Scholarship hearing: Florida House leaders say they are planning a hearing into the state's K-12 scholarship programs that provide money for students to attend private schools. According to a recent Orlando Sentinel investigation, private schools where students use the scholarships go largely unregulated by the state. Some hire uncertified teachers and administrators, and in some cases even continued collecting payments after being evicted. About 140,000 students receive money from the state's three scholarship programs, and a fourth is being proposed that would allow bullied students to get money to attend private schools. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit scholarships for low-income students and the Gardiner scholarships for students with special needs. Orlando Sentinel.
Working the contract: Teachers in Hillsborough County will protest their contract dispute with the district by "working to the contract" for the week after Thanksgiving. They say that means no late meetings, no phone calls from parents, and no grading papers after school. "It’s to make a point that this is what things would be like if teachers really did that all the time," says Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, director of the teachers union. Teachers are angry that the district says it can't give them a pay raise promised in 2013. For about a third of the district's 14,000 teachers, the district's decision will cost them $4,000. Tampa Bay Times.
Redirecting pay: Lake County School Superintendent Diane Kornegay is proposing to use money that had been providing bonuses for teachers to work in high-poverty schools for bonuses to all teachers in lieu of a pay raise. The district now sets aside $1.6 million to pay teachers bonuses of $1,000 to $3,000 to work in the poorest schools. Kornegay's plan is to use that money to give all teachers bonuses of $350 or $500. “The initial response was total disbelief,” says union president Stuart Klatte. “A lot of these schools recognize this as a pay cut.” School board member Bill Mathias says the problem is caused by going “into this year with basically flat funding.” Orlando Sentinel.
