School security: After Manatee County officials declined to provide more money to protect schools, the school district is now planning to hire 44 armed security guards to be stationed at county schools. Deputy superintendent Ron Ciranna says the district will tap into the state's fund for its guardian program to pay for the guards, and he expects to present the plan to the school board May 22. Bradenton Herald. Pinellas Park City Council members agree to provide money for resource officers at the five Pinellas County schools in the city, but only for the 2018-2019 school year. Gradebook. Cape Coral city officials vow to work with the Lee County School District to place resource officers in every city school. WBBH. The Citrus County School Board is offering the sheriff $954,500 to provide school resource officers at all 22 schools. If the sheriff declines, the board will consider creating its own police department. Citrus County Chronicle. More details on the Brevard County School District's plan to hire "security specialists," which came as a surprise to many residents because the possibility hadn't been mentioned previously. Florida Today. Eighty-three people have applied to run the Pasco County School District's security department. Gradebook.
Superintendent admits error: Hernando County School Superintendent Lori Romano signs a settlement agreement acknowledging that her decision to fire all 47 teachers at a troubled elementary school was a violation of the contract the district has with the teachers union. Romano was reprimanded by the school board, and three of the teachers wrongly dismissed were given their jobs back. Romano has maintained that she had to fire all the teachers to prevent Moton Elementary, which has received D grades from the state the last two years, from being taken over by the state. Tampa Bay Times. All but 10 of the Moton positions have already been filled, Romano says. Tampa Bay Times.
Unaffordable housing: A teacher making the $49,013 median salary in Miami-Dade County can afford to buy just 9 percent of the homes in the area, according to new data from the online residential real estate site Trulia. That's down 9.7 percentage points in just the past year. The median price for a home in the metro Miami area is now $450,000, up 12.8 percent in the past year. The numbers are better in Tampa, at 34 percent, and Orlando, at 20 percent. Affordability is defined as a monthly payment at or below 31 percent of monthly income. Miami Herald. (more…)
School security: The Broward County School Board agrees to ask voters Aug. 28 to approve a property tax increase for school security and teacher bonuses. If approved, the tax hike could generate about $93 million a year. Sun-Sentinel. The Pinellas County Commission votes against helping the school district put deputies into the 31 schools in unincorporated areas. Tampa Bay Times. Brevard County School Board members vote to hire "security specialists" instead of arming school staff. The specialists will get 176 hours of training and receive $40,431 a year in pay and benefits. Florida Today. Manatee County commissioners decided they won't pay any more for school security than the $892,000 they currently provide. School officials will now consider a plan to hire 35 armed guards trained by the sheriff and paid for with state funds from the guardian program. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Putting a resource officer in every Lee County school will cost more than $8 million, school board members are told. The district is hoping the city and county will supply the $4 million it needs. Fort Myers News-Press. Jackson County School Board members and county commissioners agree that hiring eight more school resource officers is the best way to protect all its schools, and pledge to work together to pay for them. WMBB.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: Pinellas and Collier county school board members vote to continue appealing the latest decision against school boards that are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s 2017 education law, H.B. 7069. The suit contends the law violates the state constitution by stripping authority from local school boards and by forcing districts to share their tax revenue with charter schools. Pinellas and Collier join the Lee and Bay county school boards in appealing. School boards in Duval, Clay and Wakulla have dropped out of the case, and those in Alachua, Broward, Hamilton, Orange, Polk, St. Lucie and Volusia counties have yet to decide. The Palm Beach County School Board is pursuing its own suit against the law. Gradebook. Naples Daily News.
Reassigning students: The Florida Department of Education orders the Duval County School District to reassign 378 students into schools that have a C grade or better from the state. Two years ago the district took the students out of four failing schools and sent them to other schools, including some that had D or F grades. That was a mistake, the state concluded in an investigation. Florida Times-Union. WJCT. WJAX. WJXT. (more…)
Bill for school buses: A bill that would make more Florida students eligible for transportation to school gets the approval of the Senate Education Committee. The proposal would allow students who live 1.5 miles from school - instead of the current standard of 2 miles - to be eligible for busing, redefine hazardous walking routes as four-lane roads instead of six-lane ones, and provide busing to all students instead of just those in K-6. The changes could cost the state $58 million and local districts $100 million, according to a staff analysis. Gradebook. News Service of Florida.
Textbook adoption bill: The Senate Education Committee approves a bill creating a process for the public to comment on textbooks and instructional materials and recommend them for adoption. Right now the education commissioner approves materials from a list put together by state instructional materials reviewers. Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, says this bill is "simply an opportunity for the citizens to have a voice.” The House version of the bill would require the Florida Board of Education to allow public comment on materials at any meeting where they’re up for adoption. Politico Florida.
District investigation: A grand jury has been convened to hear "evidence of all aspects of the (Okaloosa County) school district that have become public issues,” according to state attorney Bill Eddins. An elementary teacher has been charged with child abuse of a special-needs student, and three other district employees have been charged with failure to report child abuse. But Eddins says the grand jury will hear testimony that goes beyond the child abuse investigation and the district's record on disciplining employees. Northwest Florida Daily News.
Teacher honored: Jason Lancy, an 8th-grade math teacher at Windy Hill Middle School in Clermont, is chosen as the Lake County School District's teacher of the year. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
Teacher recruiting: The Palm Beach County School District is trying to fill open positions in part by recruiting teachers from neighboring Broward County. Broward teachers have received postcards boasting about Palm Beach County's "highest teacher salary in south Florida" as well as affordable health insurance.“We’re trying to think differently about how to attract teachers. The traditional ways don't work,” says Palm Beach County schools chief human resources officer Gonzalo La Cava. Thirty-eight Broward teachers have moved to Palm Beach County this year, which is slightly more than in 2016. Sun-Sentinel. If the best teachers in Manatee County are driving south to Sarasota for better pay, Manatee County School Board member Charlie Kennedy says, Manatee should offer the same pay scale as Sarasota. Kennedy says the proposal could improve the chances of voters approving a 1-mill hike of property taxes in a special election in March. Bradenton Herald.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: The Collier County School Board will decide this week whether to join other districts in suing the state over the constitutionality of the new education law, H.B. 7069. The bill will force the district to share $3 million in property taxes with the county's six charter schools. Naples Daily News. Florida students need access to charter schools as an alternative to failing public schools, says State Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton. He also criticized school officials who are suing over the state education bill, which encourages more charter schools to open. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Retention bill: State Rep. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, files a bill that would end the state rule requiring retention for 3rd-graders who don't pass the state reading test or have a good cause exemption. Cortes filed the same bill in the last legislative session, but it never got a committee hearing. Gradebook.
State oversight bill: State Rep. Kim Daniels, D-Jacksonville, files a bill that would increase state oversight of local school board financial management. Last summer, Daniels joined Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville, in criticizing the Duval County School Board for not requesting an audit after district officials discovered they had spent $21 million more than budgeted. Florida Politics.
