Retention lawsuit: Parents who launched a legal challenge against the state's policies on 3rd-grade retention are now asking a court to dismiss the case. They had challenged the policy that required students to take the Florida Standards Assessments reading test to be eligible for promotion, regardless of their academic performance. But they lost that case, and an appeal for the Florida Supreme Court to consider it, largely on the question of venue. The state contended the suits should have been filed in local courts. Gradebook.
H.B. 7069 lawsuit: Leon County school officials won't ask the school board to join the lawsuit challenging the state's new education law, H.B. 7069. The Florida Association of District School Superintendents also says it will not join the suit, saying those decisions are for local school boards. Eleven school boards have voted to join the suing coalition. They say the new law is unconstitutional because the bill covers more than one subject, and it forces districts to share tax money with charter schools while stripping those districts of authority over charters. WFSU.
DeVos visit: U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tours a private religious school and a charter school during a stop in Tallahassee, and touted the schools as "examples of what schools should aspire to be.” Her trip extends into today, when she will visit another private religious school. News Service of Florida. Tallahassee Democrat. Miami Herald. USA Today. Sunshine State News. WFSU. Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna is critical of DeVos' trip, saying "it’s insulting that she’s going to visit the capital of the state of Florida, to visit a charter school, a private school and a voucher school." Tallahassee Democrat. DeVos gave no indication during her trip if the U.S. Department of Education would be receptive to Florida's request for a waiver from requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Politico Florida.
