New education laws: More than 100 new state laws go into effect Sunday, including several related to education. H.B. 7055 will allow public school students who are bullied or harassed to be eligible for state scholarships to go to private schools. The Hope Scholarship will be funded by motorists who agree to contribute the sales taxes they would normal pay for vehicle transactions to the scholarships. The bill also boosts funds for Gardiner scholarships for students with disabilities. Other new laws set a back-to-school sales tax holiday in August, and authorize the placement of a statue of famed black educator Mary McLeod Bethune into the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. News Service of Florida.
Budget problems: Budgets analysts for the Hillsborough County School District now project a $70 million gap between revenues and expenses for the 2019-2020 school year. The district will get $41 million extra from the state, but about $36 million of that goes for growth and state mandates. The extra $5 million is swallowed by higher expenses for school security, insurance and employee raises. Tampa Bay Times. Pasco County school officials are projecting a $1 million deficit in next year's budget, but are reluctant to ask voters for additional revenue. "It sounds great," says Superintendent Kurt Browning about the $28 million a year a 1-mill property tax hike could raise. "But when people get accustomed to having that additional money in their paychecks, and the voters don't approve it again, that just stops. I am very hesitant." Gradebook.
Tax hike votes: Voters in Sarasota and Manatee counties approve an additional 1 mill on property taxes for schools, by a wide margin in Sarasota and a narrow one in Manatee. In Sarasota, the extra $55 million in each of the next four years will help pay for 30 extra minutes of classtime a day, higher teacher salaries and more art teachers and behavioral specialists. In Manatee, the extra $33 million a year for the next four years will be used to lengthen the school day by 30 minutes, pay teachers and other employees more, expand STEM and career programs and support charter schools. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Martin County School Board members are considering asking voters to approve a hike in property taxes to pay for teacher bonuses and construction projects. If approved, the measure could raise about $11.2 million a year for four years. TCPalm.
School security, finances: Putting a resource officer in every Pinellas County school by July 1 will cost $23.6 million, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri tells the county commission. The state's contribution is $6.1 million, and the sheriff's office and municipal police departments' contribution is $1.6 million, leaving the school district to find $12.4 million to put 201 school resource officers in the 139 district schools and 18 charter schools. And, Gualtieri notes, there would be an additional $11.2 million needed for upfront costs such as cars, weapons, uniforms and computers. Neighboring Hillsborough County school officials say the district will get an additional $41 million from the state, but still is projecting a $16 million deficit because of new state requirements on school security, an expected 3,000 extra students and other expenses. Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough County School Board member April Griffin talks about the district's finances, and the new education and school safety bills. WMNF. The head of one of Florida's largest charter school networks is asking the 13 districts where it has schools to provide resource officers on every campus by April 1. Gradebook. The Gulf Breeze City Council votes to fund the placement of part-time officers in all the city's elementary schools through the end of the school year. WEAR.
March For Our Lives: More than 1 million people are expected to attend March For Our Lives rallies Saturday in Washington, D.C., and at least 800 other sites around the world, according to the students who have organized the rallies in response to the school shootings in Parkland on Feb. 14 that killed 17. They are calling for stricter gun regulations. "It just shows that the youth are tired of being the generation where we're locked in closets and waiting for police to come in case of a shooter," says Alex Wind, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Associated Press.
Board member rips walkout: Marion County School Board member Nancy Stacy says Superintendent Heidi Maier's plan to allow student walkouts on campuses April 20 is "pure liberal fascism at its finest." Stacy says Maier is being used by the “political idiots of the left.” In a series of emails to the superintendent, Stacy also wrote that: “We all know the students didn’t arrange a thing here or Tallahassee or nationwide. This is another example of why we need (school) vouchers for parents to escape this abusive manipulation of their children’s minds.” Ocala Star-Banner.
Cruz's brother arrested: The brother of accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is arrested after deputies say he trespassed onto the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus. Zachary Cruz, 18, had been warned to stay away from the school. He said he went to the school to "reflect on the shooting and to soak it in …" Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. Associated Press.
School tax votes today: Voters in Sarasota and Manatee counties go to the polls today to vote on increasing property taxes by 1 mill for schools. A yes vote would increase revenue for schools in Sarasota County by about $55 million a year, and by about $33 million a year in Manatee. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Bradenton Herald. (more…)
Education bill: The Senate Education Committee unanimously approves a major rewrite of the House's omnibus education bill, H.B. 7055. The Senate version would put armed law enforcement officers at every school in the state, make state scholarships available to bullied students with substantiated claims, boost oversight of private school choice programs, require charter schools to return facilities to districts if they close, and create a comprehensive mental health program for schools, among other things. It also removes the provision that would decertify teachers unions if membership falls below half of the members represented. The revised bill now moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee. redefinED. Associated Press. Gradebook. Politico Florida. Florida Politics. News Service of Florida.
Parkland and politics: The Florida House overwhelmingly rejects a proposal to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as about 100 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School look on. The vote was 71-36 against H.B. 219, Students say the shootings have changed them, and vow to continue fighting for school safety. Miami Herald. Sun-Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Politico Florida. Tallahassee Democrat. After meetings with superintendents and law enforcement officials, Gov. Rick Scott says he will have a plan of action in response to the shootings in Parkland to take to legislators by Friday. “We have two weeks left in session at that point, and my goal is to get something accomplished," says Scott. Politico Florida. WKMG. News Service of Florida. Florida Politics. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. A Senate hearing on a bill that would allow designated people to carry concealed weapons at schools is postponed Tuesday. Miami Herald. President Donald Trump calls on the Justice Department to ban all devices like bump stocks, an attachment that can turn a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic one. Associated Press. New York Times. The Broward County Charter Review Commission says it will consider giving voters the chance to decide what guns should be permitted in the county. Sun-Sentinel. Pinellas County School Board member Linda Lerner wants the board to officially support a ban on assault weapons. Gradebook. Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna is criticized by the chairman of the county's Republican Party for giving excused absences to students who wanted to join a rally at the Capitol. Tallahassee Democrat.
House tax package: The Florida House is expected to introduce a $332.7 million tax relief package today. About 46 percent of the total - $154 million - would come in the form of credits for companies that contribute to the tax credit and Gardiner scholarship programs. Another $74.5 million would be for a 10-day sales tax holiday for back-to-school purchases of clothes, school supplies and technology, and three separate seven-day periods for buying hurricane supplies. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit and Gardiner programs. News Service of Florida.
Medical marijuana: The Broward County School District is working on a policy to deal with students who are approved to use medical marijuana. Students would not be allowed to carry the drug or store it at school, but parents or a caregiver could come to campus to administer it as long as they have medical clearance. School staff would not be permitted to handle the drug. Palm Beach County allows the drug to be administered by nurses, who are supplied by the county health department, while Miami-Dade prohibits medical marijuana on campus, citing the conflicts in state and federal laws. Sun-Sentinel.
Turnaround schools: Polk County school officials choose a Kentucky company to begin operating six persistently struggling schools this fall if they don't get a school grade of C or above from the state this year. Educational Directions would charge the district at least $387,500 per school for the first year, then $225,000 to $250,000 per school for each additional year. The school board will vote on the recommendation Feb. 27. Bartow Middle, Garner Elementary, Griffin Elementary, Kathleen Middle, Lake Alfred Polytech Academy and Lake Marion Creek Middle have each received grades of D or F for the past three years, prompting the state to require the district to close them, turn them into charter schools or hire an outside company to operate them. Lakeland Ledger.
Bright Futures: The Florida Senate unanimously approves a higher education bill that includes the permanent expansion of the Bright Futures scholarships program. S.B. 4, which was sponsored by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, would provide full funding of tuition and fees for the 41,000 students who qualify for the Academic Scholar award. Those students must have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and a score of at least 1,290 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT. Another 50,000-plus students who qualify for the Medallion Scholar award would receive 75 percent of tuition and fees. The bill also expands the Benacquisto Scholarship awards, which are full scholarships for out-of-state National Merit Scholar award winners. Sunshine State News. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. WFSU.
Schools of Hope: The Florida Board of Education is expected to start working next week on the rules that will determine how charter school networks can qualify to be "hope operators" under the state's new "Schools of Hope" law. The draft rules would designate charter school organizations as a hope operator in any three ways: They have received a federal grant for the expansion of high-quality charters; received financial backing from the Charter School Growth Fund; or been chosen by a local school board to turn around a struggling district public school. Hope operators can apply to open charter schools within 5 miles of persistently struggling public schools. If the rules are approved, the process could be opened to charter school companies in February. redefinED.
Bethune statue: A Senate committee approves a bill that would place a statue of famed educator Mary McLeod Bethune in the U.S. Capitol. Her statue would replace the one of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith. The bill now moves to the full Senate for a vote. Associated Press. Florida Politics.
Displaced students: Almost 300 students from Puerto Rico already have enrolled in Orange County schools, and officials anticipate hundreds - if not thousands - more will follow. The district also has hired some bilingual Puerto Rican teachers and plans to hire more. Orlando Sentinel. The 74. The chairman of the Osceola County School Board thinks as many as 2,000 students from Puerto Rico and other islands displaced by Hurricane Maria will enroll in the county's schools. The county has already added 130 students affected by hurricanes. WMFE. The Florida PTA joins educators and lawmakers in urging the state to relax the rules in order to make more money available for all school districts that take in displaced students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Gradebook.
District budget problems: An audit of the Duval County School District's finances shows officials overspent last year's $1.7 billion budget by about $17.8 million. That's about $3 million less than originally thought. The auditor stressed there was no misappropriation of funds. The district spent $8.8 million more than budgeted on personnel, $8 million more in contracted services, and the state also cut funding to the district by $1.39 million. The overspending was taken from a reserve fund, which still exceeds the minimum required by the state. Florida Times-Union.
Charter school conversion: Jefferson County school officials are cautiously optimistic that their conversion to a charter school district - the first of its kind in Florida - is going well. Christian Steen, a student testifying before the Florida House Education Committee, says students are more focused and fewer of them are skipping school under the new Somerset Academy charter management organization. Committee chair Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami, says he's “encouraged” by the news from Jefferson County and wants to organize a field trip for a closer look. “This is a long-term effort,” he says. redefinED.
Charter application rejected: A charter school company's application to build a 745-student school in Marion County is rejected by the Marion County School Board. Superintendent Heidi Maier told the board that while she favors “giving parents school choice,” the school proposed by the for-profit Charters Schools USA offers nothing new or innovative. The company can appeal the decision to the Florida Department of Education. Ocala Star-Banner.
School infrastructure: The Florida Department of Education releases the total funds districts will receive from the state in the Public Education Capital Outlay. The state is spreading $50 million among the districts for school construction and maintenance. Districts must apply to the state for release of their shares, and must have the projects under contract by January 2020 or risk losing the money. Gradebook. The Hillsborough County School District spends less on building maintenance and operations than any school district in Florida, according to state records. The district has had ongoing problems with air-conditioning, and is facing significant infrastructure needs. Tampa Bay Times.
Funding formula: The Volusia County School Board is expected tonight to approve a resolution urging legislators to change the district cost differential portion of the state's K-12 education funding formula. The DCD provides extra money to about a dozen districts that have a higher cost of living. Volusia and more than 50 other districts contend they've lost millions since the formula was initiated in 2004. “I’m hoping that other districts ... would join us in our fight to get what the Legislature appropriated,” says board member Carl Persis. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Gender reading gap: A group of Pinellas County school principals create a "gender equity self-reflection" rubric for teachers to try to close the elementary school reading gap between girls and boys. Girls outperformed boys by 4 to 9 percentage points in the 2017 state assessment tests for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. "It was noticeable enough that we wanted to address it," says Sutherland Elementary School principal Kristy Cantu. Tampa Bay Times.
Solar eclipse: Students around the state get an astronomy lesson during Monday's solar eclipse. Miami Herald. Sun-Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Fort Myers News-Press. Naples Daily News. Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay Times. Gradebook. WFTS. Lakeland Ledger. Bradenton Herald. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Tallahassee Democrat. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Panama City News Herald. WJAX. WPTV.
Schools of hope: Fifty of 90 eligible low-performing schools have applied to the state for grants through the "schools of hope" provision in the new education law. The law creates financial incentives for charter schools to move into areas with persistently struggling schools. But it also offers as many as 25 of those low-performing schools an extra $2,000 per student for special services such as after-school and counseling programs if they submit turnaround plans that are approved by the state. The Florida Board of Education is expected to choose which schools get the extra money at its Sept. 13 meeting. Sun-Sentinel. Gradebook.
Busing misdirection: Martin County school officials misrepresented why they decided to end busing for 850 students who live within 2 miles of their school, according to a newspaper investigation. Superintendent Laurie Gaylord blamed the state for her decision to end the courtesy busing, saying the provisions of a law made it impossible to prove that the 850 students faced hazardous walking conditions and, therefore, would be eligible for busing. But state Rep. Larry Metz, R-Groveland, who wrote the law, said the intent was to improve busing access to students, not restrict it. "Their letter is completely inaccurate with regard to the effect of the bill," Metz said of the letter Gaylord sent to parents. TCPalm.
Charter group sues: A charter school group is appealing an administrative judge's ruling that the state may deny facilities funding to charter schools that receive consecutive D grades. The Florida Association of Independent Public Schools is arguing that the state should use a standard of "satisfactory student achievement" instead of school grades to determine eligibility for capital funding. redefinED.
Solar eclipse: More on what Florida schools districts are doing during this afternoon's solar eclipse. Florida Times-Union. Orlando Sentinel. Lakeland Ledger. Bradenton Herald. WBBH. Santa Rosa Press Gazette. Northwest Florida Daily News. Belle Glade Sun. WKRG. Fort Myers News-Press. Naples Daily News. Daytona Beach News-Journal. WQAM. Associated Press. Florida Keys Weekly. Daily Commercial. WTSP. This summer, Haile Middle School principal bought 1,300 special glasses so students could view the solar eclipse today. Last week, Manatee County Superintendent Diana Greene decided that all students would be kept inside during the eclipse. Bradenton Herald. As a 10-year-old in 1991, Neil Brown took a quick look at a partial eclipse in Walla Walla, Wash. It damaged his left eye. Now a teacher at Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach, Brown is warning his students about the danger of looking at the eclipse without special glasses. Palm Beach Post.
Opt-out decision: The Florida Supreme Court announces it will not consider a lawsuit brought by parents against several school districts for retaining their 3rd-graders because they opted out of taking the Florida Standards Assessments tests. The decision lets stand a court of appeal ruling that the lawsuits should have been filed in the home counties of the districts, rather than in Leon County. News Service of Florida.
Alternative exams: Florida students who fail two key tests needed to graduate have alternative tests they can take - but the standards for those alternatives could be changing. Students have to pass the algebra 1 test and the 10th-grade language arts exam that is part of the Florida Standards Assessments to earn a diploma. Students who fail can take the SAT or ACT for language arts, or the PERT for algebra. But a state panel is recommending that the PERT be eliminated, with the PSAT replacing it, and that the passing score on the SAT be raised from 430 to 500. The Florida Board of Education will decide on the proposed changes. Orlando Sentinel.
Gardiner scholarships: The expansion of the state's Gardiner scholarships for students with disabilities has been so broad and rapid that even the namesake, former state Sen. Andy Gardiner, worries that the program is straying from the original intent to provide help for children with the most severe disabilities. The program has grown from $20 million in 2014 to $100 million this year, and the criteria for qualifying has broadened so much that students with peanut allergies now are eligible for vouchers. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the program. Politico Florida.
Turnaround schools: Today, the Florida Board of Education will consider a turnaround plan for the newly combined Gadsden County High School, which is merging East and West high schools. Both schools received D grades from the state this year, and both have had ongoing disciplinary problems. The plan would likely mean a change in administrators, teachers, curriculum and the length of school days. Turnaround plans will also be considered for Hawthorne Middle School in Alachua County and Hamilton County High School. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
