Marshall Criser III: Keep Common Core

The man expected to be confirmed as the chancellor of Florida's university system publicly backed the Common Core State Standards in an opinion piece published Thursday.

Marshall Criser III says the standards are crucial for closing the skills gap in the Sunshine State -- a gap that he believes the standards will fill.

Some excerpts of Criser's piece:

"Education is critical to spurring the states economic prosperity. Floridas business community knows this perhaps better than most. Without a skilled workforce, AT&T and employers across the state cannot compete nationally or internationally. Thats bad for business, bad for Florida and bad for Floridians.

"Unfortunately, Florida employers face a skills gap in the state an urgent shortage of a resource as basic as food, more valuable than gold and in higher global demand than oil. According to a study conducted by the Florida Council of 100, Florida businesses spend an estimated $3.5 billion each year training their employees in the basic skills they should have learned before entering the workforce.

"The Florida Standards, our version of the Common Core State Standards as adopted by our state and 44 others a few years ago, give our schools an ambitious but reachable target to help close this gap. They focus on the key areas of mathematics and English language arts and help ensure that our high school graduates are prepared to go to college or enter the workforce and compete in the global marketplace."