Florida State University physics professor Paul Cottle has a wonderful way of comparing the state’s science-education needs with what the state legislature’s pork-barrel politics has produced in the recent past: think about the $6 million cost of the airplane hangar former House Speaker Ray Sansom stuffed into the budget a few years ago pretending to be a classroom building for Okaloosa-Walton Community College, and then figure out how many “Sansom Airplane Hangars” would be the equivalent of different options for science education. Cottle’s list includes the following:
- 4 Sansom Airplane Hangers = a comprehensive set of end-of-course science exams for high school
- 5 Sansom Airplane Hangars = comprehensive professional development for science teachers across Florida
I’m biased: I have two teenagers in high school, I hate when politics distorts higher-ed governance, and want the state’s economy to rely on more than tourism, cattle, and real-estate bubbles.