Education bills: Proposed bills on education issues are starting to stack up for the Legislature, with more than 40 already filed for the legislative session that begins its 60-day session March 5. Among the latest filed are bills that would allow districts to adopt their own academic standards as long as they're more "rigorous" than what the state requires, restrict elections for tax measures to general elections, require the state to provide textbooks for students who are home-schooled or attend private schools and take dual-enrollment courses, and end the reassignment of teachers based solely on their state value-added measure evaluation scores. Gradebook. Florida Politics. Another bill would allow fulltime students in high schools, colleges and other schools under the age of 21 to be excused from jury duty. News Service of Florida.
Court and education: Florida Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, says Gov. Ron DeSantis' conservative makeover of the Supreme Court could embolden the Legislature to make sweeping education reforms that have been rejected by previous courts. “You’ll probably see some more bold steps in education and revisiting some of the ideas that Gov. Bush brought to the table back in the day,” he told a Sarasota business audience Tuesday. He mentioned voucher programs such as education savings accounts as one idea that could be considered. ESAs provide each student a set amount of money that can be used to attend any school. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
School security concerns: A survey of all 67 Florida school districts reveals the struggles officials are having paying for the state directive to place armed guards in all public schools, finding enough qualified applicants and getting them trained before schools start this month. All districts say schools will be covered. Forty-five districts are using only sworn police officers in schools, though some have yet to complete hiring and are paying overtime to officers for coverage. Nine districts are hiring security guards, and 13 are using armed volunteer administrators, custodians and other non-classroom staff members. Associated Press. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission is expected to hear from experts on school hardening and federal privacy laws at its monthly meeting that begins today. Associated Press. The city of Deltona will reconsider its refusal to help the Volusia County School District pay for armed guardians in city schools. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Citrus County commissioners sign a contract to help the school district pay for school resource officers, and are urging Sheriff Mike Prendergast to do the same. Citrus County Chronicle.
Turmoil on Broward board: The attorney for the Broward County School Board made the decision to ask for a contempt order against a newspaper for disclosing information that was supposed to be redacted from a district report on accused school shooter Nikolas Cruz's educational history. Barbara Myrick says she and another school district attorney made the decision without notifying board members or district officials, even though it was filed on the behalf of the board. Board members are unhappy. “Communication to the board must improve,” says chairwoman Nora Rupert. “The aspect that we’re getting our information from the news is ridiculous.” Board members also argued about Superintendent Robert Runcie's decision this week to delay putting metal detectors in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when schools reopen Aug. 15, then abruptly recessed the meeting. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Privacy experts say the Broward County School District violated federal law when it failed to properly redact the report on Cruz's educational background, but is unlikely to be penalized. Sun-Sentinel. (more…)
District-hospital deal: The Volusia County School District and a local hospital reach an unusual agreement that gives the hospital advertising rights in the district in exchange for health care services and education for students. The program will be known as the Florida Hospital Healthy Futures Program of Volusia County Schools. District officials call the deal “a first of its kind agreement between a school district and major health care provider that will serve as a national model.” The contract is for five years and requires Florida Hospital to pay $200,000 a year and provide $1 million of in-kind services. Florida Hospital becomes the district’s “Official Health Care Champion," and will have direct involvement in the district’s 15 health care academies and programs, support athletic teams and physical trainers and provide health care services to students at 36 schools with high student absenteeism. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
School security: Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has rejected a request to provide 50 deputies on overtime to patrol dozens of elementary schools, and district officials now say they will consider hiring private security guards. Palm Beach Post. A report from Sarasota School Superintendent Todd Bowden that an agreement was reached with the sheriff's office to provide school resource officers is refuted by the sheriff. District officials later said it was just an idea being floated, and that the district will go ahead with its plan to create its own police department. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Paul Grohowski, the new Sarasota County School District's police chief, has made decisions in his past three jobs that caused controversy. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Leon County school officials say they have a deal to pay the sheriff's office $1.9 million to provide resource officers for 30 schools, and will spend $1 million to hire off-duty officers for the remaining 18 elementary schools. Tallahassee Democrat. The city of Cape Coral is considering ways to help Lee County put an armed school resource officer in each of the city's schools. The cost for the 23 officers needed will be more than $1 million a year. WFTX. Like public schools, Catholic schools are struggling to find the money to provide security for students. redefinED. (more…)
Budget and Bright Futures: Florida House leaders introduce what they call an austere state budget of about $85 billion, which is about $2.5 billion less than Gov. Rick Scott has proposed. One of the areas the House would cut back on is higher education spending, in part by not expanding the coverage to 75 percent of tuition and fees for "medallion scholars" in the Bright Futures program, which the Senate has approved. Rep. Larry Ahern, R-Seminole, says the cuts are intended to force colleges and universities to use their stockpiles of unspent funds. News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. The proposed House budget also includes a spending boost of $100 per K-12 student, a provision that would eliminate a requirement that the 300 lowest-performing schools use the extra funding they get from the state to add an hour per day of reading instruction, and would allow any district in the state to participate in the principal autonomy program. Gradebook. Politico Florida. redefinED. The House budget includes a specific cut of $381,000 for Broward College that is directly related to the college's decision to pay the outgoing president his $381,000 salary for a year after he leaves, calling it a paid sabbatical. WLRN.
Motto at schools: The motto "In God We Trust" would have to be prominently displayed on every school building in Florida under a bill that receives unanimous approval from the House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee. The measure was filed by Rep. Kimberly Daniels, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Mel Ponder, R-Destin. The phrase became part of the seal on the state flag in 1868, and was adopted as the state motto by legislators in 2006. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. WCTV. Gradebook.
Personalized learning: A bill that would make the personalized learning pilot program available to all state school districts is approved by the House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee. If approved by the Legislature, the bill would broaden the use of the mastery-based learning method, which allows students to advance to higher levels in subjects when they can demonstrate mastery of a topic. The bill would also give districts the freedom to decide how to award course credits. redefinED.
