Amendment 8 off ballot: A judge's decision that proposed constitutional Amendment 8 should be removed from the Nov. 6 ballot is upheld in a 4-3 vote by the Florida Supreme Court. A Leon County judge had ruled that the amendment is misleading and fails to inform voters of its “chief purpose and effect.” The amendment, put forward by the Constitution Revision Commission, would have created an entity other than local school boards that can approve charter and public schools, set term limits for school board members and required civics education in schools. The League of Women Voters challenged the constitutionality of the amendment, with president Patricia Brigham saying “the backers of this proposal on the CRC went to great lengths to hide the ball because they realized that Floridians would never knowingly forfeit their right to local control over their local public schools.” Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Phoenix. Florida Politics. Washington Post. Watchdog.org.

Scott rejected again: Legislative leaders officially deny Gov. Rick Scott's request to release $58 million from the armed school guardian fund to districts to help them pay for more security at schools. In a letter to the governor Friday, incoming Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said, "For the guardian program to truly be vetted and ultimately embraced, I believe the program should maintain its own funding rather than having its funds commingled with other funds available for school safety. I respectfully disagree with your statement that the $58 million in available funding will go to waste if the proposed budget amendment is not adopted." Galvano did say he would be open to reviewing the program in the near future. Only $9 million of the $67 million set aside for guardians was claimed by districts, which preferred having school resource officers to arming school employees. Associated Press. (more…)

Teachers losing jobs: More than 900 Florida teachers - many of whom were rated effective on their evaluations - are out of a job because they couldn't pass the Florida Teacher Certification Exam. The exam, which includes a variety of subject area exams and general knowledge tests, was toughened three years ago and the number of teachers failing continues to rise, despite state officials' belief that scores will improve over time. The failures are putting a strain on districts that are already struggling to hire teachers. “Yes, these are good teachers," says Gail Williams, director of the Palm Beach County School District’s Department of Retention and Recruitment, about the 148 her district is losing. "It’s frustrating because we would have loved to have kept those teachers.” WFTS.

GOP backs Amendment 8: The Republican Party of Florida is donating $100,000 in support of constitutional Amendment 8, which would impose term limits on school board members, require civics education for all Florida students and allow entities other than local school boards to approve charter schools and other public education initiatives. The Florida League of Women Voters and the Southern Poverty Law Center recently filed a lawsuit alleging that the proposal is misleading and is asking a court to remove the amendment from the ballot. News Service of Florida. The Sarasota County School Board squabbles over a resolution to oppose Amendment 8, eventually voting 3-2 in favor of it. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Florida League of Women Voters president Patricia Brigham talks about her group's lawsuit to try to have Amendment 8 removed from  the November ballot. Gradebook. (more…)

Amendment 8 lawsuit: Amendment 8 is misleading and should be removed from the ballot, the League of Women Voters and the Southern Poverty Law Center argue in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Leon County. The lawsuit focuses on the part of the proposed amendment that would allow allow entities other than school boards to “operate, control, and supervise” public schools. “Voters will not recognize that the real purpose of the amendment is to allow unaccountable political appointees to control where and when charter schools can be established in their county,” says LWV president Patricia Brigham. The amendment would also limit school board members to eight years in office and require the teaching of civics in public schools. redefinED. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. GateHouse. News Service of Florida. Florida Politics. Politico Florida.

Charter school appeals: The Florida Charter Schools Appeal Commission is recommending that the state Board of Education override the Palm Beach County School Board's decision to deny two charter school applications. And Education Commissioner Pam Stewart is recommending the board go along with the appeal commission's advice when it meets next week. Charters that don't fill a specific niche have been getting turned down by the Palm Beach board for the past five years. But as Stewart points out in her memo to the state board, "The school board's determination must be based on good cause." Gradebook.

Union membership: Teachers unions in Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties say membership is on the upswing since the state passed a law requiring unions to have at least 50 percent membership of eligible workers or risk being decertified. Union officials in all four counties say the recent swell has pushed each past the 50 percent threshhold. Teachers unions in 13 districts have membership below 50 percent but most have been adding members, according to Joanne McCall, president of the statewide Florida Education Association. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)