Graduation rate rises: Florida's high school graduation rate rose 1.6 percentage points in 2017, to 82.3 percent, according to figures released Wednesday by the Florida Department of Education. The rate has gone up steadily since the 2006-2007 school year, when fewer than 60 percent of students got diplomas. Gilchrist County had the highest rate in the state, at 93.4 percent. Nassau and St. Johns were next at 90.9 percent, and Suwannee (90.5 percent) and St. Lucie (90.1 percent) were the other districts over 90 percent. Gadsden's 50 percent rate was the lowest. Florida Department of Education. News Service of Florida. Orlando Sentinel. WTXL. Palm Beach County's graduation rate jumps by almost 3 percentage points to hit an all-time high of 85 percent. Palm Beach Post. Boca News Now. Sun-Sentinel. Duval, Baker and Clay counties all show gains in their graduation rates, while Nassau's and St. Johns' drop slightly. Florida Times-Union. WJXT. Escambia County's graduate rate increases by 3.4 percentage points in the past two years, and Santa Rosa's has gone up 0.7 percentage points. Pensacola News Journal. The high school graduation rate rises in St. Lucie County, but falls in Martin and Indian River counties. TCPalm. Graduation rates top 80 percent for the first time in all four Tampa Bay area counties: Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando. Tampa Bay Times. WUSF. WTSP. Polk County's graduation rate jumped 3.6 percentage points, to 75.4 percent. Lakeland Ledger. The Manatee County graduation rate slips, but stays above 80 percent. Sarasota's rises incrementally. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. SRQ Magazine. Alachua County's graduation rate jumps 4.3 percentage points, to 82.7 percent. Gainesville Sun. The Bay County graduation rate dips more than 2 percentage points and is below 80 percent. Panama City News Herald.
Capital for charters: Florida charter schools will get $91.2 million from school districts as part of a capital funds sharing program approved by the Legislature last year. The money comes from local districts' property taxes collected for building and maintaining schools. Districts with high debt service won't have to share their funds. The fund-sharing is part of last year's education bill, H.B. 7069. Gradebook. The Flagler County School Board will vote next week on a mediation agreement that would require the district to share money with a charter school in the district. Imagine School at Town Center has been asking for money from the district since 2012. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Private school oversight: A bill is filed for the legislative session beginning today that would tighten some standards for private schools receiving state scholarships. Under the bill, filed by state Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, private schools would be required to hire only teachers with at least a bachelor's degree. The proposal would also tighten financial accountability, ban school owners with recent bankruptcies from receiving scholarship money, increase school inspections by the state and make it more difficult for schools to submit falsified fire or health inspection reports. Simmons says his bill is an attempt to strike a balance between too much regulation and not enough. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit scholarship and Gardiner scholarship programs. Orlando Sentinel.
Teacher merit pay: Two Republican legislators want to delete the requirement in state law that student test scores be used to evaluate teachers. The bills, filed by Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, and Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, would give schools boards the option of using student test scores in evaluations. “We don’t think student test scores should be tied to our evaluations,” says Plasencia. “It’s frustrated many teachers, and it’s driven some really good teachers out of the profession, a lot of them early.” Orlando Sentinel.
Teacher test-taking: The rising numbers of teachers failing the state’s newly revised Florida Teacher Certification Exam prompts state Rep. Robert Asencio, D-Miami, to file a bill that would require the Florida Department of Education to appoint a task force to study whether the test is appropriately measuring teacher competency and other issues. “Whenever we have such a high failure rate we have to figure out what's going on,” says Asencio. WPTV.
Legislative session: Gov. Rick Scott delivers his final state of the state speech today at the opening of the legislative session. It's expected to contrast his first one in 2011, when he called for sharp cuts in education spending. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Tampa Bay Times. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. WCTV. Politico Florida. The Senate is expected to pass a higher education bill Thursday that would permanently expand Bright Futures scholarships, and will consider a bill that would require high school students to complete a financial literacy course in order to graduate. News Service of Florida.
Governor's education budget: Gov. Rick Scott's $87.4 billion budget proposal includes a request to increase per student spending by $200, to $7,497, boost the state's voluntary pre-kindergarten program by $12 million, add $23 million for Bright Futures scholarships, and give $18 million to help teachers buy classroom supplies. Scott would pay for the increases by keeping property tax rates the same and allowing increasing property values to drive up revenue. The proposal now goes to the Legislature for consideration. News Service of Florida. Gradebook. Associated Press. Florida Politics. Orlando Sentinel. Politico Florida. Florida Times-Union.
H.B. 7069 challenge: Nine Florida schools boards contend that the new education law, H.B. 7069, violates the law by dealing with more than one subject, and are asking the state Supreme Court to void it. Two other lawsuits have been filed against the law by school districts, but this one focuses solely on the single-subject issue and is asking for immediate action. “Waiting for a trial-court determination and its subsequent appellate review will allow irreversible damage to the function of the public education system to occur throughout the state of Florida,” the lawsuit states. The nine school boards are from Alachua, Bay, Broward, Hamilton, Lee, Polk, St. Lucie, Volusia and Wakulla counties. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. The Collier County School Board votes to join at least 13 other districts in suing the state over the education bill because it requires public school districts to share property tax revenues with charter schools. Naples Daily News.
ESSA plans: Florida's accountability plan for complying with the Every Student Succeeds Act is weak in the category of encouraging schools to focus on all students, not just low performers, according to an evaluation by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank. Florida was one of 13 states considered weak in this area. The state was given an evaluation of strong in the other two areas weighed: in the clarity of the ratings to parents, educators and the public, and in the fairness of the rating system for all schools, including ones with high levels of poverty. The 74.
