Around the state: The push to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America cleared a Senate committee on Monday, a bill to end tuition breaks for out-of-state students with grandparents living in Florida has been scaled back, a bill that would relax rules on how much and how late teenagers can work is before a Senate committee today, authorizing the creation of a “competitive academic” school would be repealed under a bill approved by a Senate committee, and students at a Seminole County middle school were entertained Monday by a bear that climbed a tree near the pickup circle and slept all day. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
What’s in a name? Florida agencies and schools will be required to update geographic materials to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America under a bill that cleared the Senate Education Budget Committee on Monday. It would apply to any materials purchased after July 1. “This isn’t out of the historical norm,” said state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville. “It’s consistent with federal law in the form of the executive order. If it changes in the future, it will change again. I don’t understand all the angst.” Politico Florida. Florida Politics.
Child labor changes: A Florida Senate committee will take up a bill today that would remove limitations on how much and how late students between the ages of 14 and 17 can work. The proposal comes at a time when the government is pushing to deport migrants in the country illegally, leaving businesses that rely on those workers short of help. “Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week. Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald.
‘Competitive’ school scrapped: A new school with a “rigorous academic curriculum” that was approved by the Legislature two years ago and supposed to open last fall in Alachua County, but never did, would be killed under a bill that passed the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Committee on Monday. The Florida School for Competitive Academics was to be a grades 6-12 school meant “to prepare students for regional, state, and national academic competitions in all areas of study, including, but not limited to, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” News Service of Florida.
Also in the Legislature: A bill that would have ended tuition breaks for out-of-state students whose grandparents live in Florida was revised Monday in the Senate. The updated bill allows the tuition break to continue if those grandparents have lived in the state for at least five years. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. A House committee approved a bill that would allocate $200 million for rural areas to expand broadband Internet service, help schools recruit and retain teachers, improve roads and more. News Service of Florida. Changes in the law detailing security measures required at schools were unanimously approved by a Senate committee. Florida Politics. Spectrum News 13.
Art educators honored: Jennifer Wilkinson from Lakeland Highlands Middle in Polk County and Lark Keeler from Saint Andrew’s School in Delray Beach in Palm Beach County have been named Florida art educators of the year. Polk County School District. Florida Art Education Association.
Opinions on schools: The cautionary tale from the Horizon Edgewood voucher program experience in Texas is what happens when students lack an exit option from public schools, not when they actually hold one. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. I watched as students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, outraged by the gun violence that nearly destroyed their beloved high school in 2018, convinced the state’s Republicans to pass and sign a bill raising the purchasing age of a firearm from 18 to 21 and enacting “red flag laws.” Now that law is on the verge of being overturned by the Republican governor and legislative majority. Once again, students’ voices are being dismissed and the Parkland 17 are being forgotten. Cindy Polo, Miami Herald. Ensuring that every child can read proficiently is not a partisan issue − it is a basic educational, economic and moral imperative. Jonathan Austin Peacock, Pensacola News Journal. To abolish the U.S. Department of Education would signify that the world’s oldest democracy no longer regards education to be a “fundamental value” or a “paramount duty” of government. Sun Sentinel.
