Florida roundup: Lawsuits, Catholic schools, charter schools and more

01/30/15
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Travis Pillow

florida-roundup-logoLawsuits. Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero and teachers union leader Joanne McCall offer dueling op-eds on the lawsuit challenging Florida's tax credit scholarship program in the Tampa Bay Times. The program is administered by organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog and employs the author of this post.

Catholic Schools. A Pinellas parent writes about the benefits of Catholic schools in Crux. Students at a Tallahassee Catholic school get a hands-on engineering lesson. WFSU.

Charter schools. A small, academically low-performing charter school in Palm Beach County struggles to get by as its contract is set for renewal. Palm Beach Post.

School choice. Chelsi Henry of Jacksonville writes about the benefits of school choice at The Root.

Growth. More schools are needed west of Gainesville, but Alachua County school district officials don't know how they'll afford to build them. Gainesville Sun. Lee school district officials look for ways to make a new school a reality in a high-growth area. Fort Myers News-Press.

Safety. Bomb threats prompt shutdowns at multiple Broward schools, district, charter and private. Sun-Sentinel. A Bradenton fourth-grader finds a gun at school. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Teachers unions. Hillsborough's union has a competitive leadership election. Gradebook.

Transportation. An elementary school looks for ways to resolve a traffic snarl. Tampa Bay Times.

Governance. School district and local government leaders in Miami agree to lobby on a tax appeal issue affecting the district's revenue. Miami Herald.

Awards. An aspiring teacher who works as a receptionist and helps special needs students is Marion County's school-related employee of the year. Ocala Star-Banner. Brevard names its Teacher of the Year. Florida Today.

Religion. Orange County schools work on a new policy that would bar dissemination of religious materials. Orlando Sentinel.

About Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is senior director of thought leadership and growth at Step Up For Students. He lives in Sanford, Florida, with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.
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