Charter schools. The Pembroke Pines Charter Schools system, which recently cut teacher pay, is asking parents to pay $1,000 per student per year to restore the system's reserves. South Florida Sun Sentinel. Gov. Rick Scott signs the bill boosting accountability for charter schools. Orlando Sentinel.

Common Core. FEA President Andy Ford says too much testing could sour the public on it. StateImpact Florida.

School grades. Tony Bennett meets with the school grades task force, which  includes a number of superintendents, but says he won't make changes just to soften the blow of bad grades. Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, StateImpact Florida, Palm Beach Post, News Service of Florida, Tallahassee Democrat.

Dual enrollment. Tony Bennett says districts and state colleges need to better collaborate in the wake of the Legislature's decision to shift costs to districts. Gradebook.

Parent power. The Pensacola News Journal writes up the new law that gives more power to parents of students with disabilities.

Superintendents. Duval's Nikolai Vitti: "Folks here know that public education can be better. And they’re willing to put their shoulder to the wheel to make it better." StateImpact Florida.

Teachers unions. The Broward union wins an arbitration case involving changes to the high school schedule. South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald.

Tardiness. Alachua looks for ways to crack down on chronic tardiness. Gainesville Sun.

School spending. Walton will consider upping the millage rate for capital improvements. Northwest Florida Daily News.

The parent trigger bill is back in the Florida Legislature this year and, judging by the spirited 8-5 party line vote it got in its first committee stop Thursday, perhaps as contentious as ever. But unlike last year, some Florida parents and child advocates not only voiced support, but drove to Tallahassee to tell lawmakers in person.

Former Marion County teacher Karen Francis-Winston trekked 200 miles from Ocala with her daughter to testify in favor of the bill sponsored by Republican Reps. Michael Bileca and Carlos Trujillo.

Pastor Alfred Johnson came from Tampa,where he said he serves a low-income community.

“I don’t understand what’s the matter with empowering parents to make a recommendation,’’ he told the Choice & Innovation Subcommittee. “We’re doing nothing but recognizing they have a voice, a say in the process.’’

House Bill 867, with an identical version filed by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, allows parents with children in an F-rated school to petition the school district to consider a turnaround plan that could include bringing in a charter school operator. The petition would need signatures from a majority of parents. (more…)

Tutoring oversight. In the first part of a two-part series on a requirement initially mandated by No Child Left Behind, a  Tampa Bay Times investigation finds at least 36 of 456 tutoring companies in Florida are headed by people with criminal records. In part two, the Times traces last year's last-minute legislative push to keep the mandate in place.

Educator oversight. Sarasota Herald Tribune: "As Bradenton police investigate allegations that a Manatee High School assistant football coach groped a female student, they are also trying to determine who knew about the girl's claims and why no one notified law enforcement as required by law."

Teacher bashing? A StateImpact Florida story headlined "Teachers Question Why Proposed Pay Raises Come Before Teacher Evaluations" quotes a single teacher who says, “For a while now we’ve been hearing how bad we are. [That] we need to weed out bad teachers, there’s so many bad teachers.” Ocala Star Banner editorial page editor Brad Rogers writes in this column: "There are so many wildly talented, caring and dedicated teachers in Marion County’s schools that unfairly take abuse and blame and criticism for what is wrong with our schools and our society, when in truth they represent what is most right and bright and promising about our schools and our society."

Teacher pay. Sen. Bill Galvano, chair of the Senate Education Appropriations Committee, suggests Gov. Rick Scott's proposal for across-the-board raises clashes with performance pay, reports the Florida Current. The South Florida Sun Sentinel also writes up the debate over proposals for higher teacher pay.

Strange bedfellows. The Florida Education Association plans to join the Florida Department of Education in fighting the Florida Times-Union's request for teacher evaluation data.

Tony Bennett. He talks to North Florida superintendents about teacher evals and notes he encouraged his daughter to become a teacher: "“I don’t want it written on my headstone: ‘Here lies the man that ruined the career his daughter chose.’ ” Tallahassee Democrat.

Teachers unions. The United Teachers of Dade will elect a new leader this week. Miami Herald. (more…)

Teaching to the test. The FEA is rallying members to a petition started by UFS Professor/blogger Sherman Dorn. Gradebook.

Charter schools. In a vote along party lines, the House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee approves a bill that would allow charter schools to move into unused district buildings. redefinED. Coverage also from the Palm Beach Post, Tallahassee Democrat, Gradebook, StateImpact Florida.

Poverty. South Florida Sun Sentinel: "More than half a million kids under 18 in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties live in low-income households that earn up to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University reports. For a single mom and child, that translates into an income of $30,260 a year or less."

School security. A jury orders the Palm Beach County School Board to pay $1.7 million in a case involving a mentally challenged, 3-year-old girl who was sexually attacked by a 15-year-old ninth grader on a school bus in 2007, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. More from the Palm Beach Post. A Hernando County middle school teacher on paid administrative leave since last April is on a keep-off-campus list generated by district officials after the Newtown tragedy, reports Hernando Today. Osceola will beef up police presence at elementary schools, reports SchoolZone. The video of a girl beating another girl on a Pasco school bus gets posted on Facebook; arrests ensue, reports the Tampa Bay Times. An 11-year-old, special needs student in Duval either falls or jumps out of a school bus and sustains life threatening injuries, reports the Florida Times Union.

Teacher evaluations. The Florida Times-Union files suit against the Department of Education to force the release of teacher evaluation data. (more…)

Pension ruling. In a case brought by the state teachers union, the Florida Supreme Court rules 4-3 that it is constitutional for the state to require teachers and other state workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay towards their pensions. Coverage from the Herald/Times Capital Bureau, Palm Beach Post, Lakeland Ledger, Orlando Sentinel, Daytona Beach News Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, Associated Press. StateImpact Florida considers potential impacts on the lawsuit against SB 736.

Teachers in Palm Beach and Broward are “devastated,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Bitter disappointment,” writes the Tampa Tribune. “Dashed hopes,” writes the Gainesville Sun. The state should offer modest raises to “lessen the sting,” editorializes the Tampa Bay Times. Gov. Rick Scott should convert the savings into better teacher pay, editorializes the Palm Beach Post.

School safety. Gov. Scott will “listen to ideas” but not push for gun law changes, reports SchoolZone. Some Pinellas schools will consider “buzz-in access,” reports the Tampa Bay Times. Officials in the Hernando district are quietly dropping the issue, the Times also reports. The Palm Beach County district will spend $400,000 on school police aides, with more expenses on the way, reports the Palm Beach Post. Escambia Superintendent Malcolm Thomas wants armed, plainclothes marshals, reports the Pensacola News Journal.

Charter schools. The Clay County School Board shoots down an application for a performing arts academy. Florida Times Union.

Test score limbo followup. State Sen. John Legg says fix the problem with concordant scores, pronto. Tampa Bay Times.

Teacher evals. Pasco officials say in response to a query from Patricia Levesque at the Foundation for Florida’s Future that the district isn’t ready for the new requirements, given the need to develop hundreds of new tests, reports the Tampa Bay Times. (more…)

School safety. Superintendents and lawmakers talk about more funding for more security. Coverage from Gradebook, St. Augustine Record, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Daytona Beach News Journal.  Some are worried about “open campuses,” reports SchoolZone. A bill is filed that would require private schools to get safety alerts, just like public schools, from police departments and other emergency response agencies, reports redefinED.

The chairman of the Osceola County School Board, Jay Wheeler, writes in this Orlando Sentinel op-ed that the federal government should tax guns and bullets to pay for school guards: “When 26 students and school staff get killed by a crazed gunman in a public elementary school, it is a sad wake-up call for all of us that we have to do a better job protecting ourselves from our own freedoms.”

In Palm Beach County, mayors plead with the school board to install metal detectors in every school, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. More from the Palm Beach Post. In Lee County, deputies begin patrolling elementaries, reports the Fort Myers News Press. More from the Naples Daily News.

Test score limbo. If high school students fall short on the FCAT, he or she can still graduate if they get a high enough score on the ACT or SAT. But the state has yet to set new concordant scores for the other tests since upgrading the FCAT, leaving many students in limbo. Tampa Bay Times.

Charter school laws. SchoolZone notes the Center for Education Reform’s annual report card.

Why grading schools is good. EdFly Blog.

Vouchers and creationism. A Jacksonville school is among those highlighted in this MSNBC op-ed by student activist Zack Kopplin.

Privatization. The Bay County school district moves towards privatizing bus service. Panama City News Herald. (more…)

Tony Bennett. On his first day on the job, he meets with superintendents and the Florida Association of District Administrators and says he is an “unapologetic advocate for school choice,” reports the Tallahassee Democrat. More from The Buzz. His first comments on the “Commissioner’s Blog” here. Interview with StateImpact Florida.

Charter school funding. More than 1,000 people turn out for a meeting called by Pembroke Pines charter parents to demand equal funding for charter schools, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

School spending. If the Broward school district wants to get the money to repair old schools, it will have to restore trust with voters and overcome a “long and lousy history of stunningly bad behavior,” editorializes the Miami Herald: “The district has been plagued by cronyism, mismanagement and a culture of dishonesty. In a scathing grand jury report released almost two years ago, jurors said they found the district so thoroughly corrupt, so reckless in its spending of taxpayers’ money, they would have recommended abolishing the school board completely if the state Constitution didn’t require its existence.” In Manatee, a forensic audit finds “incompetency -- not criminal or illegal activity -- caused a $3.4 million budget deficit that rocked the public trust,” reports the Bradenton Herald. More from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

School prayer law. “For the Satanists, it was a godsend,” writes Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino.

Cold water on the party. Former state Sen. Dan Gelber says there isn’t much for Florida to celebrate in the latest Education Week rankings. Florida Voices.

Murmurs. School administrators wanted to hear more from Gov. Rick Scott, writes Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Bousquet.

Merit pay challenge. A hearing on the FEA’s challenge of SB 736 is set for Wednesday in Leon County Court. SchoolZone. (more…)

At the EdFly Blog today, former Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas asks a reasonable question: Why isn't the Florida teachers union trumpeting the dramatic gains of Florida teachers? This morning's Education Week ranking is just the latest in a long string of credible reports that finds Florida making steady academic progress. Shouldn't Florida teachers, doing more with less and under enormous pressure to produce results, get credit from those who portray themselves as their biggest supporters? Here's Thomas:

Florida scored another impressive victory with the state finishing sixth in the Education Week “Quality Counts’’ rankings.

This follows news from last month that Florida fourth graders finished second in the world on international reading assessments. In October, Miami-Dade won the prestigious Broad Prize for urban school districts because of progress in closing the achievement gap. Florida kids ranked second in the nation in learning gains dating back to the 1990s. I could go on.

Alas, Florida’s good news is not celebrated by all, even by its own teachers’ union. The Florida Education Association has been silent on all of the above, even though its teachers are on the front lines of these successes. Repentant reformer Diane Ravitch actually compared student achievement in Florida and Massachusetts. Of course Massachusetts kids perform better. Look at the student demographic and income data, Diane. Are you serious?

The reason for this denial is that Florida did not achieve its success by acceptable means. By that, I mean if the state had achieved these results by tripling education spending and eliminating its accountability provisions and school choice options, the above victories would have been trumpeted from the rooftops by the FEA and Diane as well.

Continue reading Thomas' post here.

Not the best fit. Andy Ford, president of the Florida teachers union, says in this Q&A with the Orlando Sentinel that Tony Bennett is “the best fit for the Jeb Bush power structure, but not the best choice for Florida's students, parents and school employees.” Board of Education member Kathleen Shanahan cites the PIRLS results in responding to a critical editorial about Bennett in the Tampa Bay Times.

Conflicts of interest? Three Board of Education members contributed to Tony Bennett’s campaign in Indiana. Gradebook.

Rick Scott is right to require students with vouchers and tax credit scholarships to take the same standardized tests as their public school peers, writes Adam Emerson at Choice Words.

In the wake of Newtown. Security beefed up at Florida schools: Tampa Bay Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Lakeland Ledger. Beneath the surface, emotional scars, reports the Miami Herald. State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and the author of the "stand your ground" law, says schools would be safer if teachers and principals could bring guns, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. More from Orlando Sentinel, Fort Myers News Press, Naples Daily News, Florida Today.

Remediation series. StateImpact Florida.

ALEC to remain neutral on Common Core. Report from EdWeek. As we noted last week, Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education weighed in against the ALEC resolution. Thumbs up from Checker Finn. More from EdFly Blog.

Speaking of Common Core … Education Week writes about the dispute between the Florida Department of Education and a private vendor over a website that was supposed to prepare teachers and students for the new standards.

Teacher evals. The FEA holds a press conference to step up its criticism. Coverage from Orlando Sentinel, Gradebook, The Florida Current, First Coast News.

Agenda for ed conference. The fifth annual Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform, put on by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, is next week. Full agenda here.

Private school problems. Both the Bradenton Herald and Sarasota Herald-Tribune take a look at issues with The Prep Academy.