School testing: Is change ahead for the Florida Standards Assessments testing? The Every Student Succeeds Act, which gives states some leeway on how they use standardized testing, could be the catalyst. Lakeland Ledger. The Progressive. Teachers complain about the the pace they're expected to maintain in curriculum to clear the time devoted to testing. Lakeland Ledger. Testing in core subjects begins today and lasts through May for some students. Martin County school officials say they are not expecting a repeat of last year's "disaster." TCPalm.

Education bills: Gov. Rick Scott signs a handful of education bills into law, including one that starts a five-year pilot program in a few counties for competency-based education, in which students can advance through school if they can prove they've mastered what they should be learning. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. A look at trends in state spending under Gov. Rick Scott show that education spending is up 6 percent since 2010, but that hasn't kept up with the 8 percent growth in the state's population. Tampa Bay Times.

No-bid software deal: When Brevard County school officials decided to upgrade their business software systems, they bypassed the bidding process and ended up with a host of problems that administrators could have foreseen. Florida Today. School administrators didn’t get competing vendors’ proposals when they committed to spending $8 million on new software for payroll and accounting in 2013. Today, the district has frozen payments after spending $4.55 million on a product that is only partially functional and not officially delivered. Florida Today.

Open enrollment: South Florida school officials say it's hard to predict how open enrollment will affect public schools. Vern Crawford, a lobbyist for the Palm Beach County School District, said he hasn't heard of widespread change in states with similar laws. "It hasn't been an overwhelming stampede," Crawford said. Sun-Sentinel.

Fire-breathing act: The fire-breather whose act went wrong at Atlantic High School says the teacher organizing the event told him to include the stunt in his act. Ricky “Inferno” Charles accidentally ignited his face during the stunt in front of 2,000 students. Palm Beach Post. (more…)