TAMPA, Fla. — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, as close to a GOP rockstar as one can get, took to the convention podium here Thursday night to pick up where Condoleezza Rice left off Wednesday, hammering on education.
Bush, who’s best known for vocally and repeatedly begging his party to change its tone on immigration, made a name for himself with education in Florida, and stood on the convention podium as the party’s leading voice on reforming the nation’s schools by breaking up teachers unions and creating a school-choice structure.
On Wednesday, Rice called school vouchers the “civil rights struggle of our day,” and Bush continued on that theme, arguing that school choice in Florida has disproportionally helped minority students.
Bush has the pitch down to a science.
“Everywhere in our lives, we get the chance to choose,” he said in a prepared version of his remarks sent to reporters. “Go down any supermarket aisle – you’ll find an incredible selection of milk. You can get whole milk, 2% milk, low-fat milk or skim milk. Organic milk, and milk with extra Vitamin D. There’s flavored milk– chocolate, strawberry or vanilla – and it doesn’t even taste like milk. They even make milk for people who can’t drink milk.”
“Shouldn’t parents have that kind of choice in schools?” Bush said.
Romney has pitched his own school-choice plan as part of his education proposal and repeatedly dings Obama for not supporting vouchers.
School choice has basically been the Republican education plan for quite a while now, but to a party grasping to build support with Hispanics and women, Bush framed the issue in civil rights terms.
“We must stop pre-judging children based on their race, ethnicity or household income,” Bush said. “We must stop excusing failure in our schools and start rewarding improvement and success.”
