Five Questions For A Florida Teacher Who Supports Mitt Romney

October 24, 2012 | 2:17 PM

By Gina Jordan

Nancy Puri

Teacher Nancy Puri.

We’ve heard a lot from educators who support Democratic President Barack Obama for reelection. The National Education Association has endorsed Obama.

But there are plenty of teachers who support his Republican challenger, Gov. Mitt Romney.

According to EdVotes.org, about 40 percent of Florida Education Association (FEA) members and at least 25 percent of NEA members are Republicans.

Nancy Puri is a member of the FEA. She is a visual arts teacher with Polk County Public Schools and holds a Master’s degree in leadership administration. She is also a Romney supporter.

Q: What do you like about Gov. Romney’s proposed education policy?

A: I look at his record in Massachusetts and I see that they literally have the number one education system in the country.

Now, they’ve always been strong in education, but he worked hard to maintain that and to maintain the rigor and excellence of the system. He knows what it requires.

I think that he’s willing to make sure that education is well-funded.

He also is an advocate of parents and of the family being involved in the educational decisions of their children…I think that they should be able to have a voice.

Q: On the other hand, what is it about President Obama’s education platform that is a turnoff for you?

A: I haven’t seen where Obama has actually been able to implement anything that has been meaningful and lasting in the last four years for education.

He talks a lot about raising scores, about needing to make sure we’re competitive on the national level, but we’re not. I don’t see where he’s really done much.

He’s helped some with tuition, and he talks a lot about helping higher education with loans, debt forgiveness and things like that.

But on the level I teach – elementary all the way up to 12^th grade – I don’t see where he’s really been able to touch it. I’d like to see a change.

Q: How do you feel about the “parent-trigger” bill that narrowly failed in the Florida Legislature this year?

A: I believe it should be much more up to the community – the teachers and the parents. I believe, if they have a failing school, they should be able to have a lot more say (over what happens) at the school.

That being said, I do not necessarily believe that just because an organization is failing that parents who don’t have a background in education would know exactly how to fix that problem. So I wouldn’t be opposed to some sort of legislation that gave the parents more power, but I don’t think that letting any one group have 100 percent say would be good.

I don’t think that the districts should have as much power as they have, and I think parents shouldn’t have all of it either.

Q: How do you think education in Florida stands to win or lose depending on the outcome of the November election?

A: I believe that if Romney gets elected, parents will definitely be given more control over where their children are educated. It will open up choices.

I would expect vouchers, charter schools, and magnet schools will become a lot more accessible to families.

I would suspect that there will be a greater push for a national standard of accountability for teachers. I would expect there would be more of a national trending toward performance based pay for teachers and a move more away from a union and contractual relationships, and tenure.

I don’t believe that tenure is something that is good for education.

Q: How do you think Romney’s experience as a businessman will help schools?

A: His stance on education is just part of his overall philosophy on being successful.

Schools are organizations, just like businesses, and I think you have to look at them and assess what makes them successful. What is our goal? What is the overall objective of a school, and how do you go about making it efficient and successful?

I feel like (Romney) will do a lot for education because he did it when he was governor, but he also has run a lot of businesses and he knows how to make things successful.

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http://www.facebook.com/CorpRattX Todd W. Byars

Sickening that a Florida Teacher could be that misinformed. To my knowledge no Republican President has ever funded Education.

I bet the person who answered these questions plans to vote for Republican Governor Rick Scott again. She will tell you happily that Governor Scott gave a billion dollars to Education this year.

What she wont tell you is that he took $1.7 Billion the year before and has also cut Children’s Healthcare, Juvenile Justice and as many family or education related projects.

Just a dose of Reality for those of you who are not from Florida.

Todd W. Byars
Tallahassee, Florida 10-24-2012
JupiterMom

I am stunned by this teacher. Do you know that Romney promises to CUT education funding. CUT! He also wants to increase private voucher programs and charters. Plus, he is for killing the unions. The unions negotiate your hours, salary and responsibilties. In FL- it is a right to work state. So, there is no real “union”. However, you do have representation and the right to due process. This “collective bargaining” is to make sure you are treated like a professional and not like a volunteer. I notice you are a visual arts teacher. Are you happy that your evaluation this year will most likely be based on the average FCAT score for your school? Do you feel that is a good representation of your efforts? The reading scores of the kids at your school? The GOP has set that into motion and will continue that with Romney. Do a bit more research on the platform before you vote please.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-Madru/100001151887665 Micah Madru

A cut in education funding doesn’t mean that education quality will go down, the same way liberals argue a cut in defense funding doesn’t mean our strength as a nation that is able to defend our self will go down. He wants to cut the funding because he’s going to move education to the state’s and closer to the teachers and students that benefit from the money. He’s going to get rid a lot of the bureaucratic bullshit that goes on.

JupiterMom

You are wrong. Cuts in funding do mean quality goes down. I would be for cuts to the Race to the Top. However, we are not talking a little trim around the ears. He promises draconian cuts. And don’t generalize. The dems have a big tent full of differing opinions. Thank you.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-Madru/100001151887665 Micah Madru

So price is a direct correlation to quality in your book? I’d love to market a product to you. Do you own a lot of apple products by chance?

JupiterMom

Let’s have a real conversation here- of course it’s not a 1 to 1 relationship. And there likely is waste. I’d love to get rid of waste. In fact, that’d be great if they want to make that a goal. I’d support ending waste. But- we currently are operating our schools without pencils, paper, hand soap, etc. We have kindergarten teachers who have no help in their classroom. That means when a child needs to use the bathroom, they must take time out of the class to deal with that- and it happens all day with little ones. There is no money for elective courses- we are down to bare bones. We have no tech schools (or very few I should say). Teachers make very little. Our kids cannot suffer another cut. And GOP want to not only CUT education- some want to cut it out of the budget altogether. Obama, on the other hand, wants to increase hiring of science and math teachers. He wants to help states to improve their education. It’s not perfect- and not what I want them to do with the high stakes part. But it’s not draconian cuts either. If you believe in public education- you need to support Obama.

Sad Native

If Mitt Romney was so wonderful in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, please explain why Barack Obama will have the largest margin of victory there of any State (look it up…this is a fact). This is a man who never attended a public school in his entire, sheltered, elite life. The mantra of his campaign is “cut taxes”. Well, since public education is funded by tax revenue, what does that portend? States rely heavily on federal funding in their high-poverty schools where the tax revenue cannot support the expense. I would bet that Polk County has plenty of Title 1 schools. I would venture to guess this person is supporting the Romney/Ryan ticket for other reasons. If your most important issue is support of public education, you would have to vote Democratic.
Carol

I suppose to find a teacher who doesn’t realize that education has been cut would also mean that they found one who would restate the campaign writer’s talking points. Or maybe she is looking to close the deal with a well heeled fiance? Half the teachers do leave within five years. This will be featured at the top of her resume in Gov Snott’s appointment pile. Tallahassee must really be a soulless place.
irish 19

Of course the teachers ubions support Obama because he will deliver billions more for education which we cannot afford. Big labor is killing our Public schools and the tax payers are going broke with no positive results in the public school system. We need alternative education and no federal education dept. It belongs in the States. IRT ALWAYS WAS AND SINCE THE DEPT. OF EDUCATION WAS FORMED WE HAVE DEGRESSED. oUR STUDENTS HAVE BEEN DUMBED DOWN . rOMNEY WOULD BE A PLEASANT CHANGE FROM OUR FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. a vote for Romney is a vote for parental choice and a real chance for our children. Obama is an abstract failure when it comes to education. However the unions have him in their back pocket. We need a unionless education system and then there would be more money for real reform.
irish 19

If Public education was a business it would be bankrupt. It is in fact. The private sector could do a much better job. Too many teachers worry about pay, pensions and benefits, which are much better than private sector people. They should be concerned on the students. This is why people do choose charter schools and home schooling. Public schools have failed since the 60″s.
sue

She is a teacher but she needs to learn more about education funding before she can be any sort of expert. The bulk of k-12 funding comes from the state level, with approx 8% of Florida’s education budget coming from Washington (mainly in the form of funding for Title I, IDEA, and ESL). If there is a problem in the last 4 years with funding of schools in Florida you need to look at our Republican governor and his leadership. As for Romney’s record in Mass., most of the reforms were put into place before he became governor. (I suppose, to his credit, he didn’t axe the reforms).

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