Florida roundup: Testing, charter schools, budgets and more

florida-roundup-logoTesting. State Senators debate the state’s testing validity study. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Sunshine State News. State education officials answer critics. Palm Beach Post. GradebookProposed cut scores reveal a racial achievement gap. Tallahassee Democrat.

Charter schools. Some Palm Beach charters see their funding for students with special needs suddenly slashed. Palm Beach Post.

Budgets. Key lawmakers don’t like the fact that a proposed school spending increase would rely on raising local property taxes. Tampa Bay Times.

Growth. Manatee needs a new high school, which may house a special program of some kind. Bradenton Herald.

Transportation. Palm Beach bus drivers say they’re underpaid. Palm Beach Post.

STEM. State officials scope out Sarasota science programs. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Safety. A teacher needs treatment after a “strong gasoline” is reported at a school. Palm Beach Post. More details are released on a Manatee shooting threat. Bradenton Herald.

School boards. A Manatee board member seeks re-election. Bradenton Herald.

College Prep. A South Florida grade describes a program that worked for her. Sun-Sentinel.

Parent involvement. It can make a difference, a teacher writes in Florida Today.

Civics. Collier students debate the Constitution. Naples Daily News.


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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.