Editor’s note: Craig S. Engelhardt is a former teacher and school administrator who directs the Waco, Texas-based Society for the Advancement of Christian Education. His new book is “Education Reform: Confronting the Secular Ideal.”

Public education reflects some of America’s highest ideals and is based upon a belief in the value of both the individual and American society. Its existence reflects the belief that all children - regardless of their demographic status­ - should have the opportunity to grow in and pursue their potential. Its curricula reflect the belief that prosperity, liberty, and peace are rooted in individuals who are knowledgeable, skilled, reasonable, individually reflective, morally responsible, and socially supportive.

I support public education as both an ideal and a “good.” However, I claim public education harbors a systemic flaw that hinders and often prevents our public schools from fulfilling their ideals. Further, I claim this flaw has survived virtually unrecognized and unchallenged for over a century. Is it possible a scientific, astute, experienced, and democratic people could have missed a “flat world” sized flaw in a system so close to their lives and communities? I maintain we have. I have extensively written about it in “Education Reform: Confronting the Secular Ideal.”

In this scholarly book, I attempt to “tease out” the roles religion has played in education from America’s conception to the present. To do this, I start with a functional definition that describes religion as a coherent and foundational set of beliefs and values that provides a framework for reason and a source of motivation for life. Defined functionally, religions are worldviews that may or may not have a deity.

Working from this definition, I discover pre-modern (roughly pre-20th century) public and private education leaders consciously held religion to be central to their efforts. In other words, they believed individuals were shaped by their religious beliefs and the educational nurture of individuals relied upon teaching the foundational beliefs of their communities, extrapolating from pre-existing beliefs, and integrating new facts with those beliefs. The question within 19th century common schools was not whether schools should be religious, but which religious tenets were most integral to and supportive of the American way of life. This educational discernment was not merely due to prejudice or self-centered majoritarian preferences (though these played a role), but to a reasoned, experiential, and historically evident understanding of the roles of religion in society. The exclusive public support of common education seems to have been an attempt to educate non-Protestants toward many of the morals, beliefs, and perspectives considered to be “American” and indebted to the Protestant faith.

So how did secular public education become an “ideal”? First, I note it never was the ideal for the majority of the U.S. population. Even now, given a choice, I believe most parents would likely prefer to send their children to a school reflecting their “religious” views. Secular public education developed in America as a result of the confluence of two mutually supporting public commitments and a national trend - all were philosophically based, but one carried the overwhelming force of law. I believe the complexity of their interplay and the slow pace of change allowed the “flaw” of linking public education with the secular paradigm to survive to our present day with little challenge. (more…)

Charter schools. Both sides postpone the sale of a former Pinellas middle school to a charter school operator that plans to serve black students in south St. Petersburg, reports Gradebook. A Miami charter school is looking for a new home because its landlord, the Archdiocese of Miami, abruptly ended its lease, reports the Miami Herald. South Tech Academy, the biggest charter school in Palm Beach County, is adding a middle school this fall, which will essentially make it a school district unto itself and eligible for more federal funding, reports the Palm Beach Post.

Parent trigger. The Tampa Tribune editorializes against it.

Course choice. The Tallahassee Democrat writes up Sen. Jeff Brandes' course choice bill, now headed to the Senate floor.

Rick Scott. Education excerpts from his interview with the Palm Beach Post editorial board. He doesn't say much beyond talking points on teacher pay, the Post editorializes.

Common Core. Tony Bennett says he will have more information next week about implementation plans. StateImpact Florida.

Employee conduct. A Broward bus driver who said she was only using cell phone while driving because her son, a U.S. Marine, was calling from Iraq now says she made it all up, reports the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun Sentinel. From the Sarasota Herald Tribune: "The Manatee County School District has hired a private investigator to look into whether Palmetto High Principal Willie Clark knew of an alleged sexual assault of a student last year and did not report it to law enforcement, as required by law."  More from the Bradenton Herald. Tampa Bay Times columnist Dan Dewitt says of a guidance counselor who was suspended for not diligently reporting a case of suspected child abuse: "If they can't make protecting children their top job, they shouldn't have a job at all." (more…)

School security. The Legislature is looking at a range of school security proposals, including allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons on school grounds and allowing local voters to hike taxes to pay for school security measures, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino offers his take on the latter. Orlando Sentinel offers more on the latter. More from the Tallahassee Democrat.

School rankings. Asked whether they will be forthcoming this year, Gov. Rick Scott says he's working on it with Education Commissioner Tony Bennett. SchoolZone.

School closings. Tensions rise over Superintendent Kurt Browning's plan to close an alternative school, reports Gradebook. Then he changes his mind, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

School enrollment. Flagler and Volusia counties are seeing enrollment declines, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

School rezoning. The latest from Seminole. Orlando Sentinel.

School spending. The Brevard school board approves $30 million in cuts. Florida Today.

School prayer. Some in St. Johns County want it back in graduation ceremonies. St. Augustine Record.

School boards. The Lee County School Board asks the Department of Education to investigate ... the Lee County School Board. Fort Myers News Press.

Charter schools. The traditional media overlooks the good news in the state's new charter school report, writes EdFly Blog. The Pinellas school district is planning to sell a shuttered middle school building to a new charter school group, reports Gradebook. Two well-regarded charters that serve students with disabilities are expected to be renewed in Orange, reports SchoolZone. (more…)

Tutoring oversight. In the first part of a two-part series on a requirement initially mandated by No Child Left Behind, a  Tampa Bay Times investigation finds at least 36 of 456 tutoring companies in Florida are headed by people with criminal records. In part two, the Times traces last year's last-minute legislative push to keep the mandate in place.

Educator oversight. Sarasota Herald Tribune: "As Bradenton police investigate allegations that a Manatee High School assistant football coach groped a female student, they are also trying to determine who knew about the girl's claims and why no one notified law enforcement as required by law."

Teacher bashing? A StateImpact Florida story headlined "Teachers Question Why Proposed Pay Raises Come Before Teacher Evaluations" quotes a single teacher who says, “For a while now we’ve been hearing how bad we are. [That] we need to weed out bad teachers, there’s so many bad teachers.” Ocala Star Banner editorial page editor Brad Rogers writes in this column: "There are so many wildly talented, caring and dedicated teachers in Marion County’s schools that unfairly take abuse and blame and criticism for what is wrong with our schools and our society, when in truth they represent what is most right and bright and promising about our schools and our society."

Teacher pay. Sen. Bill Galvano, chair of the Senate Education Appropriations Committee, suggests Gov. Rick Scott's proposal for across-the-board raises clashes with performance pay, reports the Florida Current. The South Florida Sun Sentinel also writes up the debate over proposals for higher teacher pay.

Strange bedfellows. The Florida Education Association plans to join the Florida Department of Education in fighting the Florida Times-Union's request for teacher evaluation data.

Tony Bennett. He talks to North Florida superintendents about teacher evals and notes he encouraged his daughter to become a teacher: "“I don’t want it written on my headstone: ‘Here lies the man that ruined the career his daughter chose.’ ” Tallahassee Democrat.

Teachers unions. The United Teachers of Dade will elect a new leader this week. Miami Herald. (more…)

Tony Bennett. On his first day on the job, he meets with superintendents and the Florida Association of District Administrators and says he is an “unapologetic advocate for school choice,” reports the Tallahassee Democrat. More from The Buzz. His first comments on the “Commissioner’s Blog” here. Interview with StateImpact Florida.

Charter school funding. More than 1,000 people turn out for a meeting called by Pembroke Pines charter parents to demand equal funding for charter schools, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

School spending. If the Broward school district wants to get the money to repair old schools, it will have to restore trust with voters and overcome a “long and lousy history of stunningly bad behavior,” editorializes the Miami Herald: “The district has been plagued by cronyism, mismanagement and a culture of dishonesty. In a scathing grand jury report released almost two years ago, jurors said they found the district so thoroughly corrupt, so reckless in its spending of taxpayers’ money, they would have recommended abolishing the school board completely if the state Constitution didn’t require its existence.” In Manatee, a forensic audit finds “incompetency -- not criminal or illegal activity -- caused a $3.4 million budget deficit that rocked the public trust,” reports the Bradenton Herald. More from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

School prayer law. “For the Satanists, it was a godsend,” writes Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino.

Cold water on the party. Former state Sen. Dan Gelber says there isn’t much for Florida to celebrate in the latest Education Week rankings. Florida Voices.

Murmurs. School administrators wanted to hear more from Gov. Rick Scott, writes Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Bousquet.

Merit pay challenge. A hearing on the FEA’s challenge of SB 736 is set for Wednesday in Leon County Court. SchoolZone. (more…)