One of the most discussed topics for elected officials is education.

Former Governor Jeb Bush continues to talk about education while running for the Republican presidential nomination. As part of the conversation, Bush often says Florida’s graduation rate was awful when he became governor but rose during his time in office.

That’s something former Miami Democratic state Senator Dan Gelber says is not the case.  As part of a recent Miami Herald op-ed, Gelber wrote, “After (Jeb) Bush’s two terms in office, Florida’s graduation rate was dead last and remains near the bottom.”

Our partners at PolitiFact Florida took a look at the claim to see if it’s accurate.

PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin says the statement is Mostly True.  “When we go back to 1998 when Jeb Bush took office as governor he didn’t really dispute that Florida was dead last in graduations.  It ranked 50^th.  The source kind of depends on where you look at,” Gillin says. 

“When he left office in 2007, a year prior to that, graduation rates, depending on your data source, were anywhere to 45^th to around 47^th,” Gillin continued.  “So slight change there.  Not dead last the way Gelber was saying, but it was pretty low down there.”

SOURCES:  Florida graduation rate was dead last when Jeb Bush became governor?

• Miami Herald op-ed by former state Sen. Dan Gelber, "Jeb Bush: he ‘dumbed down’ Florida’s schools," June 21, 2015
• Former state Sen. Dan Gelber, Newsletter, 2008
• Former state Sen. Dan Gelber, State of the State response, 2008
• Morgan Quitno Press, Estimated public high school graduation rate, 2005
• National Center for Education Statistics, Public high school 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR) for the United States, the 50 states and the District of Columbia, School years 2010-11 to 2012-13
• National Center for Education Statistics, Public high school Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), by year and state or jurisdiction, School years 2002–03 through 2009–10
• Florida Department of Education, Florida’s Graduation rate and historical summary, 1998-2014
• Sherman Dorn, former University of South Florida Professor, "Inflation of official Florida graduation rates," June 29, 2006
• Education Week, "High school graduation rate approaching milestone, reaches highest point in 40 years," June 6, 2013
• CQ Press using National Education Association Data, Estimated public high school graduation rate, 2010
• Manhattan Institute, "Public school graduation rates in the United States," 2002
• Economic Policy Institute, "Rethinking high school graduation rates and trends," 2006
• WHJG, "High school graduation rates," Nov. 16, 2005
• Associated Press, "McBride ad blames Bush for poor schools," Oct. 15, 2002
• Tampa Bay Times, "McBride’s first negative TV ad targets Floridae education," Oct. 16, 2002
• Associated Press, "Florida High School graduation statistics hailed and deplored," Nov. 17, 2005
• Orlando Sentinel, "Florida's high-school graduation rate on rise," (Accessed in Nexis) Dec. 1, 2007
• Associated Press, "Florida’s graduation rate among lowest," April 28, 2014
• Congressional Quarterly, Press release, 2007
• PolitiFact Florida's Scott-O-Meter, Raise per-pupil education spending to an all-time high, Last update Feb. 25, 2015
• PolitiFact Florida, "Florida's interim education commissioner gives props to state's graduation rate improvements," Aug. 23, 2013
• Interview, Cheryl Etters, Florida Department of Education spokeswoman, June 22, 2015
• Interview, Jim Bradshaw, U.S. Department of Education, June 23, 2015
• Interview, former state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, June 22, 2015
• Interview, Matt Gorman, Jeb Bush campaign spokesman, June 22, 2015
• Interview, Richard Rothstein, research associate Economic Policy Institute, June 23, 2015
• Interview, Sherman Dorn, Professor and Director Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University and former professor at University of South Florida, June 23, 2015
• Interview, Scott Morgan, co-owner of Morgan Quitno Press which was acquired by CQ in 2007, June 23, 2015
• Interview, David Bills, University of Iowa education professor, June 24, 2015