two good ideas: a group of republican lawmakers are pushing an education proposal which will enable florida students to better compete against students worldwide. the bills (HB 1293, SB 2654) would set forth requirements for florida students that would ensure they had to take higher level math and science classes in order to graduate. this can’t be done on the cheap so it would be nice to see the republicans, embrace, smile, rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, who is pushing his own education bill that would raise the state sales tax by 1 cent to pay for education. at a Florida Education Association press conference Bullard pointed out that there is no way lawmakers can address standards without looking at the money. he said,“We can’t have the conversation about increased standards and not begin to address the issues in and around increasing the funding or providing revenue that will help alleviate the burdens, of teachers, administrators, school boards school systems, et cetera.,” the increase in the sales tax by a penny for three years, would generate $3.5 billion for schools. let’s hope the folks in florida do a bit more than “have a conversation”, for the kids sake. more to come.