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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Jeb Bush Talks Education At Mackinac, Pushes Michigan's Questionable Charter School Sector

Jeb Bush Talks Education At Mackinac, Pushes Michigan's Questionable Charter School Sector:

Jeb Bush Talks Education At Mackinac, Pushes Michigan's Questionable Charter School Sector

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. -- Jeb Bush praised charter schools and slammed traditional public schools and teachers unions in a speech here Wednesday, saying that public education “dumbs down standards to make adults look better," a phrase often used by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

"We must expand [school] choice," said Bush, delivering a keynote speech at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference in northern Michigan. "Our governance model includes over 13,000 government-run monopolies run by unions."

Since he left office, the former Florida governor has become an evangelist for a certain strand of education reform; through his $19 million Foundation for Excellenge in Education, he advocates for online education, grading schools based on test scores and forcing students to repeat grades if they don't pass standardized exams.

At Mackinac Wednesday, Bush championed the growth of charter schools, the fastest-growing sector of public