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Teacher vs. Education Lawyers

March 28th, 2016 by Mike Vasilinda

A fiery kindergarten teacher squared off against lawyers for the state today as a law suite challenging the adequacy of the states school funding entered its third week. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the main issue is whether the state is living up to the requirements of the constitution.

In 1998, voters tired of under performing schools added language to the state Constitution, saying it is a paramount duty of the state to provide a high quality system of free public schools.

“please Be seated” commanded the Judge.

Now a lawsuit, first begun in 2010, is entering it’s third week. Gainesville kindergarten teacher Susan Bowles was on center state.

Q:”Don’t you have lots of books in your classroom?” asked a lawyer for the state.

A:”Yes…and guess who paid for those.”

Bowles is the teacher who in 2014, refused to give her 5 year olds a state standardized test.

Within weeks of Bowles refusal to give the test, the state suspended them for all kindergarteners.

She told the court the tests were eating up valuable classroom time.

“You have to wonder if all this testing wasn’t taking place, how much of that money  could be used, in appropriate ways in the classroom?” said Bowles.

Lawyers also questioned the regional director of school improvement who  oversees five underperforming Pinellas County Schools.

“Maximo has been an “F” school for four years in a row. It’s a priority and they are in the implementation stage of a turnaround plan?” questioned Circuit Judge Gorge Reynolds.

“Yes”

“That’s pretty bleak” responded the Judge.

Attempts to use fewer, and nationally standardized tests failed during the recent legislative session. But during the debate lawmakers acknowledged the state is spending more than a hundred million dollars a year on testa alone.

Under questioning today, Kindergarten Teacher Bowles told an attorney for the state that her students used to spend more time preparing for the test that the attorney spent getting ready to take his Law School admission test.

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