Education and politics: Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis unveils his education goals for the state that include more school choice, more support for career and technical training, incentives for teacher retention, an increase in the cap for tax credit scholarships, an end to Common Core, an emphasis on civics education and a requirement that 80 percent of education funding go into the classroom. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum touts his plan to raise corporate income taxes to increase education spending by $1 billion, including starting salaries of $50,000 for teachers and $100 million for construction, and vows to end “the voucherizing of the education system.” News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Politics. GateHouse. Florida Phoenix. Education Week. Associated Press. WFSU. Tallahassee Democrat. Politico Florida. WUSF.
Achievement gap: The Pinellas County School District improves in five of six categories in its plan to close the achievement gap between black and white students by 2027, according to a report from the minority achievement office. Still, no progress was made between the groups in state English and math exams results, with the gap steady at 33 percent. "It's good; it's not great," minority achievement officer Lewis Brinson tells the school board. "But good is acceptable and encouraging that we will become great … if we continue to keep the focus." Gradebook. Alachua County School Board members approve an equity plan to close the achievement gap between white and black students, over the objections of some community members who say it needs more accountability and inclusion. The plan has been developed over the past year by Valerie Freeman, director of equity for the school system, who says commitment to the plan is necessary even as changes can be made later. Gainesville Sun. (more…)
Board's budget request: The Florida Board of Education's formal budget request to the Legislature asks for a $673 million boost in funding for the 67 school districts that includes $200 more in per-student funding and a $100 million increase in the safe schools initiative. Of that total, $170 million would be new funding from the state and the rest would come from increases in local school property tax collections. The board also is asking for $67.5 million for the school guardian program, and ignored one member's call to let districts use unspent funds from the program for other security measures. The budget request now goes to the Legislature for consideration. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Gradebook. Meanwhile, the Joint Legislative Budget Commission officially rejects requests to make $58 million in unused funds from last year's school guardian program available for districts to spend for resource officers and other security measures. TCPalm.
Charter rejection overturned: The Florida Board of Education overturns the Leon County School Board's rejection of a charter school's application. The decision means the Tallahassee Classical School will be allowed to open in the 2019-2020 school year. Leon school board members unanimously denied the charter's application because they felt the school did not reflect the community's diversity and that it would discriminate against disabled students. But the state BOE sided with the Florida Department of Education's Charter School Appeal Commission, which ruled that the Leon board did not have good cause to reject the application. It's the second time this summer that the board has overruled local decisions to deny charter schools' applications. redefinED. (more…)
