Charter students’ performance: Florida charter school students are outperforming their traditional public school peers in nearly every category of achievement, according to a report issued by the Florida Department of Education. Students in charter schools had a higher level of achievement on statewide assessment test in 63 of 77 comparisons, had higher learning gains in… Read more »
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Spending on education, scholarship, test fees and more
Education spending: Senate Republicans are proposing to boost Florida’s K-12 education spending by $1.1 billion, an increase of $350 per student, for a total of $22.2 billion. That’s 5 percent higher than last year’s spending, and $500 million more than Gov. Ron DeSantis has asked for. Among the items in the bill, which cleared the… Read more »
Charter schools, disqualification list, bonuses and more
Charter schools expansion: A bill that could expand the number of charter schools in low-income neighborhoods in Florida is passed by the PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee. The bill would allow “Schools of Hope” charters to open in 427 financially struggling neighborhoods with persistently low-performing schools that are designated as “opportunity zones” by President Trump’s tax bill… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: Banning books, spending on guardians, charters and more
Book-banning move: The Florida Citizens Alliance says it has identified about 100 textbooks and library books in state schools that are “pornographic,” preach religious “indoctrination,” push “unbalanced propaganda” relating to climate change and violate Florida laws. It wants them removed, and many fear that the group, which has influence with the governor and Legislature, could… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: Voucher bill, Bright Futures, education funds and more
Voucher expansion: The House Education Committee approves a bill that would use the state’s general revenue to expand a state scholarship program for students to attend private schools. The Family Empowerment Scholarship would be open to about 28,000 students, twice as many as the Senate is proposing, and students from families of four with incomes… Read more »
How the Florida education revolution began
Editor’s note: March 2 marked the 20th anniversary of the legislative session in which Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched a number of K-12 reforms that transformed education throughout the state. With the start of the 2019 legislative session earlier this month, redefinED embarked upon a series of articles that examine aspects of Bush’s K-12 education revolution and… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: New voucher bill, arming teachers poll, teacher pay and more
Voucher expansion: The Florida House Education Committee files a bill that would expand the use of state money to pay for scholarships so students can attend private schools. In the House’s version of a bill to cut the list of 14,000 students waiting for a tax credit scholarship, about 28,000 Florida students would be eligible… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: Charters security, guns at schools, arming teachers and more
Charters security ruling: An administrative law judge rules that the Palm Beach County District must assign security officers to charter schools in order to comply with a state law passed last year. The school board had refused to provide officers for Renaissance Charter School Inc., which operates six schools in the county. “(The law) clearly… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: Education lobby, vouchers and the top court, and more
The education lobby: With big money at stake and big changes in the works, lobbying for education in Tallahassee is a booming business. There are lobbyists for nearly every Florida school district, and several for some, for charter schools and private schools and companies that do education work and companies that administer scholarship programs that… Read more »
Florida schools roundup: Bible and civics courses bills, teacher test fees and more
Bible course bill: A bill that would require all Florida public high schools to offer an elective course on the Bible is approved in an 11-3 vote by the House PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee. The course would not be mandatory, and it also will be focused solely on the Bible. But the bill sponsor, Rep. Kim… Read more »
