Corcoran chosen: Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis has officially nominated former House Speaker Richard Corcoran for the job of education commissioner. Corcoran is a staunch supporter of school choice, vouchers and charter schools, and former Senate president Don Gaetz says Corcoran could become the "most disruptive education reformer in our state's history." Politically liberal groups and traditional public schools advocates are reacting negatively. “Richard Corcoran has a terrible track record of putting private interests over the needs of Florida’s children,” says Scott McCoy, senior policy counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center. The State Board of Education will have to approve the appointment. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Orlando Sentinel. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. WUSF. Florida Times-Union. Tallahassee Democrat. Florida Politics. WJXT. Florida Phoenix. DeSantis' 41-person education transition committee includes, among others, state Board of Education chairwoman Marva Johnson, Florida State University president John Thrasher, former Brevard superintendent Desmond Blackburn and John Kirtley, founder and chairman of Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog and helps administer several state K-12 scholarship programs. Sunshine State News. Florida Politics. Gradebook.
Spending on schools: Spending on K-12 schools across the United States increased for the third consecutive year, according to a report released Thursday by the National Center for Education Statistics. Across the country, $678.4 billion was collected and $596.1 billion was spent in the 2016 fiscal year. The average spent per student was $11,841, but the totals varied widely. The District of Columbia, for example, spent $27,067 per student, and New York spent $24,717, while Idaho spent $8,258 and Utah $8,408. Florida spent $9,176, which was almost identical to the two previous years and ranks 43rd among the states and D.C. Education Week.
BOE and Corcoran: Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis reportedly wants to appoint former House Speaker Richard Corcoran as education commissioner to succeed Pam Stewart. But state law places the responsibility for selecting the commissioner in the hands of the Florida Board of Education. Will its members go along with DeSantis or, as they have in the past, conduct a national search for Stewart's replacement? Gradebook. WFSU.
Teachers back choice: More than half of America's public school teachers support school vouchers and charter schools, according to the annual survey by EdChoice, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit collector of information about school choice policies in the United States. Fifty-four percent of teachers support vouchers, the survey found, and 57 percent approve of charter schools. The survey also found that 86 percent of parents were very or somewhat satisfied with their home-schooling experience, compared with 79 percent for private schools, 78 percent for charter schools and 66 percent for public district schools. redefinED. (more…)
Safety panel: Florida schools are underreporting crimes by students, painting a false picture of school safety, and skimped on security tests before the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, according to members of the state commission appointed to investigate the shootings. The panel suggests penalizing schools for underreporting crimes in their annual reports. The security assessments, which were optional until this year, were rarely performed. Stoneman Douglas never did one, and in 2017 only 16 of the state's 3,900 public schools did. Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. WFOR. Former Brevard County School Superintendent Desmond Blackburn isn't able to convince his peers on the state panel that a sworn police officer belongs on every school campus, including at elementary schools. Florida Today.
Amendment 8: The Florida Supreme Court will announce its decision today on whether proposed constitutional Amendment 8 will stay on the Nov. 6 ballot. The amendment, put forward by the Constitution Revision Commission, would create an entity other than local school boards that can approve charter and public schools, set term limits for school board members and require civics education in schools. The League of Women Voters is objecting to the charter school provision, and is asking the amendment be removed from the ballot because it’s “misleading.” Tampa Bay Times.
Creating charters: Erika Donalds, a member of the Collier County School Board and the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, has already proposed constitutional amendments that would eliminate pay for school board members and impose term limits on them, end the election of school superintendents and allow legislators to "make provision" for educational services in addition to the free public schools. Now she's proposing an amendment that would allow legislators to create "alternative processes to authorize the establishment of charter schools within the state." If the amendment is approved by the 37-member commission, it would need the support of 60 percent of voters to go into effect. Gradebook. Donalds may have gotten some inspiration on the proposal of no salaries for school board members from Eric Robinson, who is on the Sarasota school board and thinks taking a salary is a conflict of interest. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Regulatory relief: State Rep. Mike Bileca, R-Miami, says he is interested in finding more state regulations that can be removed from top-performing public schools through the Schools of Excellence program. The program, which was authorized through the state's new education law, H.B. 7069, provides greater flexibility and autonomy to the principals of the highest-performing 20 percent of schools at each level. redefinED.
Recycling success: Two years ago, 2nd-graders at Old Kings Elementary School in Flagler Beach began a recycling campaign for plastic and later boycotted disposable plastic lunch trays. That interest in the environment blossomed, and led to every school in the district using trays made of recycled paperboard, which will remove 1.4 million plastic trays from county landfills and save the district $14,000 a year. Flagler Live. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Displaced teachers: Florida education officials say they'd like to hire teachers who were displaced when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in late September. The state is waiving the application fee for a teaching certificate and will accept unofficial transcripts. But there are still several hurdles Puerto Rican teachers must clear before getting a job in a Florida classroom. Many will have to pass expensive tests. And others are finding that their certifications don't align with the Florida requirements. In Puerto Rico, elementary teachers are certified in K-3rd and 4th-6th grades. In Florida, it's either pre-K through 3rd or all elementary grades. State officials say they have no plans to adjust certification requirements or waive test fees. Governing.
