during his discussion about immigration I did observe some Hispanics in the room feeling uncomfortable about his immigration views. I saw head shakes and downward glares when he suggested that Hispanics stop bringing family members into the US as sponsors.
He indicated that low taxation and elimination of business inconveniences such as affordable health care would drive new job growth. He did not mention any plan to ensure that taxes reduced would be converted into new jobs created. He spoke about reducing the cost of entitlements without elaboration and similarly touched on several traditional Republican themes throughout his remarks without offering many details.
One last note on education that I inadvertently omitted was his discussion of school choice and innovation. He supports both while remaining generally critical of the traditional policy views the education community.
March 22nd, 2014 at 1:43 pm
What we actually need is better connectivity between labor and education.
The Department of Labor, Bureau of labor Statistics already provides Standard Occupational Classifications:
http://www.bls.gov/soc/
The missing pieces are:
1) Businesses (initially only those businesses above a certain size, but eventually all businesses) should be required to provide a realtime online connection between their current and anticipated future employment profiles and a confidential employment demand measurement system operated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2) Using this realtime connection, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) should then process this data in order to provide a realtime picture of current and projected employment demand for each occupational classification within each geographical area.
3) The Department of Education should then use the application programming interface (API) of the BLS system to integrate the BLS results with the exact educational requirements for each occupational classification and then provide a realtime picture of the current and projected needs for educational certifications, relative to the current and projected output by schools of new graduates having these educational certifications, within each geographical area.
4) Students could then use the website of the Department of Education to evaluate their educational options relative to current and projected employer demand in each geographical area. Students interested in living elsewhere could easily examine their educational options relative to the current and projected employment demand in all of the geographical areas they might be interested in moving to.
March 22nd, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Were a law like Ha Ha says proposed they would call it a socialist plot.
March 22nd, 2014 at 8:45 pm
85% won’t meet CC standards because the curricula are so flawed and the teachers don’t have the necessary skills to try to overcome. Everyone who’s pushing CC is looking at the $$$.
None of it’s been piloted and proven empirically, but let’s go full speed ahead just as we did with new math and whole language from the feel good 60’s onward. And look where it’s gotten us.
FCAT had the same problems, and they had to rig the scores so the kids wouldn’t be total failures. You’ll see the same thing happen with CC.
Lest we forget the Pearson’s World History 2013 had to be revised (at no cost to the district) for Palm Beach before the district would buy it because of the Islam-bias in the Middle East chapters.
Some day the families will develop institutional memories instead of stopping activism and put a stop to the experimentation.
Google any anti-CC website and see the facts from the mouths of supporters. Gates actually said it might take ten years before they know if their “stuff” works. Meanwhile, he’s selling technology, Pearson’s selling books, and the students and teachers are being evaluated. Poifect! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
March 22nd, 2014 at 10:01 pm
Ha Ha Ha,
Other than being insane, intrusive, Big Brother, big government, and fascist, your plan sounds perfect.
March 23rd, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I would have liked to have seen Jeb Bush speak. It’s kind of funny Buddy , you knock this organization and the elected officals etc, but yet didn’t this same group or related etc. give your son a job. As far as them being a joke I heard you couldn’t find a seat in the whole house….
March 25th, 2014 at 3:45 pm
Mr. Also attended seems to be coherent but Mr. R makes the non partisan rationale point that money is the mothers milk of politics. An attendee who is an old style slightly left of center democratic holding elective office for over two decades went n was impressed by the politically diverse crowd present as Mr. 7 says. People that complain about charter schools, common core simply want to follow the mindless left wing union lead failed public school system n its enslavement to minority pressure groups n their ignorant political correctness