{"id":22902,"date":"2014-10-27T02:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T06:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=22902"},"modified":"2014-10-27T09:47:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T13:47:45","slug":"what-a-second-term-of-rick-scott-or-charlie-crist-will-mean-for-florida-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/10\/27\/what-a-second-term-of-rick-scott-or-charlie-crist-will-mean-for-florida-education\/","title":{"rendered":"What A Second Term Of Rick Scott Or Charlie Crist Will Mean For Florida Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.<\/a>

John O'Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist have talked about K-12 funding, the cost of college and other education issues.<\/p><\/div>\n

Polls show Governor Rick Scott and former Governor Charlie Crist are polarizing. Voters are as likely to dislike the candidates as they are to approve of them.<\/p>\n

So both candidates are talking about schools, colleges and scholarships — to motivate their supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is an issue that is helping to appeal to the base,” says Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor and chairman of the education committee for the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Foreman says they\u2019ve got a pretty good idea what a second term of either candidate would mean for education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Rick Scott is going to focus on more spending, but with that will come more strings attached and more testing involved,” Foreman says. “[Crist] will also call for more spending, but more spending in public schools and less focus on vouchers like the Republicans have.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the big argument has been over funding for public schools.\u00a0Both candidates can say they\u2019ve supported more money for schools.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

Scott did at an August campaign event in Homestead.<\/p>\n

“Now we have that record funding for education,\u201d he told the crowd, and his claim is true:\u00a0$18.9 billion<\/strong> in a year is the most Florida has ever spent on education.<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott got there by requesting more funding each of the last two years. But during his first year in office, he balanced the budget by cutting $1.3 billion from public schools.<\/p>\n

Still, what\u2019s being spent on each student this year is just under $200 less than the all-time high in 2007 \u2013 when Crist was governor.<\/p>\n

Crist reminded teachers of that fact at a Miami rally in September.<\/p>\n

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