Schools' graduation rate up: Florida's high school graduation rate hit a record high last spring at 86.1 percent, according to figures released Wednesday by the state Department of Education. That's 3.8 percentage points higher than the 2017 rate. Also impressive is the improvement made by minority students. Black students graduated at a rate of 81 percent, up from 64.7 percent in 2014, and the rate was 85.1 percent for Hispanic students, up from 75 percent four years ago. “Today’s announcement is particularly important because it not only shows across-the-board progress, it highlights success in closing the achievement gap and leveling the playing field for all students,” said outgoing Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. Florida Department of Education. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel. Gainesville Sun. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Enrollment down: Florida has 17,000 fewer K-12 school students this year than projected, according to a report from the Legislature’s Office of Demographic and Economic Research. The state budget had funding for 2.848 million K-12 students. The revised forecast is 2.831 million, 7,955 more than last year but 17,142 fewer than expected in the 67 school districts. “Most of the revision is due to less than expected net in-migration to the public school system, combined with fewer than expected hurricane-affected students remaining in 2018-19 from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” according to the report. News Service of Florida.
Death penalty proposed: Broward County prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against accused Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz. Cruz, 19, is accused of murdering 17 people at the school on Feb. 14, and wounding 17 others. Cruz's public defender says he will not contest guilt, but will focus on his troubled past to try to convince jurors to spare his life. Miami Herald. Associated Press. Palm Beach Post. CNN. An attorney for Stoneman Douglas High student Anthony Borges, who was gravely wounded in the shooting, wants both the prosecutors and public defenders off the Cruz case because they endorsed a program in 2016 to “eliminate the school to prison pipeline.” Sun-Sentinel.
National School Walkout: Students at about 3,000 U.S. schools are expected to join the National School Walkout today to protest gun violence. The protest comes one month after the shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Time. Associated Press. The 74. Education Week. Vox. Students around the state plan to participate in the walkout, and schools are deciding how they will deal with it. Palm Beach Post. Orlando Weekly. Tampa Bay Times. Pensacola News Journal. Florida Today. Fort Myers News-Press. WLRN. WFTV. WJAX. WFLA. The Florida ACLU is urging superintendents not to interfere with students or punish them if they participate in the walkout. Gradebook. How young is too young to participate in today's walkout? New York Times. A Lake County School Board member apologizes for calling a Stoneman Douglas student a "crisis actor." Daily Commercial.
School safety plans: School superintendents are lobbying members of Congress to revise the STOP School Violence Act so it won't be extended to private schools. "We support a revision to ensure that any resources made available to non-public school settings be funneled through an ‘equitable services’ provision, already in place through the Every Student Succeeds Act," according to a letter from the American Association of School Administrators. Politico Florida. U.S. House Democrats will hold a forum next week to review ways to prevent violence in schools. Politico Florida. Teachers can already carry guns in 14 states. USA Today. Parents of students murdered at Parkland urge the Constitution Revision Commission to let Florida voters decide on a three-day waiting period and on raising the age limit to buy guns. In Lakeland, the father of another murdered Parkland student asks the Polk County School Board to approve a plan to arm some school employees. Tampa Bay Times. GateHouse. Lakeland Ledger. Members of the public urge the Bay County School Board not to arm school employees. Panama City News Herald. A majority of the St. Johns County School Board members oppose arming school workers. St. Augustine Record. The Citrus County School Board is asking the sheriff to split the cost of adding five resource officers to schools for the rest of the school year. Citrus County Chronicle. Pinellas County School Board members vote to not arm any school workers other than law enforcement officers. Gradebook. (more…)
