Florida’s teachers elected DeSantis, and they are sadly about to do it again.
A recent poll said Florida’s teachers overwhelmingly disapprove of how DeSantis has done.
From Florida Politics:
The Clearview Research poll found 76% of teachers in Florida disapprove of his job performance, and just 21% approve. That net -45 rating marks a dramatic shift from two years ago, when the then-newly inaugurated Governor had a 40% approve, 30% disapprove rating among FEA members.
Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran also has a net -36 percentage point approval rating, with 17% giving a favorable mark and 67% grading him unfavorably. The Florida Legislature, as session begins, holds a net negative rating among Florida’s teachers, with 19% approving and 74% disapproving,.
And teachers have a -36 percentage point net disapproval of the current conditions in Florida’s schools.
My first thought wasn’t, wow, he is really underwater, and rightfully so, but who the 7345 are these 21 percent of teachers who think he is doing a good job??
Then the math made me sad because it meant teachers who suffered 8 years of abuse and mismanagement from Scott had elected DeSantis and are poised to do so again.
In 2018, DeSantis beat Gillum, 32,463 votes. Less than half of one percent.
According to Google, there 176,537 public school teachers, 21 percent of which is just over 37,000, or more than DeSantis’s margin of victory. Who wants to bet more than 21 percent of teachers voted against their and their students' interests in 2018. I wouldn’t.
DeSantis and Corcoran are dreadful for public education, and in some good news, the vast majority of educators know this; unfortunately, another recent poll shows us the vast majority of Florida citizens don’t.
From News4Jax:
A Mason-Dixon poll released Tuesday finds more than half of registered Florida voters support Ron DeSantis’ performance as the state’s governor.
The poll shows that statewide, 53% of respondents approve of how DeSantis is handling his job, 42% disapprove, and 5% were undecided.
In North Florida specifically, the numbers are higher in DeSantis’ favor, with 63% approving of the governor’s performance, 33% disapproving, and 4% undecided.
According to the poll, the governor’s job approval rating has increased over the past seven months, with his approval number increasing by eight points and his disapproval number dropping by seven points.
Gulp.
Public education will not survive 5 more years of DeSantis, and neither will the teaching profession.
So why the disconnect between teachers and the public? Well, maybe it's because teachers are afraid and trying to keep their heads down; it what many of us do, rather than speaking up and fighting back against unfair pay, attacks on the union, testing, COVID, and so many other issues. We are not educating the public, and instead, we are just taking it like we have for decades.
Well, friends, look where just taking it has got us.
Teachers have a responsibility to their families and their students but maybe most importantly to themselves, and that is to stop just taking it.
No comments:
Post a Comment