by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
If the next mayor of Jacksonville doesn’t focus predominantly on public education in Duval County, they will be going back on what seems to be a developing theme in early campaign forums.
All seven mayoral candidates appeared Tuesday before the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association to introduce themselves, talk about their platforms and answer questions. Although each spent their five-minute introduction talking about a variety of issues, every one of them touched on public education. And, to a candidate, each expressed their desire, if elected, to focus on the education woes in the county and search for creative ways to address funding, local dropout rates, the inevitable teacher shortages that are coming at the end of this school year and inventive ways to make Duval County one of the premier school systems in the country.
Although each acknowledged the mayor has a limited role in solving the problems, they all said the next mayor has no choice but to address the issue and cooperate with the Duval County School Board, the State and the community as best as possible.
Mike Weinstein said the next mayor should focus on two major issues: protecting the community physically, economically and environmentally and the future of Jacksonville’s work force.
“Nothing is more important than public education and that should be dealt with by not just the School Board, but the whole community,” said Weinstein.
The former executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission stressed that as much as Jacksonville’s employment landscape has changed over the past decade, it will change even more over the next several years. Having an educated work force, regardless of the level, is imperative.
“We have to be able to bring in the best jobs possible,” said Weinstein.
Gate Petroleum executive John Peyton admitted the mayor’s office isn’t obligated by any mandate to address public education, but considering the state of the system, it will be impossible to ignore. Peyton believes education is also as much a social issue as it is an in-school issue.
“Socially, leaving students behind affects poverty, teen pregnancy and many other things,” said Peyton, adding the mayor’s office could help initiate mentoring programs and corporate sponsorship of schools. “We need to attract the best people possible to run for the School Board. Education is clearly a big issue.”
City Council member Ginger Soud certainly helped bring public education to the forefront when she agreed to chair the Task Force on Education. Together with several other civic and community leaders, Soud deals with the topic for several hours every other week. Soud, a Jacksonville native and product of the public school system, views the problem as one that must corrected and one that will take a group effort.
“My view of leadership is teamwork,” she said, pointing to the task force as evidence of that theory.
Former mayor Tommy Hazouri, another product of the local school system, took the forum as an opportunity to remind those attending of his accomplishments during his tenure. While tolls, the NFL and the retention of Maxwell House as a downtown fixture are issues Hazouri can take credit for, education, he says, is the key to the city’s future.
“We need good paying jobs and those come with a good education,” said Hazouri, who served as mayor from 1987 until 1991. “I don’t have to tell you where we rank. I’d like the opportunity to be mayor again and it’s not just about the Better Jacksonville Plan.”
City Council member Matt Carlucci agreed with Soud, saying it will take the cooperation of many entities to turn the system’s fortunes around.
“A city that supports its public school system has to bring together students, parents, the schools and the faith-based communities,” said Carlucci. “We need to formalize the relation with the City, the school board, the superintendent and the state legislature. We need to get them all on the same page. We need to eliminate challenged schools and get the students ready for college and the work force.”
Candidates Steve Irvine and Keith Myers also put education at the forefront of their platforms, with Irvine taking a bit more radical approach. Not one to worry about political correctness, Irvine firmly places many of the public school ills on the socioeconomic situations in homes all over Jacksonville. Irvine says several Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. studies over the years have shown that education and teen pregnancy and drug prevention are the area’s biggest problems.
“We don’t address those issues, though,” said Irvine. “JCCI studies provide recommendations but we don’t implement them. What’s more important, asphalt or lives? The problems are not in the school board, but with problems in the family.”
Myers, a retired naval and civil servant, believes that one of the simple solutions is to divert funding from what he considers unnecessary programs to education and other issues.
“Take the JEDC. Some say they have done great things, but I don’t think so,” said Myers. “That money they have given away could have been used for schools, transportation and police and fire protection. We need to spend our money better.”
After each candidate had the podium, they fielded questions from the audience, one of which dealt with J. Turner Butler Boulevard and ways to alleviate the daily congestion on that road.
Weinstein said St. Johns and Clay county residents were partially to blame and the next administration should look at ways to work with those communities to ease the traffic problems.
“Clay and St. Johns are creating stress on our roads and we have to help them grow economically,” said Weinstein. “We need to work together as a region and I think the [2005] Super Bowl will help that.”
“JTB congestion is what inspired me to want to be on the JTA [Jacksonville Transportation Authority board],” said Peyton, adding there is funding set aside for the road to be widened to six lanes with major interchanges at I-95 and U.S. 1.
Both Carlucci and Hazouri said one the keys to helping that entire stretch of town was to smartly manage the growth that will inevitably surround JTB.