Shootings review halted: Broward County school officials are suspending a retired FBI agent's investigation into the actions of school employees during the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. The reason given is to avoid duplication with the investigation by the state-appointed safety commission. “We recognize that the staff is continuing to recover from this tragedy,” the district’s statement said. “To avoid asking them to participate in duplicate interviews and to streamline the process, the district has decided to suspend its internal review, and give priority to the (state commission's) investigation.” Sun-Sentinel. WPLG.
Private school enrollment: Private school preK-12 enrollment is up in Florida for the seventh straight year, according to a report from the Florida Department of Education. The 370,116 students at 2,650 schools was an increase of 0.5 percent, which is the slowest rate of growth since the 2010-2011 school year. Florida Tax Credit Scholarships and McKay Scholarships for special-needs students account for 42.5 percent of private-school enrollment. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the state's tax credit, Gardiner, Hope and reading scholarships. redefinED.
Water contamination: Cancer-causing chemicals have been found in groundwater in three wells tested in Satellite Beach. The low-level contamination is thought to stem from the use of fire-extinguishing foams from nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Wells near Satellite High School, Sea Park Elementary School and city hall were tested after concerns were raised about cancer clusters in alumni and staff from Satellite High. A community meeting will be held Sunday to discuss the results. Florida Today. Several members of the Hillsborough County School Board are unhappy that they weren't notified earlier about the district's testing of water in 50 schools over the past year. Lead was found at 21 of those schools. Deputy superintendent Chris Farkas apologized, saying, "We always want to get better, and one thing I don't think we did very well was notify staff." Gradebook. (more…)
School shooting query: The design of classrooms at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School contributed to the massacre Feb. 14, witnesses tell a state panel investigating the shooting. Doors couldn't be locked from the inside, and had small windows that confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz fired through to kill several people who were inside. Faulty 911 systems contributed to the chaos, and one report indicates that while Broward deputies took cover, at least one knew the location of Cruz. Witnesses also say Cruz studied the 1999 Columbine school shooting as he planned the attack. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. WLRN. A judge rules that Cruz is indigent and will continue to be represented by the Broward County Public Defender's Office. Miami Herald. Here's a list of the commission members. WPLG. Broward County School Board members want Superintendent Robert Runcie to create a page on the district's website to debunk false information and share the district's responses to events. Sun-Sentinel.
School security, budgets: The Polk County School Board approves a plan to hire 90 "safety specialists" to protect schools at a cost of about $3.72 million. Specialists will be trained and armed, but won't have the authority to make arrests. Lakeland Ledger. The Marion County School Board agrees to spend $224,000 to have 34 resource officers in elementary and charter schools for the rest of this school year. Ocala Star-Banner. Bay County School Board members approve a resolution to ask voters in August to extend the extra half-cent sales tax to help pay for school security and construction projects. The request has to be approved by county commissioners. Panama City News Herald. The Clay County School will ask voters to approve a property tax increase to raise money to hire 44 school resource officers so there's at least one in every county school, and county commissioners agree to provide $2.1 million to help. Florida Times-Union. WJXT. Brevard County residents split at a town hall meeting about whether to arm school employees. Florida Today. Citrus County commissioners tell school officials not to expect any financial help to hire school resource officers. Citrus County Chronicle. Martin County School Board members seem willing to make cuts in the district's content coordinators and administrators overseeing specific areas such as math or social studies to save money and help pay for school security, but are hesitant to consider scaling back art, music, extended child care programs or outsourcing custodial and technology services. TCPalm. (more…)
Education budget plans: The Senate appropriations subcommittee approves a plan to increase preK-12 education spending by $535 million. The panel chairman, Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, says retaining current property tax rates would let localities collect hundreds of millions of dollars more as property values increase. “We don’t consider the additional amount of taxes they pay to be a tax increase. We consider it incidental to the increase in value in the property,” Simmons said, as a response to the House's insistence that it is a tax increase. The Senate and House education budgets are now almost $540 million apart. The Senate budget also includes no money for the teacher bonuses program. Simmons implied the program would become part of negotiations between the Senate and House, which has $214 million set aside for the bonus program. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Miami Herald. Naples Daily News. WFSU.
School improvement: The House Education Committee takes up a school improvement bill today that would set aggressive requirements for districts to turn around academically struggling schools. Turnaround plans would be required for schools receiving D or F grades from the state just a few months after the grades are issued. If the plans do not raise the school grade to a C within three years, the schools would be labeled "persistently low-performing" and districts would have to close them, convert them to a charter, or bring in an outside operator. Districts would no longer have the option of carrying out their own turnaround plans. redefinED. Gradebook.
School HQ evacuated: An infestation of vermin and blow flies has forced the evacuation of the Okaloosa County School District Administrative Complex in Fort Walton Beach. The administration and school board members will work from the Niceville Central Complex until further notice. "I'm not going to have them stay some place that I'm not going to stay in," says Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson. "We've tried to put Band-Aids on and fix it, but I'm afraid we may be a bit past that now." Northwest Florida Daily News.
Charter school laws: Florida ranks eighth in the nation in a recent analysis of states' charter school laws, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Indiana was rated No. 1. Florida ranks highly on autonomy and accountability, for not having caps on the number of charter schools allowed, and for providing a strong appeals process for applicants that are denied. The report notes that state still provides inequitable funding to charter schools. redefinED. (more…)
Testing cutbacks: A new plan to cut back on student testing is gaining bipartisan support. The identical bills (S.B. 964 and H.B. 1249), filed by Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, and Rep. Halsey Beshears, R-Monticello, would eliminate several high school end-of-course exams, give districts the option to offer paper-pencil state testing, allow an alternative nationally recognized test to replace certain high school state tests, prohibit statewide language arts and math testing before the last four weeks of school, and remove value-added measures from teacher evaluations, among other things. Gradebook.
Religion in schools: The Senate education committee approves a bill that would give students the freedom to express their religious views at school. The bill specifically protects students who share religious views in school assignments, clothing or in activities. Critics say the U.S. Constitution already protects religious freedom. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. Sun-Sentinel. Politico Florida.
Middle schools study: The Senate education committee also approves a bill directing the state Department of Education to study high-achieving middle schools in several states, then make recommendations on improving Florida's middle schools. The bill was introduced by Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland. Orlando Sentinel.
Session preview: Educational issues will command attention during the legislative session, which begins today. Politico Florida. WFSU.
Teacher housing plan: The Lee County School District proposes a public-private partnership to build affordable apartments and homes for teachers at three district-owned properties. The district would own the properties, which would be managed by a third party. Construction of the first project could begin in six months. Fort Myers News-Press. (more…)
School funding: State Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, files a bill that would require a study of the "district cost differential" portion of the state's school funding formula. S.B. 1394 would require a study by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which would then make recommendations on possible changes. Some districts think the formula is unfair. News Service of Florida. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, files a bill that would create a website showing the total federal, state and local dollars spent on students' education. Bradley proposes allocating $500,000 for S.B. 1414. WFSU.
Drug test challenge: A retiree who wants to be a substitute teacher, classroom aide or tutor is suing the Palm Beach School District over its requirement that applicants for those jobs pass a drug test. Joan Friedenberg objects to the "suspicionless drug test." Palm Beach Post.
School testing: The Manatee County School Board rejects a proposal to end district-mandated testing. School officials' arguments that the tests have led to higher Florida Standards Assessments, SAT and ACT scores and a higher graduation rate persuaded Charlie Kennedy, who proposed the cutbacks. “I am kind of in a different place now than I was coming into it ... having a better understanding of the data we are using to guide (and) the benchmarks as a way to improve FSA scores,” Kennedy said. Bradenton Herald.
Legislative preview: Education issues affecting students from kindergarten through college are being considered in the legislative session that begins Tuesday. Here are previews of some of the issues being debated. Miami Herald. News Service of Florida. (more…)
District assessment: The Marion County School District has an extreme disconnect between curriculum and the information given to students on the state tests, according to Jonathan Grantham, deputy superintendent of curriculum. He also says that when the current administration took over in November, the school district was "disorganized and top heavy," and there are plans to move employees at the district level into jobs that have a direct impact on students. Ocala Star Banner.
Not our party: The Palm Beach County School District is warning parents that a "Back 2 School Party" invitation circulating on social media is not a district-sanctioned event. The sexy invitation includes logos for several county high schools. Palm Beach Post. Sun-Sentinel.
School construction: Pasco County School Superintendent Kurt Browning says if the district is successful in getting the school impact fee for a new home raised to $10,000, a new middle school will be built on the east side of the county within four years. Gradebook.
Pons' employment: Former Leon County School Superintendent Jackie Pons resigns a job with Florida State University as a business analyst that he started Dec. 12. Pons gave no reason for his resignation from the $50,000-a-year job, but the brief stint allows him to stay in the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program until the end of February. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
Turnaround concerns: A battle is developing between state and local education officials over control of schools. The Department of Education has been actively intervening to turn around low-performing schools, sometimes requiring schools replace principals and teacher. That puts the state "on the verge of overstepping their authority," says Bill Husfelt, Bay County superintendent. “Tallahassee talks about the federal government and the control they have, and then the state turns around and does the same thing to local institutions.” Politico Florida. Principals at three struggling Palm Beach County schools are getting more money and more authority to turn around their schools under a new state program that will measure whether cutting bureaucracy leads to better student performance. Sun-Sentinel.
Teacher bonuses: The governor and members of the Florida Senate and House have all signaled an interest in reworking the bonuses program for the state's teachers. The current law gives up to $10,000 to teachers who are rated highly effective and scored in the top 20 percent on their SAT or ACT tests. The Florida Board of Education is pushing for a $43 million bonus program that would "support bonuses for new teachers who show great potential for and veteran teachers who have demonstrated the highest student academic growth among their peers." News Service of Florida.
School choice: Parents in Palm Beach County have reversed a trend of choosing charter schools over the district's public schools. Three years ago, charter schools added 4,100 students while public school enrollment declined by 700. This year, district schools have added 2,436 students, and charter schools just 330. Palm Beach Post.
Discipline disparity: Black students were suspended at three times the rate of white students during the 2015-2016 school year in Manatee County, according to the school district's records. Black students make up about 14 percent of the district's enrollment, but drew 33 percent of the out-of-school suspensions. Bradenton Herald. (more…)
Graduation rate up: The state's high school graduation rate for 2016 was a record 80.7 percent, according to the Department of Education. That's 2.8 percentage points over the 2015 rate. Fifty-five of the state's 67 districts showed improvement. Florida Department of Education. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. Gradebook. Florida Times-Union. Florida Today. Space Coast Daily. TCPalm. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Orlando Sentinel. WJXT. WPLG. WTLV.
Socioeconomic segregation: The Bay County School District is becoming segregated along socioeconomic lines, with richer, high-performing students increasingly moving to charter schools. That's the summary of an analysis of the district's charter school population. "I don't think anyone got a surprise here," school board chair Ginger Littleton said. Panama City News Herald.
Classroom learning: How much time students spend learning in classrooms will be the focus of the new chairmen of the Senate and House K-12 education committees. “We want to take a deep dive and make sure that we’re getting every penny that we can to that classroom across the board, whether it’s a traditional public school, a magnet, a charter,” says Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah. Miami Herald.
Bullying in school: Faced with statistics that bullying in schools is up, and several recent examples, Broward County School Board members say they plan to take a closer look at what they can do to cut down on bullying and the violence that often accompanies it. Sun-Sentinel. (more…)
Recess bill filed: A bill has again been filed in the Legislature to require daily recess in Florida's elementary schools. Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, filed SB 78, which would require 20 minutes of “supervised, safe and unstructured free-play recess” every day for K-5 students. A similar bill died in the Senate last year. Miami Herald. Florida Politics. A Pinellas County School District survey indicates about half the county's elementary schools have unstructured recess on days without a physical education class. Gradebook.
Teacher bonuses: In August, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart was asked by the State Board of Education to present an alternative to the Best and Brightest teacher bonuses program. Stewart has yet to present that plan, which the board is hoping to offer the Legislature as an option to the current program that gives bonuses to teachers based on evaluations and college entry exam scores. Gradebook.
School bus seat belts: Florida is one of just six states with a law requiring the use of seat belts on school buses. But several loopholes complicate enforcement of the law, say experts. WKMG.
No job for Pons: Former Leon County School Superintendent Jackie Pons will not be returning to a job with the school district. Rocky Hanna, who defeated Pons in the Nov. 8 election, says the policy that allows former elected officials to return to a district job does not apply to Pons. It was adopted in 2013, and Pons left his job as a principal to become superintendent in 2006. Pons' lawyer says they are weighing their options. Tallahassee Democrat.
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Homework fight: Miami-Dade teachers and parents spar at a school board meeting over the amount of homework students are being given. Parents say too much is being assigned, cutting into family time. Teachers say the homework is needed because testing takes too much instruction time away from students. Miami Herald.
Testing transformation: Pinellas County school officials say younger students at struggling elementary schools are doing much better in new literacy tests than students in third, fourth and fifth grades. The differences are most apparent on language arts tests. Officials credit the use of biweekly tests, which are helping teachers see how well they've taught to the state standards and to catch students' weaknesses earlier. Tampa Bay Times.
Spending oversight: The Broward County School District is asking the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education to oversee the district's spending of $800 million it is receiving from a voter-approved bond to renovate schools. Sun-Sentinel.
Students from Cuba: The Miami-Dade County School District is preparing for a "potential influx of child and adult learners" emigrating from Cuba after the death of Fidel Castro on Friday, says Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. CNN.
Education secretary: Betsy DeVos, a strong advocate of school choice with deep Florida ties, is nominated to be President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of education. redefinED. News Talk Florida. Politico Florida. Education Week. Groups that oppose the Common Core school standards are unhappy with the selection of DeVos as education secretary, even though she is now saying she does not support the standards. Sunshine State News. What will education in Florida look like with Donald Trump as president? Tampa Bay Times.
