Preparing for a wave: Five legislators are urging Florida education officials to relax their rules so schools can accommodate the expected influx of students who are fleeing the damage to Puerto Rico from Hurricane Irma. In a letter to Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, lawmakers are asking that the state make additional funding available to schools that enroll those displaced students, to exempt those schools from meeting the provisions of the constitutionally required class sizes, to delay the annual student head count that is traditionally taken in October, and to waive immunization and birth certificate requirements for early education enrollment. “It is extremely important for Florida to be prepared for a large number of evacuees from Puerto Rico,” said state Rep. Bob Cortes, R-Altamonte Springs. “So many Puerto Rican families have literally lost everything, and we must stand ready to do everything possible to help their children transition as seamlessly as possible to a new school and learning environment.” Miami Herald. WLRN. Orlando Sentinel. Politico Florida. Daily Commercial. WFSU. The devastation in Puerto Rico has a personal connection for the Ocala Preparatory School in Marion County. redefinED.
Recognition funds: The Florida Department of Education is handing out $129 million in school recognition funds this week. Schools can use the money for employee bonuses, hire temporary staff or buy equipment and supplies. If schools can't come to an agreement on how to use the money, it gets divided among current teachers. Gradebook.
Homeless students: A new study says 72,000 Florida students were considered homeless in the 2015-2016 school year. Chief causes are the recession and more training for teachers to identify homeless students, according to the study by the University of Florida and Miami Homes for All. WMFE.
The Florida Supreme Court today declined to hear a local school board's attempt to overturn the state's charter school appeals system.
The move comes school districts across the state prepare to challenge a wide-ranging charter school law.
The case may bolster the idea that lawmakers and the state Board of Education can check local boards' authority to oversee public schools — including charters.
The wide-ranging legal battle surrounds the Florida Charter Education Foundation's attempt to open a school in Palm Beach County.
The high court's decision means the school will have to make its case anew to the state's Charter School Appeal Commission.
But it also staves off the local school board's attempt to have the high court declare Florida's charter school appeals system unconstitutional.
That constitutional dispute drew a host of statewide and national groups into the case.
In a statement, Rod Jurado, chair of the Florida Charter Educational Foundation, said the school board was stymied in yet another "attempt to limit parental choice in education." (more…)
H.B. 7069 suit: The St. Lucie County School Board unanimously agrees to join Broward County in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of H.B. 7069. The board authorizes spending up to $10,000 to fight the new law in court. The broadly drawn bill provides additional money for charter schools, expands a bonus program for teachers and principals and requires 20 minutes of daily recess for elementary students, among other things. Board member Kathryn Hensley says the bad in the bill outweighs the good. "I am not willing to do that trade-off," Hensley said. Other school districts also are considering joining the court challenge, which has not yet been filed. TCPalm.
Algebra 2 test ends: The algebra 2 end-of-course testing is no longer being given, the Florida Department of Education has announced. "There is no statutory requirement for students to obtain a passing score, so it is up to districts as to how to address course grades moving forward," Department of Education spokeswoman Audrey Walden wrote on Facebook. Gradebook.
Dispute over funding: If the Duval County School District withdraws funding for several community-school initiatives at high-poverty schools, the Quality Education for All Fund (QEA) says, it will sever ties with the district. “If you are not willing to invest in those programs that have proven successful, we must consider that this bond has been broken and we will have no choice but to step back our part of this arrangement until a new understanding can be established,” according to a letter QEA has sent the district. School officials say they have to tighten the budget. Florida Times-Union.
Raise for superintendent: The Brevard County School Board approves a 5 percent raise and a contract extension to 2020 for Superintendent Desmond Blackburn. Blackburn will be paid $220,500 a year, which makes him the 10th-highest paid superintendent in the state. Florida Today. (more…)
Video rebuttal: Florida House Republicans respond to a threat to sue over H.B. 7069 by releasing a promotional video touting the "schools of hope" provision in the bill, which creates incentives for charter schools to move into areas with persistently low-performing public schools. The video says those opposed to H.B. 7069 don't want to give tens of thousands of children in failing schools another public education option. Last week, the Broward County School Board voted to sue over the bill, claiming it improperly forces districts to share property tax revenue with charter schools and strips local boards of the authority to approve or deny charter applications. Miami Herald. At its July 25 meeting, the Manatee County School Board will consider joining Broward County in a lawsuit against H.B. 7069. Bradenton Herald.
New school rules: Here are some of the new rules in effect when schools reopen next month. Orlando Sentinel. Is H.B. 989 a threat to science teaching, or an expansion of accountability? Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Charter school fees: Are charter schools charging questionable or even illegal fees? In the past five years, there are eight cases of charters doing just that in the United States. One of those cases was in Hillsborough County, where the school board felt compelled to caution one school against pushing parents for donations, using invoices for donations, and against dismissing students because parents didn't give even volunteer hours. Education Week.
Teaching climate change: A study financed by the National Science Foundation concludes that more than half of science teachers in Florida are passing along faulty information on climate change. About 70 percent incorrectly think ozone layer depletion and pesticide use are causes of climate change, and about 50 percent say climate change science has to be studied through controlled experiments to be valid. WUWF. (more…)
A Florida school district today lost one round in a multi-faceted legal showdown with a major charter school operator, but it's safe to say the fight is just beginning.
The Florida Board of Education ruled the Polk Charter Academy should be allowed to open a new school.
The Polk County School Board had rejected the charter application last fall, arguing, among other things, that it would not "substantially replicate" Winthrop Charter Academy, a high-performing charter school in neighboring Hillsborough County.
A 2011 law allows charter schools to gain "high-performing" status if they maintain clean financial records and earn top marks in the state's A-F grading system. A 2013 law makes it easier for those schools to expand. If a school board rejects one of their applications to "replicate" in a new location, they can bypass the state charter school appeals commission and take their case directly to the state board. That's what happened with Polk Charter Academy.
The Polk school district contends the Florida Charter Educational Foundation, the nonprofit governing board that applied to open Polk Charter Academy, could not possibly replicate Winthrop Charter Academy because that school is overseen by a separate entity known as the Bay Area Charter Foundation.
If the Polk charter does not replicate a high-performing charter, it would have to go before the state appeals commission, and would face a longer legal slog to overturn the school board's rejection.
When the state board heard the appeal today, Wes Bridges, an attorney for the Polk school district, said "we wouldn't be here" if the Bay Area charter group had been the one to submit the charter application. (more…)
If a charter school is doing well, its operator should be encouraged to open more schools.
That's the idea behind charter school replication. It might seem simple, but defining "replication" is sometimes less simple than meets the eye. It's triggered several under-the-radar legal battles between Florida school boards and charter operators.
A new one might be brewing in Polk County, where the school board this week rejected a charter school application after district officials questioned whether a proposed school would truly replicate a high-rated charter school in neighboring Hillsborough County.
Florida law makes it easier for charters labeled academically "high-performing" to replicate their model in a new location. School boards can only reject these schools if they find "clear and convincing evidence" that they don't meet standards in state law. If a school board rejects a high-performing charter replication, the school can appeal directly to the state Board of Education.
In Polk, the school board decided the proposed charter school, governed by the Florida Charter Educational Foundation, didn't replicate Hillsborough County's Winthrop Charter School, which is governed by the Bay Area Charter Foundation. (more…)
Black achievement: A group of black activists say it's time the Pinellas County School Board takes responsibility for the failure rate of black students, which is higher than almost every school district in Florida. The group, the Concerned Organization for Quality Education of Black Students, also discussed a recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center that found black students were disciplined more harshly and were twice as likely to drop out of school as white students. Tampa Bay Times.
School threats: School districts in central and south Florida and Texas are the latest to receive threats against schools. None were deemed credible. Associated Press. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. Flagler and Volusia school officials say they take threats seriously and follow a strict process in determining the credibility of the threats. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Critical audit: A state audit shows that Broward County's school system is improperly placing students in special education programs and hiring teachers who don't have the proper certifications. Sun-Sentinel.
Charter schools: Florida Charter Educational Foundation chairman Rod Jurado says his group will appeal the Pasco County School Board's decision to reject his group's application to start a charter school in the county. The group is affiliated with Charter Schools USA. Gradebook.
New magnet programs: Pasco County will launch magnet programs at two middle schools next fall that focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Tampa Bay Times.
Contract negotiations: The Hillsborough County School District and the teachers union reach an agreement that gives teachers the potential for performance pay and provides a small raise for classroom aides. Tampa Bay Times.
Whooping cough case: A student at Palm Beach Central High School is diagnosed with whooping cough, a highly contagious disease. He's fine, but school and health officials quarantine seven classrooms. Palm Beach Post. Sun-Sentinel.
School start times: School districts around the nation increasingly are following the advice of scientists and moving to later start times for middle and high school. Research shows that later start times help combat sleep deprivation in teens and improve academic success, attendance and mental health. Associated Press. (more…)
There’s a noteworthy backdrop behind the tug-of-war over a proposed charter school for MacDill Air Force Base in Florida: The U.S. Department of Defense is re-thinking how its on-base schools serve military families. And charter schools are among the options being considered.
As part of an ongoing assessment, the DOD is looking at the costs and operations of 60 schools, on 15 North American military bases, to see if it can better balance expenses with the educational needs of its military families. The study, conducted by the Rand Corp., will look at school programs and performance, and offer recommendations that could result in some DOD schools becoming charters.
Although eight military bases across the country already have embraced the model, the DOD is not advocating charters or any other option, said Elaine Kanellis, a department spokeswoman. The nontraditional public schools, which tend to have lower per-pupil costs, are just one idea among several being considered.
Other alternatives include leaving the schools as they are, or closing them and transferring students to local district schools. The department also could create a new public school district under state law.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution,’’ Kanellis said.
Rand will talk with focus groups of parents, teachers, military personnel and education experts. The nonprofit think tank also will compare the performance of DOD schools to surrounding schools. A final decision will be made at the Pentagon level when the study ends, sometime after the summer. (more…)
The group that wants to open a charter school on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., plans to fight the local school district that rejected the proposal.
The Florida Charter Educational Foundation, a volunteer board based in South Florida, voted unanimously Wednesday to appeal the Hillsborough County School Board's decision to deny the charter application.
“We believe that the application we submitted is solid and the Hillsborough School District’s denial is completely without merit,” foundation chairman Ken Haiko said in a written statement. “We are deeply committed to seeing this through to the end. Our military service men and women deserve our unrelenting determination to provide an educational option that makes sense for their families and we are not willing to be deterred by nonsensical political grandstanding.
The foundation had hoped to open the MacDill Charter Academy, a K-8 charter school serving 875 students, next fall.
“We were asked to locate a school on base to provide military students an opportunity to gain additional support and resources and be surrounded by their peers,” Haiko said in the statement. “Military students must face challenges civilian students do not, such as deployment of parents and frequent moves. The Charter Schools USA model offers flexibility to adapt to the unique needs of the base and provide an academic and social structure that focuses on what’s best for the students and their families.” (more…)
