Tax credit scholarships. House Speaker Will Weatherford says with tens of thousands of parents on waiting lists for tax credit scholarships, "Let us agree not to fight each other and instead fight for them." The Buzz. Senate President reiterates his call for scholarship students to be assessed the same way as public school students. Orlando Sentinel. Gov. Scott doesn't mention the scholarships or propose expansion. Times/Herald. More from the Sunshine State News. Tax credit scholarships are giving much-need options to the families who need them most, writes Rev. Robert Ward in the Tampa Bay Times. 

Education savings accounts. "Personalized accounts for learning" gets a look in the House Choice & Innovation Committee. The Buzz. More from School Zone.

School choice. Counting its editorial against the proposed expansion of tax credit scholarships, the Orlando Sentinel runs a third opinion piece in a week against school choice. This one bizarrely accuses charter schools of circumventing church-state lines. The Palm Beach County School District considers a massive expansion of within-district school choice. Palm Beach Post.

Charter schools. One on the verge of being shut down in Broward finds a building in the nick of time. South Florida Sun Sentinel. Frank Biden, brother of Joe, is again pushing for charter schools in the Capitol. Post on Politics.

Common Core. Jeb Bush's challenge. BBC News.

School grades. Senate Education Committee votes 5-1 for a simpler school grades formula. The Buzz. StateImpact Florida, Palm Beach Post, Northwest Florida Daily News. School grades are just part of the corporate reform ideology. Folio Weekly. (more…)

Florida’s top lawmakers opened the legislative session Tuesday with calls to expand school choice.

House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz have included the expansion of career education programs and tax credit scholarships in their agenda for the 60-day session.

In his remarks in the House chamber before Gov. Rick Scott's state of the state speech, Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, framed the expansion of education options as part of an effort to fight “generational poverty.”

“I believe that no child’s success should ever be dictated by their zip code,” he said, appropriating a favorite line of former Gov. Jeb Bush.  “In my opinion, no other issue today personifies freedom, opportunity and the God-given right to rise better than the school choice movement.”

Referring to tax credit scholarships specifically, he added, “There are 60,000 kids who are receiving scholarships today, primarily minority and overwhelmingly low-income. And there are tens of thousands more parents looking for that same opportunity to provide their child with that choice.  Let's agree not to fight each other. Let's fight for them. Let's expand the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.”

The scholarship program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog. You can read Weatherford’s full speech, as prepared for delivery, here.

Last session, Gaetz, R-Niceville, championed legislation that expanded career education programs offered by school districts. This year, he said, he wants lawmakers to lift funding caps on those programs.

Gaetz also said in his opening remarks that he wants to “end” the waiting list of students hoping to enroll in the tax credit scholarship program. At the same time, he said, the performance of students participating in the program “should be assessed just like the performance of any other child.”

The state does not require private school students who receive tax credit scholarships to take the state’s main standardized test, the FCAT (though some do). Students participating in the program are required, however, to take norm-referenced standardized tests approved by the Department of Education, which provides the data to an outside researcher for analysis.

Tax credit scholarships. House Speaker Will Weatherford and Americans for Prosperity tout the proposed program expansion (among other non-education-related issues) before the start of the session. Orlando Sentinel. Gets a mention in The Florida Current and Sunshine State News, too. Also gets a mention in this Times/Herald story, which oddly refers to the tax credit scholarship program as the " 'opportunity scholarship' voucher program" and says Republicans are moving ahead on it "to appeal to their political base and special-interest groups." First Coast News in Jacksonville logs in a brief story. (Full disclosure: The program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.)

Dual enrollment. State Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, proposes "collegiate high schools" tied to Florida colleges that would help students earn more college credit and industry certifications. Orlando Sentinel.

Magnet schools. Supply and demand doesn't match up for magnet programs in Orange. School Zone.

Common Core. As the legislative session begins, the conversation shifts from what's in them to how to implement. StateImpact Florida. Does Jeb Bush realize what Common Core will do to school choice? Fox News, picking up EAG.

Teacher unions. Intercepts logs in the "melodrama" from the election for a new head of the Broward union.

Teacher evals. VAM is "bureaucratic baloney," writes Tampa Tribune columnist Joe Henderson.

Testing. Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart takes on the Florida Education Association's criticism of testing for special-needs students. Gradebook. Extra Credit. Answer Sheet.

Education spending. Mo' money, mo' problems for the Leg this year? Sarasota Herald Tribune. (more…)

Tax credit scholarships. Expansion of the program (administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog) is one of 10 "issues to watch" during the upcoming legislative session. News Service of Florida. It's also a potential land mine for Gov. Rick Scott's re-election campaign, the News Service writes. House Speaker Will Weatherford, a leading supporter of program expansion, tells the Tampa Bay Times editorial board it's a way to help the poor. Gradebook. The Fayetteville Observer in N.C. editorializes that N.C. would be wise to follow Florida's model.

Charter schools. Gov. Rick Scott or someone in his office suggested that MacDill Air Force Base go to Charter Schools USA, whose CEO Jon Hage is a Scott supporter, if it wanted a charter school. Tampa Bay Times. The Times editorializes that the state Board of Education should deny the proposed charter school's appeal because "that would be best for military families, local control and the integrity of the charter school process."

Florida Virtual School. Former Orange Superintendent Ron Blocker will be interim leader while the board searches for a replacement for Julie Young. School Zone.

Common Core. Opponents are hopeful now that there are bill in both the Senate and House to stop it. Gradebook. More from School Zone.

Regulatory accountability. A bill filed by Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee (and head of the state superintendents association) seeks to ease the state into a new standards, testing and accountability system, including a three-year pause for school grades. The Buzz. More from The Florida Current, the Palm Beach Post and Extra Credit. A Senate Education Committee bill, meanwhile, would tweak school grades. Gradebook.

Teacher quality.Value-added scores for Florida teachers look "messy and absurd." Hechinger Report. The Gates Foundation didn't want them released. Answer Sheet. (more…)

Three weeks after Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford promised a “massive increase” in school choice scholarships for underprivileged schoolchildren, his chamber has released a 40-page bill. By common political measurement, he has lived up to his word.

The bill takes broad aim at the Tax Credit Scholarship, which has tripled its enrollment in the past six years but is still struggling to keep pace with demand. This year, the scholarship is serving 59,674 K-12 students in 1,414 private schools, yet applications were shut off nearly two months early with 34,000 more students who had already started.

The main reason the enrollment is limited is because the scholarship is financed by corporate contributions that receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit, and those credits are capped by budget writers. That puts them on a different footing than scholarships for disabled students or charter schools or most any other choice option, none of which have statewide enrollment limits. So the bill takes a stab at accelerating an already ambitious rate of growth.

Under current law, the cap is set to increase from $286.2 million this year to $357.8 million next year, under a formula that allows it to grow by 25 percent following any year in which 90 percent of the cap is reached. The House bill would up that ante by roughly $32 million, taking the cap in 2014-15 to $390 million and allowing the program to serve an estimated 75,000 students. In turn, the cap in the following three years would also be increased beyond current law by roughly $30 million, which means it could grow to $475 million, $590 million and $730 million. By that fourth year, enrollment could have doubled, to nearly 120,000 students.

Regular readers of this blog will know it is produced by Step Up For Students, which helps administer the tax credit scholarship (three other nonprofits have also signed up to do that next year). So we can claim a thorough working knowledge of the scholarship and how the bill might affect it, even as we acknowledge our obvious potential for bias here.

The increase in the cap is but one of at least a half-dozen bill features that are worthy of note.  In no particular order, the bill would also:

•             Increase the scholarship amount. The current scholarship, $4,880, is the lowest-cost education option in the state and covers only about two-thirds of the average tuition and fees for participating schools. Every year, thousands of students are approved for scholarships but then turn them down because their families cannot afford to cover the gap. The scholarship is pegged to the unweighted average of the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), which is the technical description for how much operational money the state budgets for each public school student. The scholarship is on a path to reach 80 percent of the FEFP in 2015-16. The bill would take that one step further, to 84 percent, in 2016-17.

•             Partial scholarships for higher-income students. The scholarship is targeted at students whose household income qualifies them for free or reduced-price lunch, which is 185 percent of poverty or $44,122 for a household of four. These students can remain on the program, as long as their household income does not exceed 230 percent of poverty, with the scholarship amount being reduced in the process. But there is no way for a new student with income greater than 185 percent to get any scholarship help. The bill would change that by allowing partial scholarships for both new and existing students. The scholarship amount would be reduced in proportion to the size of the income. At the top, a student whose household income is 260 percent of poverty, or $62,010 for a household of four, would be eligible for a 50 percent scholarship. The bill mandates that students in the lowest-income category, 185 percent and below, receive first priority. It also would require that any new partial-scholarship student have attended a public school the prior year, except for those entering kindergarten and first grade.

•             A sixth tax source. The bill would add the sales tax to the other five tax sources for which companies can receive dollar-for-dollar state tax credits for contributions to scholarship organizations. The potential sales tax pot would be the biggest of the six, but adding it to the mix has no impact on the state budget because the tax credits are capped across the board. In other words, the size of tax-credit pie is the same, but this change would allow it to be sliced into six pieces, not five. The sales tax credits would pose no legal obstacles under the 2006 Bush v. Holmes decision outlawing Opportunity Scholarships, according to constitutional attorney Barry Richard, because they are not earmarked or appropriated specifically for public education. (more…)

Wharton grad: Superintendent Maryellen Elia defends principal who cut short a graduation speech by salutatorian Harold Shaw. Tampa Bay Times.

Special needs: Rodgers Middle School, where a student with Down syndrome drowned last year, no longer will have full-time exceptional student education classes. Tampa Bay Times.

Budget fixes: New Polk County schools Superintendent Kathryn LeRoy looks at ways to reduce $12.7 million shortfall. One way: eliminating a $2.5 million summer reading remediation program. The Ledger.

Funding: Columnist John Romano takes issue with Gov. Scott bragging about Florida, criticizing the state's level of student funding and practice of steering money to for-profit education companies, among other issues. Tampa Bay Times.

Turnaround plans: When the state education board meets next week, it will review turnaround plans for 58 schools. Gradebook.

School grades: John Padget, the new vice chairman of the state education board, says Florida schools should have prepared for the tougher standards tied to school grades. Gradebook.

Sleeping in: Some Broward County schools will start later in the coming school year and the district works to streamline bus routes and cut transportation costs. Sun Sentinel.

Wi-Fi: The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency will talk about providing the families of Galaxy Elementary students who qualify for free lunch with home Wi-Fi. Sun Sentinel.

Testing: Pasco school leaders take a look at latest testing scores for instruction ideas. Tampa Bay Times.

Tax hike: Seminole County School Board approves a property-tax increase to pay for building repairs and program improvements. Orlando Sentinel.

Lt. Gov.: Orange County schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins is the leading candidate for Florida's next lieutenant governor. Orlando Sentinel.

Principal shuffle: Broward County school district's plan to shuffle low-performing principals has angered parents and teachers. Miami Herald. (more…)

Charter schools. Tampa Bay Times: "Stop the giveaway to charter schools." A charter school company is interesting in buying property at one of more of the three schools that the school board recently voted to shut down next year, reports Florida Today.

Will Weatherford. StateImpact Florida talks to him about his education views - and his own nontraditional education background.

Parent power. Lawmakers are showing strong, bipartisan support for legislation that would give the parents of special needs students more say in their children's education, but groups like Fund Education Now are opposed. Miami Herald.

Testing. Valerie Strauss's Answer Sheet devotes space to a Florida case involving the FCAT and a student who is profoundly disabled.

Teacher pay. In a meeting with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board, Gov. Rick Scott stands by his across-the-board pay plan.

Teacher conduct. Florida Times Union: "An Atlantic Beach Elementary School teacher who used depictions of minstrel caricatures of African-Americans, blackface and a lynching for a second-grade coloring assignment last month said she has used the material for the past three years." (more…)

Charter schools. The Tampa Tribune suggests a compromise is in the works on bills dealing with charter schools funding, facilities and accountability. Senate education leaders want a broader discussion about a proposal to give charter schools dibs on unused school buildings, reports Gradebook. Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano lists support for "for profit charter schools" as another example of the Legislature not caring about popular opinion. A St. Lucie County School Board member raises the idea of converting a soon-to-be-shuttered school into a charter, reports TCPalm.com.

Private schools. The ones in Marion County are hurt by the recession, but the pain is mitigated by McKay and tax credit scholarships, reports the Ocala Star Banner. Unpaid volunteer teachers come to the rescue of a Brandon private school that experienced an enrollment dip. Tampa Bay Times.

Magnet schools. The Miami-Dade school district is looking to create a new MAST magnet school on one of the FIU campuses, but it hinges on funding from local communities. Miami Herald.

Parent trigger. The Panama City News Herald writes up Friday's vote in the House Education Committee.

The Florida model. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett and Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, are among those participating in Maine Gov. Paul LePage's education summit, reports the Kennebec Journal. More from WABI TV. (more…)

Course choice. Florida students in K-12 and higher education could pick courses provided by entities outside the traditional public school system under bills filed Thursday by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. SchoolZone.

Jeb Bush. He meets with lawmakers in the Capitol and predicts passage of the parent trigger bill. Coverage from Palm Beach Post,  Miami Herald, Tallahassee Democrat.

More parent trigger. Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford are enthusiastic, reports StateImpact Florida. More from Sunshine State News.

Gifted academy. Orange school board members discuss the possibility of a K-8 gifted academy in the face of competition, including one parent's call for a gifted charter school. SchoolZone.

Common Core. The language of key lawmakers and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett suggest an implementation delay is in the works. Gradebook.

Gays and lesbians. A Gay-Straight Alliance at Carver Middle School in Lake County could teach teens much-needed respect and tolerance, writes Orlando Sentinel columnist Lauren Ritchie.

Bullying. A girl's beating at school is captured on video and put on facebook. Tampa Bay Times.

Early learning. News Service of Florida.

School calendar. SchoolZone.

Rezoning in Seminole. Orlando Sentinel.

Vouchers and accountability. Gov. Rick Scott’s call for “voucher” students to take the same standardized tests as public school students is long overdue, editorializes the Tampa Bay Times: “Voucher proponents can't have it both ways,” it concludes. “They can't claim they are a good bargain for taxpayers but then be unwilling to prove it.”

“Yes we are!” House Speaker Will Weatherford gives Tony Bennett a thumbs up on Twitter after a critical Tampa Bay Times column says the selection shows the state is doubling down on Jeb Bush ed reforms. Gradebook. A look at Bennett’s re-election upset in Indiana. Tampa Bay Times.

Home-schooled or truant? A Flagler County dad faces a criminal charge after not following requirements for home-schooling, reports the Daytona Beach News Herald.

Sex abuse lawsuits. Involving a former middle school teacher. Miami Herald.