Education Is Moving Up Gov. Rick Scott’s List of Priorities

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Governor Scott meets with teachers at Southwest Miami High.

Increasing the number of jobs in Florida has been Gov. Rick Scott’s priority since he was on the campaign trail.

He told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday his focus now is on education.

“If you look at where the state’s going long-term, if we have the best education system, we’re going to have the jobs,” Scott said.

“We will figure it out. Americans, Floridians, we are going to build an economy that works. But it’s clearly tied to continuing to get a better education.”

When asked whether education is now a higher priority to him than job creation, Scott responded, “I don’t think you can pick one or the other.”

Scott wants to hold education funding steady in the next fiscal year.

Since a small surplus is expected in the overall budget, he suggested education may get additional funding “as long as we can control the growth rate of Medicaid and our economy gets better.”

Education funding was one of the topics at Scott’s dinner with leaders of the Florida Education Association (FEA). He hosted them last week at the Governor’s Mansion.

“When I met with the union leadership Friday night, we talked about a variety of things.” Scott said. “One thing I made sure I let them know is my goal is to continue to sustain existing funding through K-12.”

Scott said everyone who has a stake in education should be focused only on making sure students are prepared for college or a career.