Around the state: New principals are taking over in Tampa Bay, questions have arisen about the future of Fort Myers Beach Elementary after damage by Hurricane Milton, budget talks continue and a new education commissioner has been named. Here are details about those stories and other developments from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Hillsborough: Ten new principals were approved this week by the Hillsborough County School Board. Tampa Bay Times.
Lee: Fort Myers Beach Elementary remains closed after Hurricane Milton damaged it a year ago. No clear resolution is in sight despite discussions about the future of the school. Ideas include converting it into a charter school to rebuilding the structure to withstand future storms. WINK.
Pasco: New principals are taking the helm at five schools in this county. Mark Feldman will become Pasco High's next leader. Meighan Melsheimer will now lead Wesley Chapel Elementary. Rick Saylor will transfer to Chester Taylor Elementary. Gulfside Elementary will be run by Tammy Berryhill. And New River Elementary will have Kelly Wisneski take over as principal. The district announced new leaders in late May at Gulf High and Wiregrass Ranch High. Tampa Bay Times.
Okaloosa: A Destin Middle School student has earned first place in the 2025 National Civics Bee and is headed to the national finals. Eighth-grader Noah Finkler began his Civics journey in early March at the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural National Civics Bee, which earned him a $500 prize and a trophy. That led him to win as Florida Champion of the 2025 bee. “This is an incredible achievement for Noah, and we couldn’t be prouder,” said Okaloosa County Schools Superintendent Marcus Chambers. WKRG.
Alachua: Officials in this school district are not taking action on a contract with Newberry Charter School. School board members unanimously voted on Tuesday to table the contract after some members expressed concerns that they did not have enough time to review it. WCJB.
Flagler: A policy change in this district would eliminate the 90% capacity cap for school choice. Superintendent LaShakia Moore is recommending that in place of a hard cap, the superintendent would establish an annual threshold based on data that would allow students to choose schools if seats are available in a particular program of study or specific grade level regardless of overall capacity. The threshold would be posted on the district’s website. The Observer.
Education commissioner: The State Board of Education on Wednesday named Anastasios I. Kamoutsas as Florida's 32nd education commissioner. He is one of four deputy chiefs of staff in Gov. Ron DeSantis' office. He served as general counsel and former chief of staff to the Department of Education. “A lot of times in these situations we are taking a leap of faith with people coming in,” said State Board Chairperson Ben Gibson. “Here we have an opportunity to choose someone (and) we don’t have to guess how they’re going to perform.” The University of West Florida named Manny Diaz Jr., education commissioner for the past three years, to serve as its interim president. His role begins in July. Tampa Bay Times. Tallahassee Democrat. Spectrum News. ABC Action News.
Legislative update: After lawmakers proposed slashing bonuses for acceleration programs in half, full funding to pay for advanced placement programs in Florida's public schools is expected to stay in place in the final version of the budget. The proposed cuts included reduced funding for things like advanced placement, IB, dual enrollment and career and technical education. Meanwhile, a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida parents will now have to opt in to corporal punishment at the state's public schools. The law requires parents to consent either at the beginning of each school year or before the punishment is administered. School districts will have to review their policies every three years. House and Senate leaders intend to send a proposed budget to Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 16. The fiscal year ends June 30. The state must have a new budget in place by July 1. News4Jax. WFTV.
Colleges and universities: Leaders at the University of South Florida said they don't want to lose the Sarasota-Manatee campus. USF president Rhea Law and Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford made their first public comments on the issue since internal documents showed in late May that USF had drafted the legislation to deliver 32 acres of land and buildings in Sarasota to neighboring New College of Florida, in exchange for canceling $53 million of debt on USF's new dormitories. No bill on the New College-USF situation was filed during this year’s legislative session, which began in March and has been extended until later in June. WUSF. Meanwhile, after Santa Ono was rejected by the state Board of Governor's to serve as president of University of Florida, officials are heading back to the drawing board. It is the first time in the Board of Governors’ 20-year history that members have overturned a presidential selection from a university. Tampa Bay Times. NBC News.
The renowned New York charter school operator Success Academy moved a step closer to opening new schools in Florida, as the state Board of Education approved it as the state's sixth Hope operator.
The designation, created by the 2017 Schools of Hope legislation, allows nationally recognized charter networks with a proven record of raising student achievement to receive startup funding and a streamlined approval process to open schools in areas with low-performing schools or high levels of economic disadvantage.
The network would still have to submit a notice of intent and enter a charter agreement with a school district before it can open schools. If it takes that step, this would be Success’s first schools outside New York.
Success founder Eva Moskowitz told board members that Florida's charter-friendly policies were a major reason why the network considering a Sunshine State expansion.
“I have been doing this in a rather hostile political environment, and one of the things that I’m so impressed with [in Florida] is a desire for innovation and really leading the country,” she said. “This nation needs this kind of innovation, particularly for our poorest and most vulnerable children.”
Success’s credentials are not in doubt. The network is known for serving predominantly low-income student populations that stun the state with their high test scores and college-going rates.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. helped pass legislation that created the Schools of Hope Program.
“This is exactly what we were envisioning, to have a charter network to come in and serve those populations that are in need of this kind of academic rigor, this performance,” he said. “Over the next decade, hopefully we’re going to look back and remember this instance where we changed the lives of so many students.”
Board of Education members said they were happy to roll out the welcome mat.
"I think they're going to have greater success in Florida, because they're going to have a willing partner at the state level," Chairman Ben Gibson said.
TALLAHASSEE -- The Senate Education Committee is expected to consider a measure today that would make it easier for economically disadvantaged families to access a new K-12 scholarship program approved last year.
Committee chairman Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, is proposing an amendment to SB 1220, a bill that currently spells out rules for teacher training and qualifications. The amendment would add provisions aimed at aligning application and eligibility guidelines between the new Family Empowerment Scholarship, adopted last year and serving 18,000 students, and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001 and serving 108,000 students.
Both scholarship programs serve students from lower-income and working-class families. The primary difference is that the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship is funded by corporations that receive a 100 percent tax credit, and the Family Empowerment program is funded directly from the state education budget.
The two programs now use slightly different rules to determine eligibility, such as household income levels. Diaz’ amendment represents an effort to make them more alike, therefore streamlining the process for families who apply. Among the proposed changes:
In addition to the scholarship amendment, the committee also is expected to consider SB1246, which would make it easier for students who attend private schools or are home schooled to participate in dual enrollment programs at participating colleges and universities. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland.
The Senate Education Committee meets at 2:30 p.m. at 415 Knott Building.
The first major education bill of the 2019 legislative session cleared committee Wednesday morning
TALLAHASSEE – In a 5-3 party-line vote, the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would eliminate a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income families.
The bill, SB 7070, creates the Family Empowerment Scholarship program. It includes other provisions related to a teacher bonus program and funding for social services at public schools.
“What we’re doing is trying to find common balance and make sure all students have the best education possible,” said committee chair Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah).
Diaz expressed concern that the definition of public education “keeps getting twisted.”
He added: “The reason we created public education in this country to begin with was because we had to have a populace that was educated and civic-minded that could be entrusted in continuing our republic. Our duty is to educate the children. Our duty is not to where they’re educated.”
Diaz said that philosophically, parts of the bill “bring us out of the 19th century” and allow parents to provide direction for each child.
Unlike the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which is funded with donations from corporations that receive tax credits, the proposed Family Empowerment Scholarship program would be funded through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).
The value of the scholarships would be 95 percent of the district average per-student funding in the FEFP. Like the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, eligibility would be limited to students whose household income levels do not exceed 260 percent of the federal poverty level ($62,650 for a family of four). The program would be capped at 15,000 students in 2019-20. That cap would increase with the annual growth of public school students in the state.
“This bill (allows) us to address the waiting list for tax credit scholarships for parents who want to make the (proper decisions) for their child but can’t because of the waiting list,” Diaz said.
Sen. Janet Cruz (D-Tampa) spoke against the measure, saying funding is being diverted away from public schools.
“The struggling traditional public schools need funding to improve,” she said.
Ninety percent (of Florida families) choose to attend public schools. Where is the funding for what they choose?”
Cruz added: “We don’t need a new voucher program. The (state) constitution says we have to provide for public education, which the Legislature ignores year after year. I will not support dismantling funding for the public school system, and I think this bill is just that.”
Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland) disagreed, saying the bill will benefit parents, students and school districts.
“It doesn’t oppose public schools in any way,” she said, adding that the program would give parents the choices they need to put their children in the right educational environment.
Sen. David Simmons (R-Longwood) voted for the bill but expressed reservations about funding the new scholarship program through the FEFP, a concern shared by Sen. Bill Montford (D-Quincy), who opposed the bill. Simmons suggested wait-list families can be accommodated a different way.
“All we need to do is simply provide a credit,” he said. “Because there’s another $2.6 billion in taxes for which a credit can be given. All we need to do is say, ‘Certify that amount,’ and then that credit can be given.”
Several parents spoke in favor of the bill. Among them was Giselle Gomez of Ocala, a Realtor and single mother of Arturo Gomez III, 6, who currently is on the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list.
Gomez chose to pay out of pocket for Arturo to attend Redeemer Christian Academy, a private school, because she feared her son’s behavioral problems could not be properly addressed in a public school. While Arturo is happy and his behavior has improved at Redeemer, Gomez struggles to pay tuition.
“Being unable to make payments is embarrassing,” she said. “It makes me feel really bad as a mom.”
Gomez said that unlike many families who have the means to live near a neighborhood school that works for them, or who can afford a private school, she does not have those choices.
“I implore the Senate to end the waiting list so I and other moms don’t have to go through this,” she said. “A scholarship would make a world of difference to my son.”
Yahayra Marte, founder and administrator of Sunrise Academy in Orange City, told committee members it’s vital that the Legislature end the waiting list. Marte said she has waived tuition for 52 students and has reduced fees for 15 other waitlist students.
“That includes removing the requirement in the Senate bill that students on the current Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list must have attended a public school in the prior year in order to qualify for the new scholarship program,” she said. “Otherwise, it won’t benefit my 67 waitlist students.”
Among the public speakers who criticized the bill was Sally Butzin, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee, who said the new program would benefit only a “fortunate few” and divert money from public schools.
“I call this ‘education triage,’ ” Butzin said. “It’s a train bill, a take-it-or-leave-it, rather than (encouraging) debate. We oppose it, because it gives revenue for private and religious schools with no transparency, which is unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional, undemocratic, flawed logic and diverts resources to benefit only a few children.”
Enrollment in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program dropped for the first time in 14 years in 2018-19. In the preceding 13 years, the average annual enrollment increase was 20 percent. The dip was due to slower growth in corporate contributions, according to the state Department of Revenue. (The program is administered by non-profits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)
Demand for the scholarship remains strong. Parents of more than 170,000 students had started applications by the time Step Up For Students halted the application process in June. Step Up already has awarded more than 85,000 scholarships for 2019-20, approximately 20,000 students ahead of last year. New students are starting applications at a rate of more than 1,000 a day.
Gov. Ron DeSantis last month proposed a state-funded “Equal Opportunity Scholarship” to eliminate the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list. The House has yet to release its bill that addresses the problem.
Sen. Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah)
TALLAHASSEE – State Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. on Tuesday filed a bill that would simplify the Hope Scholarship application process for children who claim to be bullied at school, reducing burdens on families and schools.
Created by the Florida Legislature last year, the scholarship provides families with financial assistance to send a child to an eligible private school, or to transport the student to a public school in another district. In Senate Bill 1410, Diaz (R-Hialeah), who chairs the Senate Education Committee, proposes the following tweaks to the program:
• Allow applications to go straight to Step Up For Students, which administers the scholarship (and which hosts this blog).
• Provide transportation scholarships for students coming from a private school.
• Requires the parent to notify the district when they withdraw from the program and to indicate that the student was subjected to an incident that qualifies him or her for a Hope Scholarship.
• Removes language that a student loses the scholarship if he or she returns to public school. The scholarship remains until the student graduates high school.
The scholarships are funded by consumers who choose to redirect up to $105 of their motor vehicle purchase taxes to the program. According to Step Up, automobile purchasers so far have contributed $18.3 million for the program. As of this week, 117 families have been awarded scholarships.
Under Diaz’s bill, any unspent contributions over 5 percent could be carried over to the following year – or be used to help fund the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) for lower-income families, which currently has a waiting list of nearly 13,000 students.(Step Up also helps manage the FTC program.)
The bill is a response to concerns raised by school district officials and lawmakers, such as state Sen. Janet Cruz (D-Tampa), who have said the scholarship’s application process is burdensome.
Step Up For Students President Doug Tuthill, who heard Cruz’s concerns during testimony before the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5, applauded the bill’s filing.
“This is a great example of bipartisanship,” Tuthill said. “Sen. Diaz crafted a bill responding to Sen. Cruz’s concerns. You don’t see a lot of that these days, but this is a good example of senators working together on something that everybody agreed was a problem.”
Sen. Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah) unveiled the Senate education leadership's priorities for the 2019 legislative session today in Tallahassee.
TALLAHASSEE – Florida state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. on Thursday said Senate leaders hope to implement a “Family Empowerment Scholarship” to eliminate a waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income families.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made a similar pledge last week, saying he wanted to create an “Equal Opportunity Scholarship” to eliminate the FTC waitlist of about 13,000 families.
Diaz (R-Hialeah), who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, said there were “some similarities” in the two plans.
“We will continue to support families’ decisions to choose what’s best for their children’s education – whether it’s public or private school,” Diaz said, adding that over 100,000 students are currently on the FTC scholarship. (The scholarship is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)
The new scholarship would be funded through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) and would be capped at 15,000 students in its first year.
Flanked by lawmakers, parents on the FTC waiting list and faith leaders, Diaz said the “Family Empowerment Scholarship” is separate from DeSantis’ proposed plan. He said eligibility requirements of the two proposed scholarships are “very similar,” but did not offer specifics.
Under DeSantis’s plan, funding for the scholarship program would come from the FEFP. The scholarship award amount would be a slight discount of the district average per-student funding in the FEFP, allowing funding to follow the student. The maximum number of students eligible to receive a scholarship would be equivalent to 0.5 percent of statewide public school enrollment for the first year, providing opportunities for approximately 14,000 students. Each year thereafter, the number of eligible students would increase by an additional 1 percent of statewide public school enrollment.
Asked by media if the separate scholarships would confuse parents, Diaz said the proposed scholarship simply gives parents even more choices.
“I think we’ve done a good job of educating parents in Florida” about school choice, he said. “They’re interested in finding the best educational settings for their children. Every child is different. What works for one, may not work for another.”
The FTC program helps lower-income families pay for private school tuition or transportation costs to an out-of-district public school. A recent study by the Urban Institute showed students on the program are enrolling and completing college at higher rates than their public school peers.
In 2018-19, enrollment in the FTC program dropped for the first time in 14 years. In the preceding 13 years, the average annual enrollment increase was 20 percent. The enrollment dip was due to slower growth in corporate contributions, according to the state Department of Revenue.
Demand for the program remains strong. Parents for more than 170,000 students had started applications by the time Step Up For Students halted the application process in June. Step Up has already awarded more than 79,000 scholarships for 2019-20, approximately 20,000 students ahead of last year. New students are starting applications at a rate of more than 1,000 a day.
The proposed “Family Empowerment Scholarship” put a smile on the face of Giselle Gomez, who was among the parents who stood behind Diaz at Thursday’s event. Gomez is the mother of Arturo Gomez III, 6, who is on the waiting list for the FTC scholarship. A Realtor, Gomez currently pays out-of-pocket for Arturo to attend Redeemer Christian Academy in Ocala, which costs about $7,250 per year.
She did not want her son in a public school because of her own negative experiences attending public schools in Miami and Ocala. Gomez said she applied for an FTC scholarship this year for Arturo, but by the time Arturo’s application was approved, money to fund the program had run out.
While Arturo has thrived at Redeemer Academy – his behavior has improved and teachers often work with him one on one – she has been behind in payments.
Gomez said she is going through a divorce, making the situation even more tense.
“(Arturo’s) going through a lot of changes right now,” she said. “I want him to have stability and stay in the same school. His behavior used to be erratic, but the teachers have worked with him so much. His focus is better and his grades are amazing. I don’t want to take that away from him.”
Diaz was joined at Thursday’s press conference by Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Simmons (R-Altamonte Springs), each of whom unveiled other Senate K-12 education initiatives.
After winning his election in the Senate's 36th district, Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah) was named chairman of the Education Committee this week.
The new chairman of the Florida Senate Education Committee said Tuesday he wants to focus on expanding school choice.
“It is important to continue to meet the individual needs of every child,” said Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah. “My continued goal is to make sure that all parents have the best options available for their child. A full menu of parental choice options should be looked at.”
That menu, according to Diaz, should include expansion of education saving accounts, tax credit scholarships for low-income students, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning and vocational training. He also wants to revisit the issue of establishing a statewide authorizer for charter schools.
Diaz is newly elected to the Senate, but is an education veteran in the Capitol. He served six years in the Florida House of Representatives, with the last two as chairman of the PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. He spent nearly two decades working in Miami-Dade public schools before being hired as chief operating officer of Doral College.
Diaz helped craft two signature education laws that shaped education policy. HB 7069, among other things, created a new Schools of Hope grant program aimed at attracting high-performing charter schools to struggling areas. And HB 7055 created two scholarship programs: one for victims of bullying and violence and the other for struggling elementary school readers. The legislation also expanded a program giving principals more flexibility and greater authority over staffing, the curriculum and the budget.
Diaz was also instrumental in expanding the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students and the Gardiner Scholarship, which provide education savings accounts for students with special needs. Step Up For Students, which administers the scholarship programs, publishes this blog.
Now, as he takes the helm as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Diaz remains hopeful that the upcoming session may provide further opportunities to expand school choice options for more families. He also said school safety remains a top concern.
After the Parkland school shooting in February, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law increasing security measures at schools. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act requires all public schools to hire a school resource officer (SRO), a sheriff’s deputy or trained employee to carry a gun on campus.
Florida charter school officials are struggling to comply with the state’s new campus safety mandates, and Diaz said he supports expanding access to a guardian certification program that requires sheriffs’ department to train school personnel. But he does not support the recommendation of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission chairman Bob Gualtieri, who is Pinellas County’s sheriff. Gualtieri wants to equip school teachers with guns.
“Let’s get away from the arming teachers conversation, and let’s have a real conversation about how we provide special personnel to protect these kids,” Diaz said.
While some have speculated the House and Senate will differ on school choice issues in the upcoming legislative session beginning in March, Diaz disagrees.
“I think we are all in agreement that we need to do what is best for students in the state,” he said.
“The biggest challenge facing education is the fact the state continues to grow, and funding is going to be a challenge year to year because of the growing cost of health care and other items in the state budget. We need to continue to figure out how to effectively fund and provide opportunities for students.”
Diaz sees every session as an opportunity to be a game changer.
“I think the one difference in this session is you have a governor-elect who is going to come into office and has been clear about his bold stance on education,” Diaz said. “When you have that, it provides more of an opportunity for those changes to happen.”
A comprehensive look at school safety for both Florida's public and private schools is likely in the upcoming legislative session.
In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead, key Florida lawmakers are looking to increase security at both public and private schools in this state.
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, says he wants to introduce legislation allowing private schools to participate in the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program. That program currently provides law enforcement training to public school staffers who want to carry a gun on campus.
“We created a program for public schools that said if they could choose to send their staff members to get special training, the state would pay for it and they could be armed guardians in public schools,” said Fine. “There is no reason we shouldn’t open that program to private schools.”
So far, only 25 out of 67 school districts are participating in the guardian program, according to the Florida Department of Education. (more…)
