Obama, Jeb Bush to Team Up on School Tour

(Wall Street Journal) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is putting his criticism of President Barack Obama aside this week as he prepares to join him in Miami, Fla., for a tour of a high school that is making a turnaround, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Amid political fighting on issues big and small, the White House has long hoped education will be one area for true bipartisan cooperation. The visit to Florida is meant to give that notion a boost.

At Education Secretary Arne Duncan's request, Bush suggested several possible schools to visit, and from that list, the administration picked Miami Central High School, which was graded an "F" by the state for several years until the 2008-09 school year, when the school improved to a "D," and then last year, to a "C."

The school benefited from $784,700 in federal money for failing schools, part of a $3.5 billion pot that was awarded through the states last year.

Miami Central's principal and at least half the staff were replaced, and the school added after-school instruction in reading and math as well as classes for parents.

"Miami Central High School was recommended by former Gov. Bush because it tells an incredible story of the impact successful turnaround strategies and models can have on persistently low-performing schools," White House spokesman Jay Carney said this week. He added that reforming the education system "is neither a Democratic, nor a Republican issue."

Some Republicans have pushed Bush to consider a 2012 presidential race, something he has declined to do. But he has not hesitated to criticize Obama. Last year, Bush complained that Obama continued to blame his brother, former President George W. Bush, for the bad economy.

"It's childish. This is what children do until they mature. They don't accept responsibility," he told The New York Times. But in that interview he also praised Obama's work in education.

Read more: Wall Street Journal