School security criticized: School districts across the state are "not moving fast enough" to comply with the law passed last year that requires specific measures to improve security in schools, says the chairman of the state commission that investigated the Parkland school shooting. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the House Education Commission that school districts have "no sense of urgency" to have an armed guard in every school or to prepare for a potential attack, as required by the law. He suggested that districts that are slow to comply should be penalized by the Florida Department of Education. Tampa Bay Times. Florida Politics. Politico Florida. The Broward County School District is struggling to create safe "hard corners" in 20,000 classrooms. Finding one safe spot in a room that's big enough for all students is one problem, and principals say they aren't the safety experts who should be choosing the safest corner. Sun Sentinel. The Broward County School District is named one of six American K-12 districts to watch this year. As the site of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, Broward is at the center of the discussion on security in schools. Education Dive.
DOE counsel named to court: U.S. Department of Education general counsel Carlos Muniz has been appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Muniz, 49, has no judicial experience but has been a lawyer for U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, former Gov. Jeb Bush and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. This is DeSantis' third appointment to the court since he took office two weeks ago. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. GateHouse. Orlando Sentinel. Tampa Bay Times. Education Week. WPLG. Sunshine State News. (more…)
Amendment 8 off ballot: A Leon County judge rules that proposed constitutional Amendment 8 should be removed from the November ballot because it "fails to inform voters of the chief purpose and effect." The amendment would allow the Legislature to create an entity to authorize charter schools. It would also set term limits for school board members and require civics education in schools. Judge John Cooper agreed with the plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters, that the ballot language was misleading and that the Citizens Review Commission bunched the three separate proposals to boost its chance of passage. The state is expected to appeal the decision. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Phoenix. WFSU. Southern Poverty Law Center. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi files a response to the Supreme Court to a separate challenge from former chief justice Harry Lee Anstead, who contends six amendments are unconstitutionally bundled and should be removed from the ballot. Bondi argues that only the ballot proposals put forward by the public through petitions need to adhere to the state's single-subject rule because they don't have the oversight that the Constitution Revision Commission and Legislature have when creating and adopting proposals. Gradebook. Florida Politics.
Education lawsuit: Each side in a nine-year-old lawsuit over the way the state funds education will get 20 minutes Nov. 8 to make their cases before the Florida Supreme Court. The group that filed the suit, Citizens for Strong Schools, claims the state is failing in its constitutional duty to provide a "high quality" public education system. The state argues that the constitutional language is aspirational and can't be measured. Two courts have already sided with the state. Gradebook. WFSU. News Service of Florida.
Videos won't be shown: After parents questioned plans to show elementary and middle school students videos of what to do during a school shooting, Pinellas County school officials change course and say the videos won't be shown to elementary students. Instead, the district will put the videos on its website so parents can decide whether to show them to their children. WTVT. Tampa Bay Times. WFLA. Parents in St. Johns County also object to videos the school district plans to show students about what they should and should not do during a school shooting. The district plans for all students to watch the videos by Sept. 15. WJXT. (more…)
Amendment 8 lawsuit: Amendment 8 is misleading and should be removed from the ballot, the League of Women Voters and the Southern Poverty Law Center argue in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Leon County. The lawsuit focuses on the part of the proposed amendment that would allow allow entities other than school boards to “operate, control, and supervise” public schools. “Voters will not recognize that the real purpose of the amendment is to allow unaccountable political appointees to control where and when charter schools can be established in their county,” says LWV president Patricia Brigham. The amendment would also limit school board members to eight years in office and require the teaching of civics in public schools. redefinED. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. GateHouse. News Service of Florida. Florida Politics. Politico Florida.
Charter school appeals: The Florida Charter Schools Appeal Commission is recommending that the state Board of Education override the Palm Beach County School Board's decision to deny two charter school applications. And Education Commissioner Pam Stewart is recommending the board go along with the appeal commission's advice when it meets next week. Charters that don't fill a specific niche have been getting turned down by the Palm Beach board for the past five years. But as Stewart points out in her memo to the state board, "The school board's determination must be based on good cause." Gradebook.
Union membership: Teachers unions in Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties say membership is on the upswing since the state passed a law requiring unions to have at least 50 percent membership of eligible workers or risk being decertified. Union officials in all four counties say the recent swell has pushed each past the 50 percent threshhold. Teachers unions in 13 districts have membership below 50 percent but most have been adding members, according to Joanne McCall, president of the statewide Florida Education Association. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
Test investigation requested: Two members of Florida school districts and the Florida Coalition of School Board Members are calling for an investigation of significant decreases in the number of students from Duval, Manatee and Polk counties who took the state's civics end-of-course exams. Polk had 3,736 fewer 7th-grade students take the exam this year, Duval 2,910 and Manatee almost 1,000, and all three districts had significantly higher pass rates. Sarasota board member Bridget Ziegler, Duval board member Scott Shine want the state to hold up the release of school grades until the issue is investigated. Manatee County Superintendent Diana Greene says her district simply allowed 7th-graders who struggle with reading to delay taking the test until 8th grade, as the state permits districts to do. “Don’t try to act like we did something wrong,” says Greene. Duval school officials also deny any impropriety. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Florida Times-Union. Florida Politics. WJCT.
Weighting for grades: By state law, end-of-course exams must constitute 30 percent of a student's final course grade. But different districts apply the law in different ways, and now Levy County Superintendent Jeff Edison is pressing state officials to specifically define what constitutes 30 percent of a student's final course grade. "What we would like to be able to do is get the [lawmakers] to allow the Department of Education to have the rule-making authority to create a consistent definition of what 30 percent is," says Edison. "Give us a uniform way of applying it. It doesn't matter to us [what it is]. We just want it the same." Gradebook. (more…)
School tax hikes: Palm Beach County school leaders are considering giving charter schools a portion of the $150 million a year that would be generated if voters approve a property tax hike in November. Language that specifically excluded charter schools has been removed from the proposal, which the school board will consider today. The decision to cut charters in was made after legal action was threatened if they were excluded. Palm Beach Post. The Hillsborough County School Board agrees to ask voters to increase the sales tax to raise money for capital expenses. The request now goes to the state, which has to perform a financial audit. Superintendent Jeff Eakins also said he was looking into asking voters for a property tax hike, which could be used for teacher salaries and programs. Tampa Bay Times. Lake County commissioners approve a special school safety tax, which will be on the Aug. 28 ballot. Money generated would help pay for resource officers in all schools. Orlando Sentinel.
Science textbooks approved: The Collier County School Board approves the use of new science textbooks that were challenged by evolution and climate change skeptics. The vote was 3-2, with Erika Donalds and Kelly Lichter voting against using the recommended textbooks. Four people had lodged complaints against 220 items in 18 textbooks, alleging that they treat evolution and climate change as fact rather than theory. The new books will cost the district $1.7 million and will be handed out to students in August. Naples Daily News. (more…)
Teacher pay: School districts should stop paying teachers by a rigid formula that is calculated solely by degree obtained and experience, Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, tells a group of charter school leaders. “They’re treated in a fashion as if they were labor workers in a technical industry," says Diaz. "They’re not. They’re professionals.” He says pay considerations should take into account classroom skills and field of expertise. Otherwise, he warns, good teachers will continue to pursue administrative jobs to raise their salaries. redefinED.
Education choices: Advocates of charter schools and public schools find little to agree about in a forum sponsored by the Tampa Tiger Bay Club. Public schools advocates say funding is being diverted to charter and private schools that aren't required to meet the same standards as public schools. "When systems are set up that are unequal and have different sets of accountability, in a way that the competition isn't fair, that's what brings out the negativity," says Melissa Erickson of the Alliance for Public Schools. Charter and private school supporters say choice must be necessary, since it's popular with parents. "It should be a matter of great public policy to provide every alternative possible," says Lincoln Tamayo, head of school at Academy Prep Center of Tampa. Tampa Bay Times. Florida Politics.
Hostile workplace? Two black Pinellas Park Middle School teachers request transfers, saying their workplace has become "hostile and racially charged." The two were among nine minority teachers who started an after-school tutoring program that specifically aimed to help minority students improve their reading, but was open to all students. A letter to the district from NAACP officials claims those teachers were harassed and accused of being racists because they didn't do the program for white students too. Tampa Bay Times. Bay News 9.
Blaming abuse victims: The Palm Beach County School District isn't the only one that's used a "blame the victim" legal defense in lawsuits involving sex abuse of students by district employees. A review of public records shows that attorneys for the Broward and Miami-Dade school districts have also claimed in court that abused students were "negligent" or "culpable." Sun-Sentinel.
Senate testing bills merged: The Senate Education Committee decides to merge elements from competing school testing bills. The consolidated bill, SB 926, moves testing into a shorter window and toward the end of the school year, kills several end-of-course exams, allows districts the option of using paper and pencils for the tests instead of computers, and will consider allowing national tests such as the ACT and SAT to replace high school assessments. News Service of Florida. Miami Herald. Gradebook. Associated Press. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU. The committee also approved bills increasing the money students get for tax credit scholarships and widening eligibility for teachers and adding principals to the state's teacher bonuses program. Politico Florida. Meanwhile, the House PreK-12 Appropriations subcommittee approves a bill that would require the state Department of Education to release third- and 10th-grade math and language arts tests every three years. The DOE estimates the cost of doing so at $4 million. Gradebook. Politico Florida.
Help with testing: Experts say there are a variety of things parents can do to relieve their children's anxiety about taking statewide assessment tests. They recommend helping children visualize success, maintaining a routine, having children not study so much and getting them to laugh, which gives a child's brain a shot of neurotransmitter dopamine and can improve test performance. Miami Herald.
Naming rights: The Lee County School District is selling naming rights to stadiums, gymnasiums and theaters at several schools around the district. “This is a new opportunity for companies to reach our students, families and communities,” Superintendent Greg Adkins said. “It is a way we can provide companies the benefits and loyalty that come with this kind of support while helping out students at the same time.” The Orange County School District has been selling naming rights since 2012, and has raised $241,650 for its Athletic Preservation Fund. And Collier County, directly south of Lee, is also looking into the sale of naming rights at its seven high schools. Fort Myers News-Press. (more…)
Retentions decline: Fewer than 10,000 Florida third-graders were retained in 2015, a drop of about 40 percent from 2014 and about 25 percent fewer than in any year since 2003. The Department of Education says the blip happened because local school officials had greater say for a year in whether students should be retained, and many of the students promoted would have been retained in any other year. Many school officials say they expect the number of retentions in 2016 to return to previous levels. Orlando Sentinel.
Testing lawsuit: Fourteen parents from Sarasota, Hernando, Seminole, Broward, Orange, St. Lucie and Osceola counties are preparing to file suit against the Florida Department of Education over the retention of third-graders who refused to take the state's standardized tests. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
District tax rates: Florida school boards are preparing to set local property tax rates that will help determine how much money their districts have to spend. The rates are controlled by the state Department of Education so that wealthy districts don't significantly outspend poorer ones. Gradebook. The Highlands County School Board approves a slightly lower tax rate while setting an overall budget of just more than $150 million. Highlands Today.
Police in schools: The Marion County School District will pay more to have police officers in middle schools under an agreement reached with the city of Ocala. The district also will have to assume the full costs for the officers after this coming school year. Ocala Star Banner. Escambia County senior sheriff's deputy Ronnie Gill, the school resource officer at Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill, is named the top school resource officer in Florida by Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Association of School Resource Officers. Escambia's SRO unit is also named the state's best. NorthEscambia.com. (more…)
Bathroom rules: Eleven states are suing the Obama administration over its letter urging school districts to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that conforms to their gender identity or risk losing federal funds. Florida declined to join them, according to a spokesperson for Attorney General Pam Bondi. Gov. Rick Scott says the state is still reviewing the directive, which he says "looks just like blackmail." Orlando Sentinel. Florida Politics. New York Times. Politico Florida. Lake and Sumter school officials say they won't change their bathroom policies. They require students to use bathrooms based on their birth gender but will consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Daily Commercial.
Opt-outs face retention: About 30 third-graders in Manatee County who opted out of Florida Standards Assessments testing and refused to take a state-approved equivalency test are in danger of not being promoted to fourth grade. School officials say they are bound to follow the state's rules and retain those students who have no test scores. Bradenton Herald.
No wider book ban: A ban of a book at Pasco Middle School will not extend to other schools in the district, according to School Superintendent Kurt Browning. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, contains graphic sexual references. A committee recommended it be banned districtwide. Gradebook.
Suit will continue: The statewide teachers union will press on with its court challenge of Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program, even after a judge ruled this week in a separate lawsuit that the state has fulfilled its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education for all public school students. The union claims the tax-credit scholarship program violates the Florida constitution by taking money away from public schools. The suit was thrown out, but the union appealed. The arguments have been heard, and a ruling is expected soon. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, administers the scholarships program. Gradebook. (more…)
Reading scores up: Reading scores on the Florida Standards Assessments were up slightly for Florida's third-graders, according to the Florida Department of Education. Fifty-four percent of third graders tested at a satisfactory level, up from 53 percent last year. Satisfactory is considered a level 3 score on the five-level exam. Those who score below level 1 face retention. Orlando Sentinel. Gradebook. Palm Beach Post. Pensacola News Journal. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Politico Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Florida Times-Union. Tallahassee Democrat. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Bathroom fight: The Florida ACLU sends a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Education Commissioner Pam Stewart urging them to protect the rights of transgender students to use the bathrooms conforming to their gender identity. Florida Politics. Politico Florida. Scott and Bondi still have had little to say about the Obama administration directive. Orlando Weekly. The Marion County School District could lose $53 million in federal funding over the school board's decision to restrict transgender students' bathroom choices. Ocala Star Banner. The St. Johns County School District will continue to provide gender-neutral restroom facilities, says Superintendent Joseph Joyner. WJAX.
Teachers and force: The Pasco teachers union is reminding district administrators that state law allows teachers to use reasonable force when necessary to break up fights between students. After a recent fight at Ridgewood High School, a district spokesperson told a TV station that teachers shouldn't intervene in student fights. Gradebook.
Test retake: One hundred and fourteen Lake Nona High School students have to retake the Advanced Placement psychology exam today because of a "seating irregularity" when they took the test a few weeks ago. The rules call for the desks in the testing room to be 5 feet apart, and they were just 4 feet apart. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
