State budget: The Florida Senate and House overwhelmingly approve an $88.7 billion state budget that increases per-student spending by an average of $101.50 statewide, but is lower in some of the state's largest districts. "How can anyone justify per-student increases of $65.06 and $52.35 for Miami-Dade and Broward, respectively?" tweeted Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. Earlier Sunday, Gov. Rick Scott signed the higher education bill that permanently boosts spending for Bright Futures scholarships, and the K-12 bill that includes a new scholarship program for bullied victims. News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach Post. Orlando Sentinel. Politico Florida. Tallahassee Democrat. GateHouse. The Legislature also passed a $170 million tax cut bill that includes a three-day tax holiday on school supplies. News Service of Florida. Associated Press.
School safety bill: Gov. Scott signs the $400 million school safety bill, despite being lobbied by educators who don't like the idea of arming school personnel and NRA officials who don't like the new restrictions on gun sales. The NRA quickly files a suit in federal court against the law, calling it a violation of the Second Amendment. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Politico Florida. Tampa Bay Times. redefinED. Palm Beach Post. GateHouse. Here's what the new school safety bill does. Palm Beach Post. Stoneman Douglas students and parents had vowed that "this time would be different." And it was. But school students say while it's a start, it isn't enough. Miami Herald. Some private schools are ahead of public schools on security issues. Palm Beach Post. President Trump backs away from his earlier proposals on gun restrictions and is now calling for the creation of a federal Commission on School Safety, led by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, to make long-range policy suggestions. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. Associated Press. No one really knows how many students bring guns to schools, because schools are lax in reporting those incidents and the information detailing it is inconsistently collected and outdated. Stateline.
Reaction to safety bill: Law enforcement and school officials say there isn't enough money in the bill to put an armed resource officer in every school. They say $360 million is needed but the bill only provides $162 million, which means arming school personnel may be the only option for full coverage. Tallahassee Democrat. Why the state's school superintendents opposed the bill. Washington Post. Miami-Dade school officials are working on a plan to put armed officers at every school. Miami Herald. Central Florida educators say they want police officers, not teachers or other school workers, to be armed on campuses. Orlando Sentinel. WKMG. Manatee County school officials join other large districts around the state in saying they're unlikely to arm any school personnel other than resource officers under the new law. Bradenton Herald. The Citrus County School Board will be asked to place school resource officers into more schools. Several elementary schools share a deputy. Citrus County Chronicle.
School board term limits: A proposal before the Constitution Revision Commission to limit school board terms is revised. Sponsor Erika Donalds now wants to limit board members to serving eight consecutive years, starting Nov. 6, 2018. The earlier version, which had been approved by a CRC committee, would have begun with service since 2015. Gradebook. Several education issues are among the proposals CRC members will consider in its final report to the secretary of state May 10. Florida Today. (more…)
Legislative education bills: The Florida House and Senate release their education bills, revealing differences in per-student spending and the teacher bonuses program. The Senate proposes spending an additional $110 per student, while the House wants $100. Both are below Gov. Rick Scott's $200 proposal. The Senate also puts $184 million into general operations for teacher pay raises, while the House wants to keep the Best and Brightest bonus program and spend $234 million on it. Other highlights of the Senate proposal include $88 million to remove the limit on the number of traditional public schools eligible for extra money under the Schools of Hope program, almost $18 million for teacher classroom supplies and $40 million for student mental health issues. The House's 109-page proposal includes new scholarships for 3rd-graders who fail the state reading exam, an expansion of the powers of charter schools and networks, a cutback in computerized state testing and new accountability rules for private schools accepting tax credit scholarships. Gradebook (Senate). Gradebook (House). redefinED. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. Meanwhile, the Senate release its higher education budget, which calls for a $383 million boost in spending. Tuesday, the House proposed cutting spending for universities and colleges by $217 million. Tampa Bay Times. WFSU.
Guns in schools: The Florida House Criminal Justice Committee approves bills that would allow people to carry guns in public schools and churches with schools. H.B. 621 would allow designated people, chosen by superintendents or principals, to carry concealed weapons in public schools. Those designated, who could be any school employee or even volunteers, would have to complete 40 hours of proficiency training. H.B. 1419 would allow concealed weapons in churches, synagogues or religious institutions, even if they have schools. Current law prohibits anyone from having a gun in a school. Sunshine State News. WFSU.
Flu closing district: All Gulf County schools will be closed Friday due to the widening flu outbreak. Superintendent Jim Norton says about 20 percent of students have missed school this week with the flu, and the district is running out of healthy substitute teachers and school bus drivers. Schools will be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized Friday. Other northwest Florida counties are also seeing more flu cases. Port St. Joe Star. WMBB. WJHG. Destin Log.
Open enrollment: Thousands of south Florida students are applying for spots in schools outside their attendance zones under the state's new open enrollment law, and some school officials say it could be the start of a trend of children returning to public schools. In Broward County, 11,602 students applied for transfers from their zoned schools, and almost 3,500 of those were from charter schools. In Palm Beach County, 4,505 students applied under open enrollment, and about 500 of them were from charter or private schools. “We are seeing a significant jump in people wanting to come back into the school district,” says Broward administrator Patrick Sipple. “It may be too early to call it a trend. But there has been more interest because of the new law.” Sun Sentinel.
Gifted clusters: The system of pushing gifted students to 16 select elementary schools in Palm Beach County could be changing. This fall, students at 20 elementary schools will have their own gifted programs. Students at 47 others will still be sent to the clusters, which were formed in the 1990s to help the district place enough certified teachers and talented students at the same school to have full-time classes. The benefits for the 20 schools keeping their gifted students include better test scores and potentially higher school grades. The challenge for those schools is putting together a specialized program, as required by law. Palm Beach Post.
Legislative payback? Could the fear of retribution from legislators keep some school districts from joining the Broward County School Board in a court challenge of H.B. 7069? No one is commenting and no threats have been made, but there is a history of the Legislature proposing bills against the interests of school boards, their members and the Florida School Boards Association after being challenged on its education policies. Gradebook. Palm Beach County School Superintendent Robert Avossa will ask the school board at a meeting July 19 to consider joining Broward County in a lawsuit against the state over H.B. 7069. Palm Beach Post. (more…)
What's new next year: The new school year will bring changes to schools in Florida, from kindergarten to college. Among them: 20 minutes of required recess every day for elementary students, an end to the algebra 2 end-of-course exam, some standardized tests done on paper instead of computers and conducted later in the school year, more money and flexibility with Bright Futures scholarships, no required career class in middle schools, students will be permitted to bring sunscreen to school, and student-athletes will have an easier time opting out of physical education classes. Sun Sentinel. Bright Futures scholarships winners will get $6,000 this year instead of $3,000, plus $300 for books each semester and money for summer school. It's just for this year, though, since Gov. Rick Scott vetoed the higher education bill that would have made the changes permanent. Orlando Sentinel.
Tax hike for charters: Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna says the district may have to ask voters for a tax hike to cover the $750,000-$800,000 in construction funds that now will go to charter schools under the provisions of H.B. 7069. “We may end up going to voters about increasing (sales tax) a half penny so that we can continue to build schools when needed and renovate those in need of repair,” said Hanna. Tallahassee Democrat.
Restarting D.A.R.E.: Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell wants to restart the D.A.R.E. anti-drug education program for 5th-graders in county schools in the 2018-2019 school year. The Drug Awareness Resistance Education ended in Lake schools in 2013 because of budget problems, and after studies showed it had little impact on students. But Grinnell says the program has evolved to include life skills, conflict resolution and making good choices. Orlando Sentinel.
Guns at schools: Duval County School Board member Scott Shine says parents should be held accountable when their children take guns to schools. “These are not kids who went out looking for a gun to do something,” Shine says. “These are kids who found a gun or it came to them. … People are all worked up about guns in schools but, quite frankly, parents are just leaving their guns laying around.” Florida Times-Union. (more…)
Education budget plans: The Senate appropriations subcommittee approves a plan to increase preK-12 education spending by $535 million. The panel chairman, Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, says retaining current property tax rates would let localities collect hundreds of millions of dollars more as property values increase. “We don’t consider the additional amount of taxes they pay to be a tax increase. We consider it incidental to the increase in value in the property,” Simmons said, as a response to the House's insistence that it is a tax increase. The Senate and House education budgets are now almost $540 million apart. The Senate budget also includes no money for the teacher bonuses program. Simmons implied the program would become part of negotiations between the Senate and House, which has $214 million set aside for the bonus program. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Miami Herald. Naples Daily News. WFSU.
School improvement: The House Education Committee takes up a school improvement bill today that would set aggressive requirements for districts to turn around academically struggling schools. Turnaround plans would be required for schools receiving D or F grades from the state just a few months after the grades are issued. If the plans do not raise the school grade to a C within three years, the schools would be labeled "persistently low-performing" and districts would have to close them, convert them to a charter, or bring in an outside operator. Districts would no longer have the option of carrying out their own turnaround plans. redefinED. Gradebook.
School HQ evacuated: An infestation of vermin and blow flies has forced the evacuation of the Okaloosa County School District Administrative Complex in Fort Walton Beach. The administration and school board members will work from the Niceville Central Complex until further notice. "I'm not going to have them stay some place that I'm not going to stay in," says Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson. "We've tried to put Band-Aids on and fix it, but I'm afraid we may be a bit past that now." Northwest Florida Daily News.
Charter school laws: Florida ranks eighth in the nation in a recent analysis of states' charter school laws, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Indiana was rated No. 1. Florida ranks highly on autonomy and accountability, for not having caps on the number of charter schools allowed, and for providing a strong appeals process for applicants that are denied. The report notes that state still provides inequitable funding to charter schools. redefinED. (more…)
Teacher tests: The Florida Department of Education says a historically high percentage of people who want to be teachers are failing the Florida Teacher Certification Exam, which was recently toughened by the state. And now fewer people are taking the test, as many as 10 percent fewer for some subject areas. "We have a real crisis," said Dr. Gloria Pelaez, St. Thomas University dean of the school of arts. "This is turning people, good intelligent people away," said Wendy Mungillo of the Manatee County School District. Melissa Smith, for example. She's taken and failed the test seven times, and has decided to leave the state and get a master's degree. Department of Education officials defend the tougher exams, saying they're in line with more rigorous tests students now take. WFTS.
Minorities and AP classes: A Palm Beach County School District analysis shows an "implicit bias" is in part responsible for lower minority participation in Advanced Placement classes. Minority students with comparable scores to white students are excluded from AP classes at a much higher rate than whites. That so-called "opportunity gap" also favors girls over boys, according to the analysis. “Students who have potential, why are they not in the courses?” Deputy Superintendent David Christiansen said. “There’s a significant gap there that we want to start to close.” Palm Beach Post.
Days lost to testing: Orange County teacher Peggy Dominguez tells a Senate committee meeting this week that she loses 37 days of her 180-day school year to preparing her students for the Florida Standards Assessments tests. Dominguez teaches English at Timber Creek High School. She and others testified about the downsides of the testing process. The Senate is considering a bill that would, among other things, push all testing to the final three weeks of the school year and authorize a study to see if the ACT or SAT tests can be used as a replacement for the FSA. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
Payment questioned: A Broward County School District audit reveals that the district paid a former district police employee about $23,000 over her approved salary in 2015. Jillian Haring was a special assistant to the district police chief, making $60,664. But she was also being paid for other duties that the district did not need, according to the audit. Haring now works in the district's special education department. Sun-Sentinel.
Middle school marriage: The Bonita Middle School student had an arranged marriage at 13 and was a mother at 14. Now she's 20, and her 31-year-old husband has been arrested and faces charges of lewd and lascivious behavior. And Lee County school officials are left to wonder how the situation could have gone unnoticed for so long. Fort Myers News-Press.
School choice: At its quarterly meeting, the Florida NAACP debates the role of charter schools. The national NAACP recently passed a resolution calling for “a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice.” But there is dissent in the ranks about the issue. WOFL. redefinED.
Magnet programs: While Alachua County's magnet school programs offer great opportunities for high-achieving students, critics say there are too many barriers for entry for students of different academic backgrounds. School officials say they are working hard to identify and encourage students of all backgrounds to apply. Gainesville Sun.
Legislative priorities: Common Ground, a group of organizations that has called for the end of Common Core standards, now says it wants the Legislature to end the Common Core-aligned Florida Standards Assessments in both English and math. Sunshine State News.
Religion in schools: State Rep. Kim Daniels, D-Jacksonville, writes on her Facebook page that the motivation for filing a bill to protect religious expression in schools is to get prayer back in schools. Daniels is a minister and founder of Kimberly Daniels Ministries International. Florida Politics. (more…)
Teacher shortage: Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti wants to convert instructional coaches and interventionists into teachers in classrooms, as the district continues to struggle to fill open positions. Vitti, who had pushed for those coaching positions, now believes it's more important to have qualified teachers in the classrooms. The district has nearly 200 openings. Several school board members are reluctant to commit to the change, saying they are worried about reversing recent reading improvements. Florida Times-Union.
Dreamers worry: More than 100,000 undocumented immigrants have been living in the United States, going to school and working under President Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. These Dreamers, as they are known, are worried that President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on his campaign pledge to end the program and send them back to their home countries. "I established my whole life here now, and it will be difficult if he does repeal it," says Ahtziry Barrera, who graduated from Orlando's Colonial High School in 2016 and is a first-year student at Rollins College. Orlando Sentinel. Politico Florida.
Lawsuit settlement: The Palm Beach County School Board is expected to approve a $4.7 million settlement this week with a student who suffered brain damage when a tractor tire exploded in his high school automotive repair class in 2013. Dustin Reinhardt lost one of his eyes, much of his face and part of his brain in the accident at Seminole Ridge High. The board will pay $300,000 now, and the rest has to be approved by the Legislature. Sun-Sentinel.
Teaching MLK: Teachers in St. Augustine schools try to weave the history Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in the city into their lessons. St. Augustine Record. (more…)
Bathroom fights: The Duval County School District, the school board and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti are being sued over the district's policy that permits children to use the bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. The suit was filed by Wes White, a Republican running for state attorney, on behalf of Wryshona Isaac and her four children. The suit says the policy "denies her children a safe and supportive environment.” Florida Times-Union. Florida Politics. Washington and Holmes counties school officials say they will not follow the Obama administration directive urging districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. Panama City News Herald. The Collier County School Board is asking for input from the community to help set a bathroom policy for transgender students. All board members say the letter from the U.S. government was an "overreach." Naples Daily News.
Charters on notice: The Pinellas County School Board votes unanimously to cancel contracts with three Newpoint Education Partners charter schools in 90 days unless several financial and curriculum problems are corrected. Another charter school, Florida Virtual Academy, also was given notice because it has not met the requirements of a corrective action plan. The four schools have almost 1,000 students and collect $6 million in public money. Tampa Bay Times. WFLA.
School resegregation: The number of U.S. public schools that were both poor and racially segregated jumped from 7,009 in 2001 to 15,089 by 2013-2014, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. Los Angeles Times. Education Week.
Girls rule: For the first time, girls outscore boys on the National Assessment of Educational Progress national test of technology and engineering literacy among eighth-graders. Washington Post. THE Journal. (more…)
Teacher bonuses: An analysis shows that teachers in affluent areas around the state are twice as likely to receive bonuses through the state's Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program than teachers working in high-poverty schools. The findings mirror a study the Florida Department of Education did last year, and national research. Orlando Sentinel. Calling his bonus from the state "the dumbest money I have ever received," Orange County teacher Josh Katz says he is giving his $8,256.27 to political candidates who can "fix education and stop stupid policies." Orlando Sentinel. Sun-Sentinel.
Open enrollment effects: Volusia County school officials say the scope of the bill allowing open enrollment worries them. "We are still processing it," said spokeswoman Nancy Wait. "It is huge, has a lot of tentacles and involves a lot of staff. We are still trying to wrap our arms around it." Daytona Beach News-Journal. Palm Beach County school officials say they're waiting for the state's technical information on open enrollment before they can understand how the law might affect the district. Thirty-four schools in Palm Beach County now are at capacity or beyond, and another nine are 95 percent or more filled, school officials say. Palm Beach Post. In south Florida and the Tampa Bay area, the new law isn't causing any panic, school officials say. Districts in those areas have been permitting students to move into schools out of their attendance areas for years. Miami Herald. Gradebook.
Construction rules: Rural school districts in Florida will have to raise money for new construction projects before they can apply for state assistance, according to the education bill signed into law last week by Gov. Rick Scott. Politico Florida.
Teacher evaluations: Just 11.3 percent of Lake County teachers are judged by the state to be highly effective, less than one-third of the state's average. Some Lake County School Board members say that's an example of what's wrong with the state's teacher evaluation system, and they will discuss the problem at a meeting today. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
