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Florida Education & A European Vacation – Top 3 Takeaways – September 8th, 2022
- The crème rises to the top. So much of the pandemic came down to politics. To mask or not to mask? To mandate or not to mandate? To educate or not to educate? That last one may sound odd, after all, this side of select teacher strikes in various states during the pandemic, theoretically education continued. But increasingly what we’re starting to see is that there was a significant difference between theoretically teaching and actually teaching. Going back to the earlier months in the pandemic, and as recently as August of last year, I brought you the known facts regarding remote learning and the impact of school closures on education outcomes. Among the findings...only 18% of students perform as well or better with remote learning as opposed to classroom education, kids were far more likely to contract COVID-19 if they were remote learning (that one was one of the bigger surprises to many) and masks masked learning more than protecting kids from the virus. As I cited, teachers at every education level were less effective at teaching with masks on and students were less effective at every education level with masks on. But facts be damned, blue state governors, blue city and county politicians and the bright blue teachers’ unions fought against the facts. First seeking to keep schools closed as long as possible and then seeking to mask teachers and students as long as possible. In Florida, of course we did the opposite. Against the objections of South Florida’s school districts, which for a time even violated state law to impose what’s proven to have been failed policy, Florida reopened schools as quickly as any other state in the country, instituted parental rights in education allowing parents, not school districts, to determine if their children should be masked and the results...
- Speak for themselves. Florida, which has never been known as a top state for education, has become a top state for education. I know, it sounds almost weird, right? But it’s real, alright. Credit to a listener for a great education question which I researched for today’s Q&A, that pushed me down a path of research which showed... Florida’s currently second in K-12 education. A lot changed in education during the pandemic and this realization is a big one. It’s not just that Florida has experienced two consecutive years with record graduation rates – with over 90% of students now graduating from high school, it’s that they’ve been learning more than almost all students in other states as well. Time flew during the pandemic, so much so that it’s easy to forget parts of three school years were impacted by it. It stands to reason that a state like ours which enacted what turned out to be the best possible policy for students would surge ahead of those that did the opposite, and that’s the case. According to the Report Card on American Education, only Arizona, a state which enacted similar education policy during Covid, is outperforming Florida in K-12 education opportunity most recently. Studies and especially government data, are always looking backward somewhat significantly. For that reason, we’re only now just starting to get a clearer picture of what really changed during the pandemic as a result of policy at the state and local level and to begin to understand the implications going forward. It stands to reason that if Florida generally had the best policy during the pandemic, we’d have the best outcomes coming out of it. We already knew that was true with employment and the economy generally, now we’re seeing it show up educationally as well.
- Want to fight inflation? Take a European vacation. Ok, well there’s nothing about European vacations and saving money that inherently goes hand in hand. But the one thing that’s risen faster than the rate of inflation, is the value of the US Dollar in comparison to the Euro, and especially the British Pound. The Pound Sterling has fallen to $1.14 against the Dollar – the last time the two currencies were this close was in 1985. While inflation has risen by 8.5% year-over-year, the US Dollar has risen in value against the Euro by 17% over the past year and a solid 20% against the Pound. So, if you have the dough to go, it’s a great time to do so, you can fight inflation by taking advantage of it overseas.