Retention decision: A judge says the state erred in automatically holding back third-graders who do poorly on the state Florida Standards Assessments tests or opt out from taking them. Leon County Judge Karen Gievers says the state and six districts that were sued must provide students the option to present a portfolio of work that demonstrates their readiness for fourth grade. Gievers stopped short of ordering the state and districts to promote 14 students who were held back. Another hearing will be held today for students from Hernando County who were not given the option to present a portfolio. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Orlando Sentinel. Tampa Bay Times. WFTV. WFSU. Sunshine State News. Politico Florida. The retention lawsuit has rekindled an old argument: Should third-graders who struggle with reading be held back? "The overwhelming majority of the research concludes that the practice does not help most students and ends up harming many," said Bob Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest, a nonprofit that works to prevent the misuse of standardized testing. Tampa Bay Times. States with high opt-out rates could face penalties from the U.S. Department of Education. Education Week.

Florida tops in choice: The American Federation for Children ranks Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship program as the top school choice program in the United States. The national advocacy group cites Florida's accountability, its wide availability, its inclusion of disabled students, its limits on administrative expenses and the dollar-for-dollar tax credits for companies. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the programs. redefinED. The Lake County School District has 1,462 students getting tax credit scholarships, a 24 percent increase over last year, and some school board members worry about how the district could absorb those students if opponents of the program successfully appeal a recent court ruling. Daily Commercial.

Recess movement: The parent-driven movement to provide students more time for free play at school is spreading across the United States. Several Florida districts have changed recess policies after lobbying from parents, and Rhode Island just initiated a law requiring 20 minutes of recess a day. Independent Journal Review. (more…)

As if education politics in Florida couldn’t get more complicated.

Opponents of Common Core in public schools are hoping to seize on anti-Common Core sentiment among their counterparts in private schools. The prompt: Calls by Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, for tax credit scholarship students in private schools to take the same standardized tests as their public school peers.

In a recent newsletter, the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition wrote:

“Senate President Gaetz is determined to impose Common Core standards on private schools by requiring the state Common Core tests for all voucher/scholarship tax credit students.  He stated these intentions in an interview in the Orlando Sentinel and in his opening day of the legislature speech. (See our report. Senator Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) is carrying this bill, SB 1620, which if changed and passed as Gaetz wants, would prevent up to 330,000 students from being free from Common Core. This is completely unacceptable. Please let him know how much of a problem this really is … “

A bill to strengthen and expand the scholarship program cleared the House Finance & Taxation Subcommittee last week on an 11-7, party-line vote. But the bill did not include testing language, and some House members said they opposed the proposed testing mandate. So far, no test language has surfaced with the Senate bill, either. (Full disclosure: the scholarship program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.)

Whether Common Core would help or hurt private schools and school choice has been a heated side debate in the fight over the standards. Some private schools clearly oppose the standards, while others are embracing them.