Post by Mr. Wells on Nov 30, 2007 12:08:33 GMT -5
Tallahassee's loaded language
Charter schools are private schools funded with public dollars, and there’s a battle brewing over which government entity – local school boards or a new state agency – gets ultimate control over them.
Leaving aside the core issue, here’s my biggest beef: the name of the state agency.
It has been officially dubbed The Florida Schools of Excellence Commission.
As anyone who’s followed the controversial charter school concept knows, the results of charter schools have been decidedly mixed. Some charter schools are excellent. Others are failures. School districts have pulled the plug on some schools’ funding and others are on the brink because of weak test scores. (Unlike purely private schools, charter schools are subject to state FCAT testing.)
So to call the agency The Florida Schools of Excellence Commission is blatant editorializing, showing Tallahassee’s bias in favor of the concept.
Why not simply call the agency The Florida Charter Schools Commission?
It would be accurate and neutral.
And if the state’s going to start a trend of slanting the names of government bodies, why not go all the way?
Why not the Florida Sold-Out Senate?
Or the Florida House of Lobbyists'-and-Big-Business Representatives?
Or the Department of Underperforming Education?
It’s a particular shame, because when Gov. Charlie Crist first took office he made a big deal about bringing plain language to state government, vowing to wipe out gobbledygook and bureaucratese from state agencies.
Too bad he’s seen fit to allow blatant propagandizing when it comes to agency names.