Funding vouchers: Florida is working as fast as it can to distribute money to for students who have been approved for a state K-12 scholarship, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said Thursday. About 85,000 students receiving vouchers for special needs and 120,000 students getting awards for educational options should have received their money by yesterday, he said. Another 140,000 or so children are in the tax-credit scholarship program, which operates outside the state budget. “That’s compared to 262,000 all of last year,” Diaz said. “This is a massive expansion of the school choice program.” Last week, parents and private schools complained that their first-quarter funding hadn’t arrived, causing them financial stress. Diaz said the Department of Education is working with scholarship funding organizations to issue payments, but the process is not automatic and all paperwork must be completed before funds are released. One of those organizations is Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog. Tampa Bay Times.
Around the state: New College of Florida school officials say they have reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education over a complaint about the school failing to comply with federal disability access laws, Pinellas school board members are considering revisions to the district’s book review process, another report is critical of the way the Broward school district has managed its $800 million bond program to replace and repair schools, parents and teachers in Polk County say they’ve seen benefits from the state’s new restrictions on students’ cell phone use in classes, and interim New College president Richard Corcoran urges caution in banning great books just because they have sexual content. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: A band volunteer at Miami Carol City Senior High School has been arrested and accused of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Police said Malachi Jesus Cheeseborough, 24, fondled a 17-year-old student in a school band room Sept. 21. WTVJ. WSVN.
Broward: Yet another report has been issued that is a critical of the school district’s management of the $800 million bond program approved by voters in 2014 to rebuild and renovate schools. Of 160 projects including work that mention student safety and security, Florida TaxWatch identified 15 that have been delayed and another nine that are over budget. The Center Square.
Pinellas, Tampa Bay area: Pinellas school board members are considering revising the district’s book review process. Instead of having school-level review committees, a district-wide committee would be formed and its decisions would apply countywide. A trained district administrator would chair the committee, which would also include the school’s executive director of education, two instructional staff members, a district content specialist or coordinator for library media and three parents of students who will have access to the challenged material. Members of the public would also be permitted to speak about the objections for up to three minutes at the committee meetings. A final vote is expected Nov. 14. Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco school officials are increasingly requiring students to get written permission from a parent to do school-related things such as checking out library books, attending after-school events or joining clubs. Opting in is being seen as a way to comply with the Parental Rights in Education law. Some welcome the change as a way to boost parental involvement in schools, but others believe the more likely result is a drop in student participation. Tampa Bay Times.
Polk: Parents and teachers say the new state law prohibiting students’ use of cell phones in class without teacher permission is already having beneficial effects. “We have seen a huge increase in engagement in classrooms without the distractions of cell phones,” said Lake Gibson High School principal Ryan Vann. This year, 659 violations have been reported, compared with 497 during the same period last year. Lakeland Now. April Barnhardt, who has been interim principal at Bok Academy South in Lake Wales since the beginning of the school year, has been elevated to the top job by the Lake Wales Charter School’s board of directors. She replaces Damian Rosado, who had resigned after about two years on the job. Lakeland Ledger. A school district teacher and coach has been arrested in a sheriff’s operation against human trafficking. Russell Rogers, an athletic director at Vanguard School and a teacher at Auburndale High School REAL Academy, was among more than 200 people arrested. District officials said they have begun the process to fire him. WTVT.
Sarasota: Construction has begun on a K-8 school just south of the intersection of Clark and Lorraine roads in the Skye Ranch development east of Interstate 75. The district’s first new school in 15 years is expected to cost $105.8 million, and open in August of 2025 with an emphasis on STEAM programs. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
St. Lucie: Attendance is the biggest problem the school district has right now, Superintendent Jon Prince said this week. “I think attendance right now and the lack of students attending regularly is the biggest crisis that educators are facing today,” he said. “Because of COVID, it really normalized kids not coming to school, because when we pivoted to online learning, I think we also created a lot of bad habits.” Last year almost half of middle and high school students missed 25 or more days. Prince said the district is making improvements by being “very aggressive” in getting after students to come to the school, even offering incentives in some cases. WPTV.
Leon: A former Leon High School security guard has been arrested and accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student. Polive said George Stoney IV, 31, is charged with sexual assault, sexual battery and sex with a minor after a months-long investigation of text messages between Stoney and the student. He was fired May 5, according to a district spokesperson. Tallahassee Democrat. WCTV.
Colleges and universities: New College of Florida school officials say they have reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education over a complaint about the school failing to comply with federal disability access laws. No details were announced, but school officials said it would implement the terms onto its website over an eight-month period. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Miami International University of Art & Design, which opened in 1965, will end operations operations after today, school officials have announced. The closure affects the Miami campus as well as ones in Tampa, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Virginia Beach, and affect about 1,700 students. Enrollment has declined in recent years, and the company paid $95.5 million in 2015 to settle lawsuits alleging the school broke federal laws in the way it paid recruiters. Miami Herald. University of Central Florida trustees are ending a requirement that a consultant review the school president’s performance and salary every three years, citing a new Board of Governors regulation that demands annual evaluations of presidents. UCF was the only state university that required a consultant’s review. News Service of Florida. New College of Florida is waiving the $59 test fee for students who want to take the Classic Learning Exam on Nov. 2. The newly adopted test is an alternative to the SAT and ACT for including on college applications. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Book restrictions: Confusion about the rules for removing books from school district libraries continues to cause issues for school leaders, and Florida Department of Education officials still haven’t provided clarity on what can go and what can stay. Attorney General Ashley Moody recently said restrictions apply only to books that are used for classroom instruction, but only a few have changed policies because of her statement. “There has been a lot of confusion from districts in Florida on what this legislation covers,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read project. “While districts and many others have been really asking the Florida Department of Ed to provide guidance, that guidance has been lacking.” USA Today Florida Network. Richard Corcoran, former education commissioner and currently the interim president of New College of Florida, urges caution in banning great books just because they have sexual content. At a recent speaking engagement, Corcoran said, “You cannot have great learning where there is not free speech,” and used The Kite Runner as an example. It has been removed from some school districts because of excerpts about rape and incest, but Corcoran made it required reading for his children, calling it “real” literature. Tampa Bay Times.
The Ramsey textbook: A year ago, radio personality Dave Ramsey’s financial literacy textbook, known as the Lampo Group title for Personal Financial Literacy, landed on the state’s “not recommended” list. Then the state passed a law requiring incoming high school students to take a half credit in financial literacy in order to graduate, and Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance 4th Edition, which includes Bible verses and videos of him speaking on stage, was one of four approved by the state for grades 9-12. No reasons for the reversal have been provided by the state, but critics suggest it continues a trend of pushing more conservative material into classrooms. WUSF.
New education laws: More than three-dozen new laws go into effect Sunday, including three affecting education. Courts will be required to consider electronic monitoring and location restrictions as conditions of pretrial release or probation for persons charged with certain offenses against schools or students. People who interfere with school and other sporting or entertainment events would be prohibited from profiting from their actions, and portions of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Commission meetings that would identify school resource officers or confidential information would be exempt from public records laws. Pensacola News Journal.
Opinions on schools: This is the next-generation question for states that have enacted ambitious education choice programs that allow families to direct public education funding to providers of their choice: What appropriate regulations will ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need, while accommodating the proliferation of innovative models that blur the lines between schooling and homeschooling and allow parents to assemble education from multiple providers? Travis Pillow, reimaginED. Florida’s State University System is not making any significant progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women and black students among bachelor’s degree graduates in math-intensive STEM fields. Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. Education needs choices because students are not robots and do not all want or need the same thing. So let people have a say — and the opportunity to exercise it. That’s democracy in action. Angela Kennedy, Orlando Sentinel.
