Jeb Bush to talk education reform

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Former Florida governor Jeb Bush will visit Georgia Friday to give some inside tips on how the Sunshine State moved to the forefront of education reform.

Bush  has been traveling the country challenging policy-makers to be open-minded about innovation, even to ideas that may seem uncomfortable.

Florida has received national praise for narrowing its achievement gap among minority and poor students and demanding accountability.  It was the first state to grade schools so families can determine the struggling from the standouts.

Several other states, including New York, have adopted its practice of branding schools. Others will soon come on board.

“ I think great ideas ought to be stolen and applied,” said Bush. “All states need to have high standards. My belief is success is never final… Atrophy sets in if you don’t keep on moving forward.”

Bush’s group, the Foundation for Excellence in Education is partnering with  The Center for an Educated Georgia and the Heritage Foundation in hosting “Education for the 21st Century: Join the Movement for Excellence”  at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. Gov. Sonny Perdue will also speak at the event at 3300 Peachtree Road NE.

“We have had a very open-minded attitude about education reform," said Bert Brantley, spokesperson for the governor, noting discussions of merit pay for teachers and adding graduation coaches to high school, an idea that other states are considering.

Georgia, however still lags behind Florida when it comes to education reform. Florida is like an older sibling that Georgia seems to be striving to match. Florida had charter schools before Georgia and has more of them -- 410 compared to Georgia's 122. Florida started offering  special education vouchers before Georgia expanding school choice for parents and it boasts a higher 2009 SAT score,  1475 vs. 1460. Georgia however, has a higher graduation rate, 78.9 percent compared to Florida's 75.4  percent.

Both states have hired the same consulting firm to help them compete for millions of dollars in Race for the Top funds from the federal government to spur education innovation.

Bush said Florida  is continuing to improve its high schools so that graduation will be achieved by more students. Recently, Florida's Hispanic students outscored 15 states in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. “They have had impressive learning gains, strong accountability and strong school choice programs," said Ben Scafidi, director of the Center for an Educated Georgia. "We are interested in how they did it."

Bush will be one of several speakers at the conference, which is open to the public.