Capping his week-long education "listening tour," Florida Gov. Rick Scott had dinner last night with Florida Education Association President Andy Ford and other teachers union officials. Tucked into this Palm Beach Post blog post about the first-ever get-together was this quote from Scott:

“I believe parents ought to have choice, I believe that’s good for them,” Scott said. “I believe in the public school system. I grew up in the public school system. It was good for me. The teachers had a dramatic, positive impact on the my life….Is choice good? Yeah. But let’s make sure we do it the right way. Is competition good? Sure, but let’s make sure we do it the right way.”

Without further details, it's hard to know what Scott was suggesting, if anything (but who could disagree with being thoughtful about school choice?). For what it's worth, it joins other interesting word choices from Scott in recent weeks, including one about "teaching to the test" and another about working with teachers.

After the dinner, Scott issued a statement saying he wanted to maintain if not increase state funding for education: (more…)