Kelso releases plan for Florida education

As school districts across the state scramble to make last minute adjustments to classroom assignments to meet the state requirements for reduced class sizes, Republican candidate for Florida state representative in the 20th district, Alan Kelso, takes the opportunity to outline his plan for moving the educational system in Florida forward.

“Our children are the most precious resource that Florida has been chartered to care for through our education system,” says Alan Kelso. “We have to put in the hard work of planning for 21st century schools that we can be proud of, that teachers want to be a part of and most importantly, where students can excel toward a responsible place in society.”

Kelso said the first step is to work hand in hand with leaders across the state to develop a long-range strategy for where we need to go with our schools. He envisions a meaningful dialogue among legislators, school boards, superintendents and teachers to reach a clear consensus on the building blocks it will take to exemplary schools. Having been successful in building several businesses himself, Kelso sees value in taking the time to identify best practices and how they can be implemented throughout the state.

“Far too often our legislators have presented their vision for our children and their education without consulting those who are on the front line,” explains Kelso. “Current and past leaders have relied upon outside consultants to project their ideas rather than relying upon our local leaders to collaborate our best efforts. The class size amendment of 2002 was a component needed in many overcrowded schools; however, it came with no serious discussion as to the roadmap for our ultimate goal of educating the next generation of leaders.”

Any meaningful discussion of education must include budgetary concerns. Kelso recognizes that the economy has put an extraordinary strain on district budgets. He stated there are three primary areas that we need attention—basic funding, local discretionary spending, and teacher compensation—while protecting the rights of local school boards and superintendents to retain the capability to allocate funds within their own district.

In the area of teacher compensation, Kelso supports a statewide framework that establishes base salary levels that will attract and retain the best teaching professionals. “Once the base structure is established, then we can look at specific salary enhancements dealing with particular competencies, knowledge and skills,” says Kelso. He adds that the “merit pay” system has historically caused a drop in morale among the teachers, became difficult to execute fairly, and in overtime situations it was difficult to fund. But, most of all he emphasized there was little to no significant improvement in education for the students.

Kelso sees another important component is to have a reliable means of measuring success—both for the student and the teacher. He proposes measuring teachers against criteria in the areas of skills, competencies, and knowledge, including a determination of whether their tactics are working for the students’ benefit.

“Our approach must be not to just come up with a way to pay teachers, but rather to ensure that we deliver a high-quality education product measured and rewarded by evidence-based professional development standards,” states Kelso. “Our responsibility is to see that the budget is sufficient to reward each teacher appropriately for the talents they bring to the classroom and not to take away from some so as to give to others. In designing alternative compensation methods for our best teachers, we can avoid the mistakes of the past.”

The final component of Kelso’s plan is for local school leadership to provide valuable input on developing job-based graduation guidelines and implementing vocational education opportunities for our students who are not college-bound.

The 20th district candidate states, “When we are better able to prepare a workforce for the needs of industry, we will better serve our students and community. There is no point in spending state monies as if every student could and should go to college.”

Kelso believes it’s essential to maintain strong local control versus centralizing the education decision-making process in Tallahassee. “I will work for you in state government, but will not take decisions from you that are best made locally,” states Kelso.

Alan Kelso is endorsed by The Independence Caucus and recommended by the United Christians of Florida Political Action Committee.