Jeb Bush to Join Obama at Miami Education Event
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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. (AP File Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Obama is enlisting the help of an unlikely ally in former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who will join the president in Miami later this week to discuss education.
Obama will travel to Miami Central Senior High School Friday where he will speak about investments and responsibility in education as a part of his "Winning the Future" initiative. Bush recommended the school and the White House touts it as a model that shows the leap forward that low performing schools can make.
Miami Central received federal funds after it implemented an improvement program that replaced the principal and half of its staff in light of the school's poor performance. Since then, it has made steady improvements.
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Though Obama and Bush don't share many political positions, they mostly agree on education issues. One of Bush's major platforms as Florida's governor was reforming education in the state based on rewarding and punishing educators based on test scores. Obama hopes to reform the No Child Left Behind law that Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush championed and enacted.
Jeb Bush has been discussed as a possible Republican challenger to Obama in the 2012 presidential race. But Bush told Fox News he "will not be a candidate in 2012."