Private schools: A Broward County private K-12 welcomes Animal Planet's "Gator Boys'' to help open the school's $600,000 center that provides students with an outdoor classroom. Sun Sentinel.
District schools: A Brevard County elementary school wins a statewide contest for a video that promotes reading. Florida Today. Plans for a cell tower at a Naples elementary school campus are on hold. Naples Daily News. It’s the time of year when thousands of children and parents in Lee County make a decision on which school they want to attend. Fort Myers News-Press. An internal auditor reviews Pasco County schools and suggests looking more closely at the way money flows inside the campuses. Tampa Bay Times.
Charter schools: A new report looks at the lasting impacts charters have on students and whether the schools help determine paychecks later in life. The answer, in a word, is yes, writes Collin Hitt for Jay P. Greene's blog.
Florida Virtual School: For the first time, FLVS offers an opportunity for online students outside of the state to earn their high school diploma through a virtual school. GettingSmart. The state Supreme Court will hear arguments April 28 in a dispute about whether Florida Virtual School can sue K12 Inc. for alleged trademark infringement. News Service of Florida.
Mental health: Sandy Pines Residential Treatment Center in Palm Beach County opens with three dozen new beds to fill the growing need for more mental health care for children. Palm Beach Post.
School safety: The ACLU responds to Hillsborough County's security proposal with a letter that contends the more guards you put in the schools, the more likely you are to criminalize behavior that could better be corrected without exposing the child to the criminal justice system. Tampa Bay Times.
Jeb Bush: The former Florida governor addresses ideas about immigration, education and the plight of youths in a speech at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. Florida Times-Union. (more…)
Single gender: StateImpact Florida talks to the principal of an all-girls public school in Hillsborough County.
Vouchers: From the Gradebook blog: A husband and wife whose private Milwaukee voucher school abruptly closes last month move to Florida and open a new school in Daytona Beach. Journal Sentinel.
Pay raises: About 2,000 Palm Beach County administrators and other nonunion school employees will receive raises this year. Sun Sentinel. More from the Palm Beach Post.
Teachers: Orange County's Dorina Sackman is recognized as one of the best teachers in the nation. Orlando Sentinel. Five teachers are up for suspension in Hillsborough County for performance reasons. Tampa Bay Times.
Restructuring: Hernando County schools superintendent Lori Romano will soon submit a proposal to restructure the district's administration. Tampa Bay Times.
Say no: Inspired by his loved ones' struggles with drug addiction, a Cooper City middleschooler wins a national contest to dress up his home with a drug-free message. Sun Sentinel.
School audits: An independent auditor finds problems in bookkeeping practices at 98 percent of Polk County schools reviewed last school year. The Ledger. (more…)
Charter schools: A Florida House subcommittee looks at having the state Department of Education review charter applications before they go to the districts for approval. redefinED. More from The Buzz. Lawmakers also talk about possible legislation looking at allowing charter schools access to underutilized district buildings. Herald/Times. The draft bill may help ease the way for out-of-state charter groups that want to open high-performing schools in Florida. Tampa Bay Times.
Digital learning: Miami-Dade County school district plans to roll out 100,000 laptops and tablets to students by August 2015. Miami Herald. K12 Inc. focuses on expanding and using technology-based learning programs from pre-kindergarten through college on a global basis. Businessweek.
Homeschooling: Palm Beach County homeschoolers participate in National Geographic Bee. Sun Sentinel.
School construction: Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam will launch a statewide awareness campaign next week to create a new revenue source for construction and renovations at schools, colleges and universities. The Buzz.
Petition: Civil rights groups target Florida with a petition drive and grassroots movement to overturn the state's race-based educational achievement goals. Reuters.
Common Core: Cursive writing could survive in Florida schools after all, thanks to newly implemented education standards. Sun Sentinel. Students in Hillsborough County schools will field test the multi-state Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test this year, despite state leaders rejecting the exam. StateImpact Florida.
Extended day: A new state report finds that a majority of selected schools that added an extra hour of reading instruction in 2012-13 showed improvement. Tampa Bay Times.
Teachers: The Education Foundation - Champions for Learning names its 25 Teachers of Distinction in Collier County. Naples Daily News. State funding helps Polk public schools and USF put on a two-day training program to entice minority and male college students to become local elementary teachers. The Ledger.
Gifted needs: Central Florida school districts have few options to challenge young, highly gifted students. Orlando Sentinel.
Literacy: A Polk County high school senior loves reading so much, she spends her free time collecting and distributing books to elementary school students struggling with reading. The Ledger.
Math: Florida's most critical K-12 need is improving middle school math, writes Paul Cottle for the Tallahassee Democrat.
Obama: A group of Broward County elementary students gets to see President Obama during a White House visit. Sun Sentinel.
School funding: Florida is among states that have yet to spend the bulk of their Race to the Top grants. Education Week.
Athletics: The Florida High School Athletic Association surveys school administrators and coaches and finds about 75 percent say the so-called “follow-the-coach” rule should be changed so kids who switch schools can continue to participate in sports. Florida Current.
GED: The new GED test gets an overhaul in some states, including Florida. Associated Press.
Finance figures: Costs for requiring every high school student to take a financial literacy course vary from less than $140,000 for an online class to more than $11 million to offer it in the classroom with a book for every student. The Tampa Tribune.
School choice: Pinellas County schools Superintendent Mike Grego pushes to expand educational opportunities to woo back parents and students. Tampa Bay Times.
Magnet schools: A Polk County middle school for the arts class tries seating kids on bouncy exercise balls instead of a traditional desk and chair to help them focus better. The Ledger.
Private schools: Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa invests in technology to foster better collaboration and critical thinking among students. Tampa Bay Times.
Certificates of Completion: The not-quite-a-diploma certificate cripples career opportunities, writes the Fort Myers News-Press. Hillsborough County students look to the ACT to get their diplomas. Tampa Bay Times.
Common Core: The new education standards, state grades and teacher evaluations and pay are among the education issues to watch for in 2014. StateImpact Florida.
School funding: The Palm Beach County School District should lobby legislators to restore the 50-cent millage rate, writes Rick Christie for the Palm Beach Post.
Teacher evals: The TC Palm looks at the state's new system of rating teachers. (more…)
Charter schools: Lee County administrators are putting greater scrutiny on charter applicants and state officials have tightened requirements to open schools. Naples Daily News.
School safety: The Broward school district has allowed police officers to live rent-free on some school grounds since the 1980s as a way to provide after-hours safety, but there's no proof the program is still effective. Sun Sentinel. A dozen educators from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties come to a martial arts studio to learn what they can do to stop a tragedy. The Tampa Tribune.
Teacher pay: It's time for the Palm Beach County school district and teachers union to sign an agreement for pay raises, writes Rick Christie for the Palm Beach Post.
Testing: Florida's next generation of standardized tests moves a step closer to adoption when the state gets a look at the players that want to create FCAT's replacement. Orlando Sentinel. Are Florida high school students really as unprepared for the job market and college as recent PISA tests results suggest? Local and state civic and business leaders say yes, but educators are starting to address the problem. Tampa Bay Times. Changes to the GED are causing concerns. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher evals: Almost half of Polk County's classroom teachers receive a "highly effective" rating and the rest of evaluations that have been submitted so far are rated "effective.'' The Ledger. Rosy teacher evals contradict student progress. The Tampa Tribune.
After school: Pinellas County seeks college students to staff afterschool programs. Tampa Bay Times.
School spending: A group of community activists urges the Broward school district to reduce the costs of its in-house lawn mowing services by hiring an outside company. Sun Sentinel.
College prep: Too many students are arriving to college unprepared, writes Ed Moore, president and CEO of the Independent Colleges & Universities of Florida, for the Tampa Bay Times.
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Teacher evaluations: Nearly every teacher in Broward and Palm Beach counties earns top marks last school year. Sun Sentinel. A majority of Brevard teachers earned the highest possible rating. Florida Today. The First Coast has more than 4,000 highly effective public school teachers. Florida Times-Union. 97.9 percent of teachers evaluated statewide are rated effective and highly effective, and less than 1 percent are unsatisfactory. Tampa Bay Times. The Florida Department of Education and the Florida Education Association have asked the First District Court of Appeal to rehear a case concerning whether teacher value-added model ratings are public record. Tampa Bay Times. No teacher in Pinellas County public schools received a poor rating last year. Tampa Bay Times. The state also releases district administrator eval results. StateImpact Florida. In Collier County, there are no bad teachers. Naples Daily News.
Charter schools: Two autistic sisters report being repeatedly sexually assaulted by older students at a West Palm Beach charter school. Palm Beach Post. A Miami-Dade charter school awards a $400,000 grant to an unaccredited private college - the charter's partner in a dual-enrollment program. Miami Herald.
District schools: A state audit of the Manatee County School District operational finances could cost the financially embattled administration $7.2 million. Bradenton Herald. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
New super: The Flagler County School Board announced a 15-member committee that will help steer the search for the district’s next superintendent. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
College ready: The percentage of high school graduates ready for college when they get there is increasing statewide and in the Tampa Bay region. Tampa Bay Times.
Early start times: A bill that would make it impossible for Florida high schools to start before 8 a.m. has brought new urgency to a debate that has gone on for years. The Tampa Tribune.
Pranks: A parent complaint prompts a Pasco middle school to clamp down on a slapping prank. Tampa Bay Times.
Some Florida private schools face an unexpected dilemma this school year: Find extra dollars to pay for state college courses their high school students want to take – or deny them the option.
The problem stems from a new law requiring public school districts and individual private schools to cover tuition for students enrolled in the state’s popular dual enrollment program.
Though it’s unclear how many private school schools and students are affected, the change has left some schools curbing participation and others anxious about what they’ll do if local colleges, prompted by the new law, end up hiking charges.
The change “caught everybody off guard,’’ said Howard Burke of the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, and immediate past president of Florida Association of Academic Nonpublic Schools (FAANS). “This is a hardship for parents already paying taxes for public schools and paying for private school.’’
His association represents about 140 schools with an average of $4,000 to $5,200 in tuition. Burke said some of those schools are telling parents they now will owe an additional fee for dual enrollment to help schools with the unexpected costs.
“I think it’s obscene,’’ Burke said. “This should not be happening.’’
Dual enrollment lets students knock out college-level credits for free while they’re still in high school so they can earn college degrees faster and save their families – and the state - thousands of dollars.
Currently, there are about 65,000 high school students participating, up 20 percent since 2010-11. Before the change, districts and colleges received additional state funding for the program costs (excluding books and other materials). Private schools, meanwhile, had separate agreements with colleges that allowed their students the same access.
In recent years, however, state colleges lobbied for more money because they said they were losing an estimated $43 million to $58 million a year in tuition. Lawmakers approved a bill last spring that allows the colleges to charge districts a standard fee of $71.98 per credit. The law went into effect in July. (more…)
Charter schools: The superintendent of the Schools of McKeel Academy resigns following an investigation. The Ledger. A Polk County charter school helps students find job success. The Ledger. A group that wants to open a charter school at MacDill Air Force Base pitches its proposal to the Tampa Bay Times' editorial board.
Private schools: The Hillel Academy, a private Jewish school in Hillsborough County, is collecting books and money to help an elementary school library in Botswana, Africa. The Tampa Tribune. Students from a Hillsborough County private Catholic middle school help 16 organizations and charities. The Tampa Tribune.
Magnet schools: A new performing arts high school could be on the horizon in Miami-Dade County. Miami Herald. A Workforce Education Expo attracts thousands of students from more than 100 Polk County school academies. The Ledger.
Special needs: This 3,500-student high school in Seminole County has at least four mentoring programs that bring together students with and without disabilities. Orlando Sentinel.
Governor's race: Democratic candidate Charlie Crist says education and the economy are the most important issues. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher pay: The Broward County School Board approves a plan that gives 14,000 teachers a 5 percent salary bump. Sun Sentinel.
Common Core: Florida school superintendents ask for three additional years to fully switch to the new math, English and literacy standards. StateImpact Florida. More from Tallahassee Democrat. Multiple well-known testing companies are eyeing Florida’s Common Core assessments, which are set to begin next school year. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
Career academy: A Pasco County high school plans to offer a course on drone technology as it launches an Aerospace Career Academy with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Tampa Bay Times.
Dual enrollment: The Florida Association of District School Superintendents prepares to tackle the dual enrollment law that has districts paying when their students sign up for state college courses. Tampa Bay Times.
College prep: A Broward County high school starts a new program to help college-bound students make good academic choices, explore different school options and make connections. Sun Sentinel.
Governor's race: Democratic candidate Charlie Crist is talking about teacher evaluations and education funding as he stumps for the seat. StateImpact Florida.
Common Core: The State Board of Education will hear a summary of Common Core comments and complaints from the public. Tallahassee Democrat.
Tax hike: Rapid student growth and lack of space and money have the Lee County School District considering something historically unpopular: a hike in the sales tax. Fort Myers News-Press. (more…)
