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.
School funding formula: Two Republican state senators are calling for a study of the Florida K-12 school funding formula. Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, and Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Palm Coast, say the current formula shortchanges smaller districts because larger districts get a bigger portion of state funding to help make up the difference for a higher cost of living. The senators want the study to see if the formula should be “kept, modified or eliminated.” Volusia County, Hukill's home district, has been pressing for changes. School officials there say the formula has cost the district $140 million since 2004. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: School boards in Lee, Volusia and Bay counties vote to join the lawsuit against the state over the new education bill, H.B. 7069. They join Broward and St. Lucie counties in the challenge over the bill, which forces districts to share local property tax revenue with charter schools and provides financial incentives for charter companies to set up schools in areas with persistently low-performing traditional public schools. The bill also strips local officials from approving charter schools in their districts. Other districts are considering joining the suit, which has not yet been filed. Palm Beach County is expected to file suit individually. Fort Myers News-Press. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Panama City News Herald. Naples Herald. The Miami-Dade County School Board could decide as early as today if it will join other districts in suing the state over the education bill. The district has already spent almost $10,000 researching the constitutionality of the bill. Miami Herald. The Polk County School Board is considering joining the suit. Board attorney Wes Hodges believes the bill is vulnerable because it violates the state’s constitutional single subject requirement for bills, but there could be a political backlash for those districts that sue. Lakeland Ledger.
Charter schools: Charter schools are in line to receive about $146 million this year from state and local governments, or twice as much as they received last year. They get about $50 million from the state, and they expect to collect about $96 million from local schools property taxes thanks to the new education law. Todd Ziebarth of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says Florida's law is one of two major advancements toward funding equity for charter schools in the United States. redefinED. The NAACP is expected to release a report today calling for a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools. The report, to be released at the group's national convention, says charter schools lead to segregation and divert money from traditional public schools. The 74.
