Opinion

Winning the 'Race to the Top'

 

By  Charlie Crist  and Eric J. Smith

TALLAHASSEE -- This year presents each of us new opportunities to build a better tomorrow for families, communities and our state. One such opportunity is the “Race to the Top,” where states compete for billions of federal education dollars. Florida’s past education reform efforts have positioned us to succeed in this competition and further increase student achievement, teacher effectiveness and the talent pool of our graduates and workforce.

Victory in this competition could mean hundreds of millions of dollars for Florida’s students and teachers, without the burden of increased taxes. We simply cannot turn our backs on an opportunity with goals so closely aligned with Florida’s own long-range goals.

“Race to the Top” has the power to positively impact our state and every single Floridian if we are successful. Florida’s 2.6 million students, parents, and grandparents will reap the benefits of a better education system. Teachers and administrators will experience a reinvigorated teaching profession that supports and rewards its most effective educators. Business owners will tap into an even more talented workforce that will yield new business opportunities to continue diversifying our economy. Most importantly, every community will see the lasting benefits of putting the success of children first.

The Sunshine State is no stranger to bold education reform and the academic successes that can follow. During the past decade, our progress stands as a shining example for our nation, thanks to the work of former Governor Jeb Bush. For example, Florida’s fourth graders have risen from the bottom third of the nation in 1998 to the top third today, based on reading scores at or above “Basic” on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment. In NAEP math, our fourth-graders moved from the bottom quarter of the nation in 1996 to the top third. Equally encouraging, our state FCAT results show the percentage of students in grades three through 10 reading and performing math at or above grade level has risen 14 and 17 percentage points, respectively, since 2001. 

But we cannot, must not, stop there.  “Race to the Top” has the potential to transform the teaching profession and produce measurable results for every student. For example, we will be able to improve mechanisms for teachers and school districts to share with each other their expertise and models of success. We will also be able to strengthen the teaching profession through better training, support systems and professional development while drawing effective teachers to schools with greatest needs and providing incentives to continue their outstanding work.

We will also be able to do a better job of gauging student progress and learning and increase our efforts to help struggling students and lower-performing schools succeed. By updating curriculum and learning assessments, we will equip students to compete internationally in emerging high-tech careers such as biotechnology, green technology and space and aviation. We can continue the success we have seen through our reading coaches and also introduce additional measures in other critical subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and math. All of these efforts will incorporate strategies for increasing involvement of parents and community partners.  Together, we can ensure high quality education for all students.

Florida is competing in the “Race to the Top” because it will strengthen our education system and enhance the talent of our highly skilled workforce. Our economic future and quality of life depend on this race.  As we focus on our state’s economic recovery, we cannot turn our backs on the ability of this “Race to the Top” to build a prosperous future for Florida’s students, parents, and teachers.

Charlie Crist is governor of Florida and Dr. Eric J. Smith is Florida Education Commissioner

 

Opinion

A Free Market Plan for Health Care

 

By Charlie Crist

TALLAHASSEE -- With more than 18 million people in Florida, the issue of affordable health care has been a priority of my administration as Governor. We have found that lack of affordable health insurance coverage and the rising cost of prescription medicine to be the most significant health care challenges facing Floridians. Without health insurance coverage, the cost of health care can be staggering. Some fall into bankruptcy due to their inability to pay.

 To address these problems, we have instituted two programs in Florida. Our Cover Florida Health Care program and the Florida Discount Drug Card were created by partnering with the private sector, and importantly, without using mandates or taxpayer dollars. 

The Florida Discount Drug Card provides relief to Floridians struggling with prescription medicine costs. The State of Florida contracts with a private company to negotiate discounted drug costs for participating pharmacies who have agreed to pass the savings along to consumers. Savings vary depending on the quantity, type and brand of the drug purchased. Since we launched the program in December 2007, nearly 100,000 Floridians have signed up to receive discounts on their prescriptions. Floridians have saved more than $3.5 million on over 220,000 prescriptions.

Cover Florida Health Care works through similar private sector negotiations and partnerships. Approved by the 2008 Florida Legislature, we conducted a rigorous, open and competitive bidding process. Careful negotiations ensured the most robust benefits possible, as well as a financially sound product for the providers.

Since the plans have been available in January, more than 3,700 Floridians have purchased Cover Florida Health Care plans. I have had the opportunity to meet some of these newly insured Floridians. They include small business owners who can now offer health care benefits to their employees and temporarily unemployed individuals. Cover Florida Health Care gives them all peace of mind and saves them hundreds of dollars on health care costs every month.

Cover Florida benefits include preventive services and office visits, as well as office surgery, urgent care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, and diabetic supplies. Every Floridian can choose between at least two insurers, and residents of four counties have additional options. Each of the six insurers offers at least two plans – a preventive care plan and a catastrophic care plan that includes hospital coverage. While costs vary, depending on age, gender and choice of plan, 80 percent of those purchasing Cover Florida plans have chosen the more robust, catastrophic plans.

Cover Florida offers a wide variety of affordable options, including coverage for as little as $24 a month. The best-selling plan averages $148 a month, which is 265 percent less than the national average premium. Each person decides which plan works best – for health reasons and for financial reasons. In addition, Cover Florida plans have a wide range of deductibles, most under $500 a year. Compare this cost to the $2,000 annual deductible that 59 percent of American families are paying today. Coverage is guaranteed if you have pre-existing health conditions, and four of the six companies cover children under age 19.

While the growing national discussion on health care increasingly sounds like an all-or-nothing debate, I believe what we are doing in Florida to increase access to affordable health care is a model worth examining. We have found that by working with the private sector, we can increase health care choices without increasing taxes or the size of government. Admittedly, we are at the beginning of this process. But we are off to a good start.

You can learn more about what Florida is doing by visiting www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com and www.FloridaDiscountDrugCard.com.

Charlie Crist is governor of Florida.

Opinion

Securing Our Future Responsibly

By Charlie Crist

TALLAHASSEE -- Last year I supported Senator John McCain for president.  Despite these efforts, the American public chose Barack Obama as the person they wanted in the White House to confront the worst financial market turmoil since the Great Depression and the worst recession in a generation.  Regardless of whom they voted for on November 4, he is our President and every patriotic American should hope he succeeds in ending the economic problems that now beset our country.

Soon after his inauguration, the President signed legislation aimed at stimulating economic growth.  Many good and decent people opposed this measure, and some even offered proposals to reduce the tax burden and the proposed spending that I would have preferred to see enacted.  But the case for doing something to help the economy was overwhelming, and I was glad the President and Congress were able to pass a bill

But let there be no doubt, I am a fiscal conservative.  Since I took office two years ago, we have cut state spending by $7 billion, lowered property taxes by an estimated $25 billion over five years and created innovative no-cost solutions like the Florida Discount Drug Card and Cover Florida Health Care Plan.  In fact, the CATO Institute has recognized our state as the most fiscally conservative in the nation. And while we have taken these prudent steps, tough decisions lie ahead. As we make those decisions, we must also remember that our first priority is to the people we serve and to our responsibility to spend their money wisely while continuing to lessen their tax burden.

While I supported the stimulus plan, I oppose the President’s budget proposals, in particular his willingness to increase the top tax rate on personal income from 35 to 39.6 percent.  Just as I supported the President publicly regarding the stimulus, I am publicly asking him to withdraw these tax increase proposals, considering the structural damage higher tax rates will do to the long-term growth potential of our nation’s economy. 

In addition, the President's plan will severely increase our national debt.  Even with the increase in federal revenues resulting from higher taxes and planned military widhdrawal from Iraq, the smallest annual deficit we will see in the next ten years is $533 billion in 2013.  At the rate projected in the President's budget, the national debt will increase by $3.7 trillion by 2014.  To put this in perspective, two years ago, before we started to hit the current crisis, the annual budget deficit was $162 billion.  

History has demonstrated that deficit spending can be effective in times of economic crisis and war.  In addressing the current crisis, the stimulus package would have increased the national debt by less than two percent in 2009.  However, the additional expenditures in the proposed budget adds to that burden, taking the total annual increase in our indebtedness this year to more than 17 percent.  Creating deficits greater than $533 billion per year for a period of 10 years while simultaneously raising taxes is both contrary to responsible economic recovery and ultimately unsustainable.

The destructive power of a program dependent on increasing taxes begins with the disincentive Americans will be given to work, save, and invest. As rates approach 40 percent or higher, what incentive is there to pursue greater productivity and innovation when nearly half of the benefit of such individual successes are captured by the federal government to pay its debts?

The personal incentive of income as a result of hard work is a cornerstone of American prosperity and must be protected.  

The genius of the conservative approach to American capitalism has been to harness natural productive ambition by respecting property rights, honoring enforceable contracts, and pursuing relatively low tax rates that sustain the will to work.  A budget that commits to raising tax rates during a deep recession and threatens – through higher spending – to raise marginal tax rates to the highest level in more than a decade will undermine every individual’s ability to harness these tried and true economic principles.  The result would be an inability of our economy to right itself and slower increases in the living standards for all Americans across the entire income spectrum.

There is a better way.  Rather than starting down the path of higher tax rates, I recommend the Congress and Administration re-double its efforts to reduce government spending.   Give the President line-item veto power.  Create a bipartisan task force to restructure government for a new generation of challenges.  Eliminate duplicative functions across government.  Modernize entitlements.  Get health markets right.  Combined with the anticipated return of the economy’s health, reduced spending will first help stabilize the national debt and create opportunities to reduce the burden being placed on future generations.

Charlie Crist is governor of Florida

Photo:  Charlie Crist/FrontPageFlorida.com photo(c)