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Bush Touts Education Reform During High School Town Hall

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush made a stop in South Florida Tuesday to speak with the next generation.

On Tuesday, Bush visited the La Progresiva Presbyterian School at 2480 NW 7th Street in Miami.

After a tour of the school he held a town hall with high school students.

"I'm excited about being a candidate for president, to talk about these things, about how we need to lift people up," said Bush.

Bush spoke about his years as state governor, touting the changes he made including his program which allowed students to got private school over public.

"When I was governor, when I got there in 1999, a long time ago, we were 50th of 50 in terms of graduation rate," Bush told the students. "Because of efforts of reform that we had, particularly school choice, we now have increased the graduation rate by 50-percent."

In addition to thoughts on education, Bush also addressed immigration. He fielded questions in Spanish, talked about his wife who is from Mexico and wasted no time in setting himself apart from front-runner Donald Trump. He blasted the billionaire's plan for mass deportations and doing away with birth right.

"I think birth right citizenship is embedded in the Constitution of the United States, I've consistently said that," said Bush. "I don't think we're going to round-up 11 million people and put them in camps to deport them, breaking up families. I'm for a rational approach to immigration."

Bush also talked about his latest commercial, painting Trump as a liberal.

"This guy is not a conservative.  Using his own words is not a mischaracterization. They came out of his own mouth," said Bush.

Bush wrapped the town hall by taking selfies with the students.

Campaigning continues for other possible candidate as well on Wednesday.

Vice President Joe Biden, who may run on the Democratic ticket, will be in South Florida to talk about education. On Thursday, he will be in Davie speaking to Jewish leaders about the Iran nuclear deal.

Click here to read more about Campaign 2016.

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