School security: While the Brevard County school superintendent and sheriff now agree that the school district should reject the state's guardian program, a majority of school board members say they want to move forward with the program to arm select employees. The district needs $5 million it doesn't have to put a resource officer in every school, and board members say the guardian program can help bridge the gap. Florida Today. Clay County school officials say meeting the state mandates on school security will cost the district at least $15 million, and the district won't get nearly that much from the state. Florida Times-Union. Clay Today. Collier County school officials say they'll improve school security by locking school doors, adding access control systems and requiring photo IDs from every visitor. “We didn’t get any additional (state) funds for hardening schools or for safety equipment,” says Superintendent Kamela Patton. “We think this new layer of security across the district is a really good value for what we’re doing.” Naples Daily News. WGCU. Manatee County commissioners want the school district to foot the bill for putting a resource officer in every school. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The Leon County School District begins negotiations with law enforcement officials to determine how to put a resource officer into 21 elementary schools that don't have one. Tallahassee Democrat. Monroe County School Board members agree to ask voters in August to increase their taxes to raise money for school security. Key West Citizen. Lee County school officials say Bonita Springs High School, which opens in August, has special security measures built in and will be a model of safety for future schools. Fort Myers News-Press.
School shooting developments: A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher who says he'd be willing to carry a gun in school to protect students is arrested and charged with failing to safely store a firearm. Broward sheriff's deputies say Sean Simpson forgot his handgun in the public bathroom at the Deerfield Beach Pier. A drunken homeless man found it and fired a bullet into a wall before Simpson was able to disarm him. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. WPLG. Confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz wants to donate whatever inheritance he's due to a charity that will help his victims, his lawyer says. Sun-Sentinel.
H.B. 7069 suit tossed: A Leon County circuit judge throws out a lawsuit by 14 Florida school districts challenging the constitutionality of the Legislature's 2017 education bill, H.B. 7069. The districts argued that the bill is unconstitutional because it takes powers away from local schools boards and forces districts to share local property taxes with charter schools. The state contended the districts had no standing to sue, and that their disagreement with the law was strictly political. The districts are considering whether to appeal. Orlando Sentinel. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. The 74.
School officers' pay: Resource officers being hired to protect Pinellas County schools will be paid more than many of the teachers in those schools. The new resource officers will be paid $46,410, which is about the same as a Pinellas teacher with 13 years of experience. One major difference: The officers work year-round, while teachers have set vacation breaks and time off in the summers. The district and the sheriff's office are hiring 156 new officers so every county school can have one, as required by the new school security law. Tampa Bay Times.
Audit raps state DOE: State auditors say Florida Department of Education officials obstructed their review of the state's administration of millions of federal student loans by restricting access or delaying responses. "This lack of cooperation and responsiveness created redundancies in audit requests, postponed or frustrated the performance of audit procedures, and provided our auditors little assurance as to the completeness and accuracy of some Department-provided information," auditors reported. Education Commissioner Pam Stewart defends her staff, saying the procedures cited by the auditor are "designed to ensure that responses are timely, accurate, and complete." Politico Florida. (more…)
'Hope Scholarship': Bullied and abused public school students could be eligible next year for a new school choice program being proposed by Florida House Republicans. Under the program, dubbed the "Hope Scholarship," those students could apply for a transfer to a different public school or for a state scholarship to attend a private school. Nearly 47,000 incidents of bullying, hazing or abuse are reported each year in Florida schools, and most involve violence. The legislation has not yet been written, but House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, says the scholarship could be set up like the tax credit scholarship program, which provides scholarships for more than 100,000 low-income students to attend private schools. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer that program. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. redefinED. News Service of Florida. Gradebook. Politico Florida. Sunshine State News. WUSF.
Enrollment uncertainty: Legislators say the effects of the hurricane season are causing uncertainty in estimating K-12 enrollment for the next school year. Officials were working off an estimate of an additional 26,764 students for the 2018-2019 school year, but that was before several hurricanes swept through the islands and displaced thousands. “If you have more students (than the estimate), you spread it thinner,” says Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, talking about the school funding formula. “If you have less students, you don't get the money.” So far, 12 districts and 19 charter schools are asking the state to delay the usual timetable for counting school enrollment, which is typically this week. If the requests are approved, the counts would have to be done no later than the week of Dec. 11-15. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Almost 150 Puerto Rican students displaced by Hurricane Maria already have registered to attend schools in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Manatee and Polk counties. About 440 have signed up in Orange and Osceola counties. Hundreds, if not thousands more, are expected. WMNF.
Local education agencies: Two charter school companies in Florida are applying to the state to be designated as local education agencies, which would allow them to directly receive federal funding for teacher training, supporting low-income students or helping children with special needs, and gives also them greater control over how they use the money. Somerset Academy, which recently took over the Jefferson County School District, and the United Cerebral Palsy schools, which serve special needs students in central Florida, want to join two other state charter school networks in getting the designation. redefinED.
Storm closes all schools: Gov. Rick Scott orders all public K-12 schools, colleges and universities in the state closed today through Monday so that they may be used as shelters for people fleeing from Hurricane Irma. Associated Press. Florida Department of Education. Orlando Sentinel. Tallahassee Democrat. Panama City News Herald. Brevard County school officials decide to move payday up a week to help employees prepare for the hurricane. Florida Today. How a Florida school district prepares for a hurricane. School Transportation News.
New school site: Manatee County commissioners won't support the site plan for the new high school being built in Parrish because the structure won't meet hurricane shelter standards. A school attorney defended the board, saying meeting shelter standards would add 7 to 10 percent to the $80 million budgeted for North River High School. The school board does not need the commission's approval to proceed, and the 3-3 vote frees the board from abiding by some of the details agreed to by the school district and county planners, such as traffic, sidewalk construction and stormwater retention, if it chooses to. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
One robe color: A Hillsborough County School Board member says she supports a school doing away with special graduation robes for its highest achieving students. Earlier this week, Leto High School announced it would stick with a single robe color for all graduates instead of dressing the highest achievers with a different color. Tamara Shamburger says "the two robe colors are nothing more than a type of caste system that really punishes those who are less academically successful rather than honor those who have achieved high academic success." Gradebook.
H.B. 7069: The controversial K-12 education bill H.B. 7069 has been sent to Gov. Rick Scott for consideration. He must make a decision on the bill by June 27, though there are reports that he intends to sign the bill Thursday in Orlando. The bill creates a fund to recruit high-performing charter schools into areas with persistently struggling schools, requires 20 minutes of recess a day for traditional public elementary school students and sets aside more than $200 million to provide bonuses for teachers and principals, among other things. Orlando Sentinel. Gradebook. Gov. Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, were in Miami to make the first of five stops in a "victory tour" of Florida to celebrate the budget agreement. Miami Herald. Tampa Bay Times. Sun Sentinel. Sunshine State News. Hundreds of teachers protest the education bill at Gov. Scott's rally in Jacksonville Beach. Florida Times-Union. WJCT. WJXT. Supporters and opponents of the education bill continue to pepper Gov. Scott with emails and calls. News Service of Florida. WKMG. WBBH. Florida Politics.
District finances: The Duval County School Board tentatively agrees to tap the district's reserves to help make up the difference between the money it expected from the state and what it actually will get. The district was expecting an extra $16 million after the budget deal in the special session. But the state told the district that about half of that needs to be set aside for mandates and charter schools. Florida Times-Union. Polk County school officials say the district will struggle to maintain reserves and give raises to teachers and staff under the level of funding the state has approved for education. The district expects to receive $6,983 per student from the state, which is $110 less than it received 10 years ago. Lakeland Ledger. The Manatee County School Board asks its attorney to write a resolution for a special election in March to raise property taxes for schools by 1 mill. The increase would raise about $30 million a year for the district. Bradenton Herald. The Cape Coral Charter School Governing Board tentatively approves a budget for its four schools that gives employees a 2 percent raise but cuts the number of teachers and administrators by 14. Lehigh Acres Citizen.
Audit raps district: The Broward County School District greatly overpaid asphalt contractors for athletic tracks and playgrounds and didn't get required permits, according to an internal audit. Forty-seven times between 2010 and 2017, the district paid $150 to $300 an hour for workers. In 2016, auditors say, the Palm Beach County School had similar work done and paid $15 to $45 an hour. The Broward district has a history of financial mismanagement in its facilities department, and is about to begin infrastructure updates covered by an $800 million bond approved by voters in 2014. Sun Sentinel. (more…)
