School choice. Legislation expanding education options passes in the Florida House, while the Senate remains more cautious. Times/Herald.

Charter schools. The sponsor of the House's charter-school bill taps the breaks as he works on amendments. Florida Current. Palm Beach County officials give a school focused on African-American curriculum one last chance to stay open. Palm Beach Post.

Common Core. The standards will be coming soon to a theater near you. Orlando Sentinel. The statewide teachers union pushes back claims that the standards have been taught in Florida public schools since 2010. Gradebook.

Testing. An Orange County teacher donates his school-recognition bonus to a group that opposes high-stakes testing. Orlando Sentinel. Pasco County schools set up a new online system to help their students prepare for state end of course exams. Tampa Bay Times. Leon County Schools reschedule take-your-kid-to-work day to accommodate the state's testing schedule. Tallahassee Democrat.

Funding. How much did Gov. Rick Scott propose to cut education spending during his first year in office? PolitiFact. More education funding. lower taxes.  That's what's in the budget this year. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Jeb Bush. The Tampa Bay Times writes up his foundation's campaign touting Florida's education improvement. The former governor brings his show to Vegas. Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Capital needs. Lee County district officials say they need more funding for buildings to help them deal with enrollment growth. Fort Myers News-Press.

Tax credit scholarships. The legislation revamping the program could see a reversal of fortune – and get combined with a separate school-choice proposal. Times/Herald.

Capital funding. Both charter schools and traditional public schools stand to benefit from spending plans in the Legislature. Orlando Sentinel. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

State board. Gov. Rick Scott appoints an Orlando businesswoman to fill the latest vacancy on the Board of Education. Gradebook.

Funding. The overwhelming approval of a tax renewal shows school funding is important to voters, Jeremy Wallace writes for the Herald-Tribune.

Improvement. Blogger Mike Thomas, of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, responds to some of the fact-checks of the group's ad campaign touting Florida's progress in education. EdFly. Background from StateImpact.

School choice. Seats are still open for some Pinellas County programs. Gradebook.

Student Safety. The Hillsborough School Board is set to vote on a planned settlement for the family of a student with a neuromuscular disorder, who stopped breathing during a bus ride. Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Tribune.

Transportation. Hernando County schools officials prepare to revamp their bussing plans. Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough school board candidates make transportation an issue. Tampa Tribune.

Biometrics. The Senate approves a ban on data collection that makes some accommodations for school districts. Florida Current. Gradebook.

Special guests. Jacksonville elementary schools students get lessons in life, and rap, from a civil rights activist. Florida Times-Union.

 Politics. A Tampa high school becomes the latest backdrop for Gov. Rick Scott's crusade for lower college tuition. Tampa Bay Times.

Tax-credit scholarships. The Ocala Star-Banner looks at what an expansion of the program would mean for local private schools. The Scripps/Tribune Tallahassee bureau takes an in-depth look at the debate over the expansion, and separately reports that supporters are still holding out hope after a measure that would have expanded the program was withdrawn in the Senate. The bill's likely fate inspires both the "winner" and "loser" of the week for the Tampa Bay Times, while Jason Bedrick of the Cato Institute finds a "silver lining." Meanwhile, Joanne McCall of the Florida Education Association argues against the program in the Pensacola News-Journal. A Florida Today editor offers his take on the bill, and what he deems a case of strange bedfellows. The bill was withdrawn due to a dispute over how the state should test children who receive scholarships, Doug Tuthill writes. He is the president of Step Up for Students, which helps administer the program and co-hosts this blog.

Open enrollment. Critics raise concerns about a district-wide school choice proposal in Duval County. Florida Times-Union.

Career Academies. Students try to cope as they await the results of an animal-welfare investigation into a veterinary medicine program in Okaloosa County. Northwest Florida Daily News.

Turnarounds. A Tampa elementary school battles to shake its F grade under close watch from state officials. Tampa Bay Times.

Testing. The Florida Times-Union looks at whether the state's new standardized tests will allow comparisons between Florida students and their peers in other states. Computers will grade the new state writing assessments. StateImpact.

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Tax credit scholarships. An advocate for the program, and vice president of Step Up for Students, which co-hosts this blog, withdraws his nomination to the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees. Times/Herald. Students in the program should be required to learn evolution, Brandon Haught, of Florida Citizens for Science, writes in a Tampa Bay Times guest column. Fund Education Now opposes the bill in an Orlando Sentinel guest column.

Charter schools. A group that caters to female students in Manatee County wins approval from Bradenton city officials. Bradenton Herald.

Common Core. The Foundation for Excellence in Education is promoting Common Core with video snippets featuring teachers. StateImpact Florida. Associated Press.

Budgets. A Pasco STEM school could get a boost from lawmakers. Gradebook.

Race to the Top. Florida is making progress in year three of its federal Race to the Top grant, but it faces some hurdles, including legal challenges around its teacher evaluation system.  Associated Press. Gradebook. Education Week looks at how various states are faring.

School boards. A legal dispute simmers between the Marion County School Board and the Ocala City Council. Ocala Star-Banner.

Employee Conduct. A school security worker faces child-abuse charges. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Teachers unions. The Pinellas teachers union elects a new president. Tampa Bay Times.

Spelling bees. Miami-Dade schools crown their winner, the Miami Herald reports.

Inspiration often comes from unexpected places. Thursday night, for the education reform crowd, it came from Michael Gove. He’s the education secretary in England, and he was the keynote speaker for the Foundation for Excellence in Education conference in Boston. If people didn't know who he was before, well, they do now.

Gove's speech was that good, touching on everything from teacher quality to principal autonomy to England's version of charter schools. I'll post it in its entirety when it surfaces. In the meantime, here’s a transcript of the kicker – an explanation and an anecdote about what Gove argued is the most important thing in ed reform.

If you’re rich or wealthy, if your parents are well-connected … you have the option to go to camp. You have the opportunity to visit the theater or the art gallery. You’ve been read to every night. You have the pick of all the books at Barnes & Noble. Who knows? You may very well have your own iPad mini, to be able to download the latest Harry Potter. Everywhere you go, you’re surrounded by an environment and an atmosphere that wants you to do well, and which opens the glory of what’s been written or created to your enjoyment.

But if you’re a poor child … there aren’t those connections. There isn’t the money to go to the museum or the art gallery or the theater. The only place that you will get access to the greatness of human civilization is in school. So we betray those poor children. What do we say? That the greatness of literature, or the wonder of history, or the majesty of poetry, or the tremendous language that is mathematics, or the discoveries of science, shouldn’t be introduced to them, because it’s all too hard and irrelevant to their lives? We rob those children of the inheritance to which they are due, if we dumb down our curriculum, if we lower our expectations, and if we refuse to give those children the challenging diet of great writers, great thinkers and great creative that we know can inspire them to greatness in turn.

And that’s why the most important thing in education reform is to believe that every child is capable of greatness. And to behave in every way as if you know that to be true.

I was recently in a school in West London. And I walked into the class and the class was discussing Shakespeare. They were discussing the play ‘Julius Caesar.’ And I asked the children, ‘Why is it that Julius Caesar is murdered?’ One of the boys put his hand up. ‘Because the Roman Senate, sir, thinks he might be an usurper. They think he might be someone who does not have a legitimate claim to the crown, or to be emperor.’ I thought that was an amazing answer, with a great understanding of the play. And I said, ‘Usurper, that’s a wonderful word. Is there anyone else who can think of another usurper?’ All the hands went up. I picked one at random and he said, ‘Macbeth, sir. Macbeth kills Duncan. And he is an usurper as well. He doesn’t have legitimacy. He should not be wearing that crown.’

How old do you think those children were, debating Shakespeare, comparing two great plays?

They were 10. (more…)

Jeb Bush, among the most vocal and visible supporters of Common Core academic standards, took a hard jab at critics Thursday, suggesting they drop the conspiracy theories and offer solutions.

“What I want to hear from them is more than just opposition,” he said to 800 people in Boston, gathered at the annual conference put on by his Foundation for Excellence in Education. “I want to hear their solutions for the hodgepodge of dumbed-down state standards that have created group mediocrity in our schools.”

“Criticisms and conspiracy theories are easy attention grabbers,” he continued. “Solutions are hard work.”

Bush’s comments come as opposition to Common Core continues to generate a sharp-edged anxiety in his home state and beyond. This week, hundreds of Florida supporters and opponents turned out for public forums ordered by Gov. Rick Scott. Some critics said the standards, which the Republican-dominated Florida Board of Education adopted in 2010, were tied to fascists and communists. The term 'Common Core' has become so radioactive the state board actually debated this week whether to use it.

At a panel discussion following Bush’s speech, political strategist Mike Murphy said polling shows most of the public still isn’t familiar with Common Core. The heaviest opposition, he said, comes from Republican primary voters, who, when they’re first asked about the standards, are opposed 2-to-1.

“They think it’s a secret plot controlled by red Chinese robots in the basement of the White House,” he said. “No wonder they don’t like it.” (more…)

Online learning. Broward College creates Broward College Online. South Florida Sun Sentinel. Flagler considers distributing thousands of laptops to high school students next year. Daytona Beach News Journal. Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, tells the News Service of Florida (subscription required) that it didn't get traction on its top priority last spring but will continue to push for it: moving the state "to a one-to-one student-to-technology-or-digital-device ratio by 2016."

Dual enrollment. Add the Pensacola News Journal to the list of papers writing on the cost shift to districts for dual enrollment.

Teacher conduct. Parents file a second lawsuit against a Coconut Creek preschool after allegations that students were molested by a music teacher. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Teacher pay. The Collier County School Board will decide whether teachers get a raise in the wake of a special magistrate's recommendation in favor of it. Naples Daily News.

Early learning. Ninety community leaders gather in Pensacola to stress its importance. Pensacola News Journal.

School discipline. Expulsions down a lot in Hillsborough. Tampa Bay Times.

STEM. Hundreds of students participate in STEM-focused summer camps organized by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Stetson University and Daytona State College. Daytona Beach News Journal.

Recently I attended the American Federation for Children’s policy summit in Washington, D.C. This event was an exciting, informative, two-day conference filled with panel discussions, keynote speakers such as Lisa Leslie and Mike McCurry, and networking opportunities with education reformers from all over the country. I left D.C. feeling similar to when I left the Foundation for Excellence in Education conference this past November. Invigorated. Energized. Hopeful.

But I also kept thinking these events should be experienced and enhanced, a thousand times over, by one very important, and missing, demographic.

Parents.

My background is important, but not necessarily the reason, why I want to see more parents at education conferences throughout the country. I have been a Democratic activist and community organizer for the last 25 years. I now organize parents for Step Up For Students. Perhaps that does influence my thoughts and opinions.

However, I remember suggesting more parental involvement after attending education conferences as a teacher. I simply expect more now. I expect parents to be included in every substantive event, conference, policy discussion, roundtable, and town hall meeting, and I’m routinely disappointed when they aren’t anywhere to be found.

Of course, many of the participants are parents as well as education reformers. We bring that passion for school choice from personal experiences. I can talk about years spent driving my children out of county to put them in a public school that worked for them and then utilizing scholarships a few years later when a private school better fit their needs.

But we should hear more stories from a diverse population of moms and dads.

At the AFC Conference, Dr. Alberta Wilson, president and CEO of Faith First Educational Assistance Corp. and consultant for Capstone Legacy Foundation, shared my concerns. At several sessions, she spoke from the audience to implore that more parents be included – at every level.

I caught up with her recently and asked her to elaborate. (more…)

Teacher evals. Governing looks at whether teachers unions in other states will file suits similar to Florida's.

Teacher conduct. A veteran Broward County teacher is suspended for 13 days without pay for allowing an "overly permissive" classroom environment in which, among other things, she talked about her sex life. Her reassignment to a school for at-risk kids prompted a board member to ask, "How long are we going to continue to pay people to fail kids?” Miami Herald.

School spending.  Hernando projects a $4 million budget deficit, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Pinellas should be getting $37 million more next year, reports Gradebook. The Flagler school board considers cutting paraprofessionals in an effort to fill a budget gap, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal. Broward is considering outsourcing its facilities department, reports the Miami Herald. The Volusia school board votes to outsource custodial services for an estimated savings of $30 million over five years, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal. The Miami-Dade district auditor says a health care firm may have overbilled the district more than $1 million, the Herald also reports.

School choice. Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning talks about expanding district choices. Tampa Tribune.

Rick Scott. The Republican Party of Florida unveils two ads supporting Gov. Rick Scott's education record. StateImpact Florida.

Jeb Bush. The next Foundation for Excellence in Education summit will be in Boston in October. EdFly Blog. (more…)

Parent trigger. Supporters of parent trigger, including Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, hold a press conference in an attempt to debunk myths. Sunshine State News, The Buzz, Gradebook, StateImpact Florida, Pensacola News Journal, Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Charter schools. Lawmakers appear lukewarm to Gov. Rick Scott's call to let charter schools expand at will, reports the Palm Beach Post. Pinellas school board members oppose the parent trigger bill and legislation that could turn unused district buildings over to charters, reports the Tampa Tribune. Parents at a middle magnet in Lake Wales worry their kids might not be able to attend the city's charter high school, reports the Winter Haven News Chief.

School closings. The Brevard school board should accept help from the Canaveral Port Authority to rescue three schools slated for closing, writes Florida Today's Matt Reed. Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning backs off plans to shutter an aging school in the wake of opposition, but the building has serious problems, reports Gradebook.

School security. A consultant recommends armed officers at every Hillsborough elementary school. Tampa Bay Times. More from the Tampa Tribune. The Sarasota County sheriff tells district officials he's going to remove deputies from Sarasota city schools, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

School spending. New Manatee Superintendent Rick Mills is proposing to eliminate 188 positions. Bradenton Herald. (more…)