“Abby Phillips” - At Miami school, Barack Obama praises Jeb Bush

By ABBY PHILLIP | 3/4/11 6:11 PM EST

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50695.html

MIAMI – Seeking support for increasing the country’s investment in education, President Barack Obama appeared at a high school here on Friday with an unlikely ally he described as a “champion of education reform” - Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida.

Obama chose Central Miami Senior High School at Bush’s suggestion for a rare moment of bipartisan collaboration on an education agenda that, at least in general terms, the two can agree on.

 “I decided to come here to Miami Central to kick off education month, because you’re doing what I challenged states to do shortly after I took office and that is turning America’s lowest performing schools around,” Obama said.

Obama said Bush “is someone who championed reform when he was in office, someone who is now championing reform as a private citizen.” And he called for a bipartisan effort to end to the “status quo” in education, using the example that he and Bush set in their appearance together.

“I believe the status quo is unacceptable, it’s time to change,” Obama said. “It is time for us to work together, just like Jeb and I are doing—coming from different parties, but we came together not as Democrats and Republicans but as Americans.”

Obama sought to put aside his political differences with Bush in favor of focusing on their shared desire to turn around public education, and made a joke about about his older brother - former President George W. Bush - without actually naming him.

“Aside from being a former governor of this state, Jeb is best known as the brother of….Marvin Bush,” Obama joked in his remarks. “Apparently the rest of the family also did some work back in Washington…back in the day.”

For his part, Bush made a brief introduction of Obama, but spent most of his time praising the school for its accomplishments raising graduation rates and increasing school performance. He also put in a pitch for bipartisanship on his signature issue.

“Mr. President, as you have said, education achievement is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue — it is an issue of national priority,” Bush said. “Every child, regardless of their zip code or family income, should have access to a quality education.”

And the two spent little time together in front of the cameras. During Obama’s tour of an engineering classroom, Bush stayed in the background with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, while Obama spoke with students.

Obama has promised to invest in education, particularly in science and math training, even while he and Congress seeks to slash the federal budget.

But as he has done consistently since announcing his “Winning the Future” mantra during the State of the Union address, Obama said that government needs to cut back on things the country doesn’t need.

“In order to make sure we can keep doing our part to invest in our schools, we’re also going to have to get serious about cutting whatever spending we don’t need,” Obama said. “What we can’t do is cut back on investments like education. We can’t sacrifice your future.”.

As governor, Bush pushed an aggressive, and polarizing, education reform agenda that focused on testing, charter schools, merit-based pay and school vouchers. Since leaving office in 2007, he has spent much of his time advocating for education reform, furthering his reputation as an education expert as memories of his battles with the Florida legislature have faded.

“Because of high expectations for students, hard-edge policies that focus schools on learning and an array of choices for families, the Sunshine State is leading the nation in rising student achievement,” Bush said in a statement this week.

In theory, Obama’s education reform agenda makes room for many of the same ideas.

His “Race to the Top” program, which requires states to produce aggressive education reform plans in order to compete for billions in federal money, has resulted in states allowing more charter schools, moving to merit-based-pay systems for teachers, and raising student performance standards.

But as evidence of how tricky an issue education can be for a Democratic president, Obama has also actively disavowed support for school vouchers as a “solution” to the country’s education problems and has worked hard to persuade skeptical teachers unions to support merit-based pay and the lifting of charter-school caps.

From the perspective of some of Florida’s traditional Democratic constituencies, Bush’s education reform agenda leaves a lot to be desired. Four years after Bush left office, critics see a legacy of tension with teachers unions, underfunded schools and just moderate gains in student performance.

But by courting Bush, Obama is aligning himself with a politician who otherwise could damage Obama’s own hard-earned credibility on education reform. Obama’s connection with Bush can be seen as an effort to win over independents and moderate Republicans — in the same vein as December’s tax-cut compromise.

“I don’t think the president standing with Jeb Bush is an endorsement of everything Jeb Bush has done as governor,” said Steve Shale, the 2008 Obama campaign’s Florida director. “The president is pointing out that there are things that were done in Florida that we can all learn from.”

But as he has done consistently since announcing his “Winning the Future” mantra during the State of the Union address, Obama said that government needs to cut back on things the country doesn’t need.

“In order to make sure we can keep doing our part to invest in our schools, we’re also going to have to get serious about cutting whatever spending we don’t need,” Obama said. “What we can’t do is cut back on investments like education. We can’t sacrifice your future.”.

As governor, Bush pushed an aggressive, and polarizing, education reform agenda that focused on testing, charter schools, merit-based pay and school vouchers. Since leaving office in 2007, he has spent much of his time advocating for education reform, furthering his reputation as an education expert as memories of his battles with the Florida legislature have faded.

“Because of high expectations for students, hard-edge policies that focus schools on learning and an array of choices for families, the Sunshine State is leading the nation in rising student achievement,” Bush said in a statement this week.

In theory, Obama’s education reform agenda makes room for many of the same ideas.

His “Race to the Top” program, which requires states to produce aggressive education reform plans in order to compete for billions in federal money, has resulted in states allowing more charter schools, moving to merit-based-pay systems for teachers, and raising student performance standards.

But as evidence of how tricky an issue education can be for a Democratic president, Obama has also actively disavowed support for school vouchers as a “solution” to the country’s education problems and has worked hard to persuade skeptical teachers unions to support merit-based pay and the lifting of charter-school caps.

From the perspective of some of Florida’s traditional Democratic constituencies, Bush’s education reform agenda leaves a lot to be desired. Four years after Bush left office, critics see a legacy of tension with teachers unions, underfunded schools and just moderate gains in student performance.

But by courting Bush, Obama is aligning himself with a politician who otherwise could damage Obama’s own hard-earned credibility on education reform. Obama’s connection with Bush can be seen as an effort to win over independents and moderate Republicans — in the same vein as December’s tax-cut compromise.

“I don’t think the president standing with Jeb Bush is an endorsement of everything Jeb Bush has done as governor,” said Steve Shale, the 2008 Obama campaign’s Florida director. “The president is pointing out that there are things that were done in Florida that we can all learn from.”