Ex-Lawmakers Sound Alarm: Florida Has Civics Deficiency

By JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 22, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Less than 20 percent of the state's voters turned out for the September primary election.

Forty percent of Floridians can neither name the three branches of government nor comprehend the concept of checks and balances.

In a recent poll in Central Florida, two-thirds of respondents couldn't name either of the state's U.S. senators - although both live there.

Reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic may be well and good for students, but a pair of Florida elder statesmen warned lawmakers on Wednesday that state schools need to teach good old-fashioned civics before an entire generation is lost to their responsibilities in a democracy.

"This is a very important issue," said Bob Graham, an 18-year U.S. senator and two-term governor from Miami Lakes. "Our democracy depends today, as it has from the beginning, on an educated citizenry prepared to be participants."

That citizenry is being shortchanged by the lack of civics education in public schools, he said.

Graham and Lou Frey, who represented Central Florida in the U.S. House for 10 years, are pushing a bipartisan initiative to make civics an integral part of the public school curriculum.

They want to take the opportunity of this July's mandated review of the Sunshine State Standards for public education to emphasize civics and have the subject included on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The testing aspect is important, said Graham and Frey, because with the current FCAT focus on reading, writing, math and science, civics will continue to fall through the cracks unless it is elevated to one of those key subjects.

The state Senate's Committee on Education Pre-K-12 concurred, unanimously passing Senate Bill 1234, sponsored by Sen. Don Gaeetz, R-Niceville. Gov. Charlie Crist also is onboard, having recommended $8 million in state funding for the initiative.

The bill does not have a House companion. That didn't appear to be daunting to Graham, a Democrat, and Frey, a Republican, who are respected figures in Tallahassee and drew applause after their testimony Wednesday.

"It truly is staggering when you think of where we are," Frey told the lawmakers. "We don't have all the answers. We're struggling to try and find them. We can work our way out of this mess. It won't be overnight - we have to start now, though."