Around the state: Senate and House lawmakers release their proposed $29 billion K-12 education budgets, changes in school funding intended to improve the concept of the money following the student are approved by a Senate committee, the House speaker is proposing a cut in the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, a Leon County charter school is closing and leasing its property to a private school, and an Okaloosa charter high school will switch to a four-day week in the fall. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Palm Beach: West Palm Beach’s mayor is proposing to sell 55 acres of city land to developer Stephen Ross for $6.6 million so Ross can build a private K-12 school. Some members of the real estate community are critical of the deal, saying the $120,500-an-acre price is about 12% of the going rate for land between the turnpike and I-95. City officials said they established the price by averaging two appraisals, one for $9.5 million and a second for $3.7 million. Palm Beach Post.
Duval: School board members have tentatively approved a review committee’s recommendation to split 6th- through 8th-grade health classes by gender. The change is contained in the district’s new policy handbook that spells out how it will handle sex education. A final board decision is expected in April. WJAX.
Collier: Officials at the Autism Collier Charter School said Wednesday that the school will open in the fall in a space shared with BridgePrep Academy in Naples. WBBH.
St. Lucie: School grades for the 2023-2024 academic year show continued improvement, according to Superintendent Jon Prince. For the first time in the past seven years, no district schools received a grade below a C. Nine were given A grades, 15 got B grades and 13 received C’s. WPTV.
Okaloosa: Destin High School officials announced Wednesday that the charter school will follow a four-day week schedule, Monday-through-Thursday, starting this fall. Each day will be 1 hour longer. WEAR. Several school district changes are underway to deal with enrollment growth that is causing overcrowding in schools. Eglin Elementary will become a K-5 school in the fall, construction has begun on an addition to restore Destin Elementary to a K-5 school and on the new K-8 Pineview School in Crestview. Both are expected to be completed by August 2026. Northwest Florida Daily News.
Leon: A Tallahassee charter school is closing and will lease its facility to a new local private school. Renaissance Academy, which is owned by Charter Schools USA and was one of the district’s five charter schools, is leasing its property on Mahan Drive to the Tallahassee Preparatory Academy. “While this was a difficult decision, it is ultimately the best one for students in Leon County,” said Eddie Ruiz of Charter Schools USA. “Renaissance Academy has been consistently underenrolled and is no longer financially sustainable. This offers a new choice for students.” Tallahassee Democrat.
Alachua: Attorneys for the school board are appealing to the Florida Board of Education to reverse the state Charter School Review Commission’s approval of Newberry Elementary School’s conversion to a city-run charter. The letter written by Sniffen & Spellman acknowledges the board has no right to appeal, but argues that the situation is “unjust and unfair.” WCJB.
Bay: A five-year strategic plan for the school district was approved this week by the school board. Five objectives were identified: Preparing students to become productive citizens, prioritizing academic achievement, supporting employees and enhances to improve recruitment and retention, collaborating with stakeholders to create and sustain educational support structures focused on student learning and development, and building and maintaining transparency and trust among students, parents and the community. Panama City News Herald.
Citrus: Sheriff’s officials said Wednesday the financial scam that removed a “substantial” sum of money from the school district was done from a distance. “We can confirm that the suspected actor(s) identified through our joint investigation are not from within the Citrus County School District, nor Citrus County,” said Dave DeCarlo of the Sheriff’s Office. Citrus County Chronicle.
Flagler: District 1 school member Derek Barrs will have to resign from the board if his appointment as administrator to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington is approved by the Senate. The timeline of the move is uncertain, and Barrs said he’ll continue on the board until he has to move. Flagler Live.
School funding changes: A Senate committee has advanced a bill to better track students who receive Family Empowerment Scholarships from the state so the funding follows the students when they switch schools. SB 7030 would also make money available to address enrollment changes during the course of the academic year in public schools and voucher programs, and create a budget for the FES program. “This is a big deal, and I really believe that what we have before us is an attempt to make sure that we save this program so that it lasts and that it fulfills its promise for families that want to take advantage of it,” said Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on PreK-12 Education. News Service of Florida. USA Today Florida Network.
Education budgets: Both the Senate and House have announced K-12 education budgets of $29 billion plus, with a $236 million gap between them. Senators propose spending $29.6 billion, an increase of $984 million over the current year, which includes a boost of $135 in per-student funding, to $9,122. The House budget is $29.3 billion, an increase of $747 million that includes $62 more per student to $9,049. One of the biggest differences is in money for teacher salaries. Senators are proposing an increase of $248 million, close to what Gov. Ron DeSantis has recommended, while the House budget increase is $102 million. “We need to right-size our budget this year,” said state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers. “We have to stop the spending.” Politico Florida.
Sales tax cut proposed: The state’s sales tax would drop from 6% to 5.25% under a proposal announced Wednesday by House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, who said the move is meant to take away the “temptation” to spend. “We have forgotten a fundamental truth: This money isn’t ours. Tax dollars don’t belong to the government. They belong to the people,” Perez said. That projected $5 billion-a-year cut, if enacted, “will be the largest state tax cut in the history of Florida,” he added. USA Today Florida Network. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. WFSU. WPTV.
School start times: A bill that would allow school districts to opt out of a law mandating later start times for middle and high schools by the fall of 2026 has cleared its final House committee and is now ready for a vote by the full body. Florida Politics.
Opinions on schools: My problem with term limits is not simply the practicality of making them work. The government has no business telling you or me who we cannot elect. I’m fine with some sensible qualifications for office, like age and residency requirements. But these minimal standards aside, it’s my vote and my choice. John Hill, Tampa Bay Times. If the push is to “return control” of education policies to states and local school districts as a solution to poor comparative results on testing, then would it not be more logical to realize that it is at the local and state levels where the inadequacies in performance and learning are taking place? Ed Moore, Florida Daily. Allowing each state to pursue its own education reforms without any meaningful federal guardrails is a risky bet, though it’s important to recognize that the history of American education policy has long been marked by pendulum swings between state authority and federal intervention. Dale Chu, Education Week.
