Florida schools roundup: Tax-credit scholarships rally, Bush plan and more

florida-roundup-logoScholarship support: Supporters of tax-credit scholarships will rally at the Florida Capitol today. The constitutionality of the 15-year-old Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program is being challenged in court by the state’s largest teachers union. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer those accounts. Miami Herald. WFSU. Sunshine State News. The guest speaker at the rally is Martin Luther King III, who says he supports public education and tax-credit scholarships, and believes his father would have as well. Politico Florida.

Bush on education: Republican presidential candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush unveils his heavily school choice-centric education plan. It would allow parents to spend government dollars on a pre-K program of their choice, give college students a $50,000 line of credit to pay tuition, allow federal funding for schools with many low-income students to follow a child to a new school, and double federal support for charter schools. Politico. USA Today. The Hill. Associated Press.

Concussion doctor: Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose 2003 study on concussions sent shock waves through football at all levels, is speaking at Florida Atlantic University on Feb. 16. Omalu is portrayed by Will Smith in the current movie Concussion. Palm Beach Post.

Pre-K issues: The Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County and the school board are fighting over control of who processes voluntary pre-kindergarten and subsidized school readiness program applications. The school board has been doing it since 1969, but the coalition says the applications have been riddled with errors and it can do a better job. Tampa Tribune. Studer Community Institute will provide $50,000 in awards for the best proposals to improve the kindergarten readiness rate in Escambia County. The company says about 1,000 children in the county enter kindergarten unprepared. Pensacola News Journal.

Kindergarten scramble: Trying to get your children into the right school used to be about college, then high school. These days, plenty of parents are going to a lot of trouble to try to find a spot in the “right” kindergarten. Palm Beach Post.

Project review: The Bay County School Board will reconsider the configuration of the new Tommy Oliver Stadium after the county commission declined to close a street to traffic. Panama City News Herald.

Teacher honored: Jimmy Giles, leader of Bartow High’s Academy of Construction and its Future Builders of America club, becomes the first teacher to receive the Robert and Amy Harper Award for his work with the FBA. Lakeland Ledger.

Stroke recovery: Trinity Prep senior John Michael Night suffered a brainstem stroke in class just before the holidays, and recovery will be a long process. Orlando Sentinel.

Opinions on schools: The tax-credit scholarship isn’t a cure-all for people living in poverty. But i can provide access to a quality education, and that is part of a solution. H.K. Matthews, Tallahassee Democrat. We must make our voices heard today in the fight over educational opportunity for the underprivileged. Victor T. Curry, Miami Herald.

Student enrichment: The 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project marks its 23rd year of dropout prevention with a 95 percent success rate. Miami Herald. High school students competing in the Mini-Urban Challenge by building robotic cars that must navigate through a mini-city will be able to practice on a virtual simulation of the course. Northwest Florida Daily News.


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BY NextSteps staff