National walkout: Students from around the United States walk out of their classrooms to honor those killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland a month ago, and to protest against gun violence. Some also gathered at the White House, chanting for gun regulations, then marched to the Capitol for a meeting with sympathetic members of Congress. Associated Press. New York Times. Politico Florida. GateHouse. The 74. Education Week. Chalkbeat. Thousands of students around Florida, including those from Stoneman Douglas High, also walk out of their schools. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Times-Union. Florida Today. Lakeland Ledger. Lakeland Ledger. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Fort Myers News-Press. Pensacola News Journal. TCPalm. Gainesville Sun. Panama City News Herald. St. Augustine Record. Daily Commercial. Citrus County Chronicle. WUSF. WUFT. WJAX. WFLA. WTSP. WEAR.
Education budget protest: The state's school superintendents are lobbying Gov. Rick Scott to call a legislative special session on funding for schools. They say the recently signed state budget won't cover the rising costs of operating schools. The Legislature approved an $88.7 billion budget that includes a $101.50 increase in per-student funding, but the Florida Association of District School Superintendents points out in its letter to Scott that just 47 cents of that is free to cover such expenses as retirement contributions, employee health-care costs and utility bills. Most of the rest goes to school safety and improving mental health services. "We are grateful the state stepped up … to pass a school safety bill," says Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie. "However, that I believe is being done at the expense of our core business." News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. Scott received the budget Wednesday, and now has 15 days to decide on line-by-line items and whether to sign it. News Service of Florida.
School safety: The U.S. House overwhelmingly passes a $75 million Secure Our Schools bill to improve school safety by making grants to school districts and states to train students, teachers and law enforcement officers on quickly recognizing and responding to warning signs, for technology, and to develop anonymous reporting programs. Associated Press. Politico Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Language in Florida's new school safety bill that allows charges for any school threats, even ones that are not specific, can be traced to a 2014 Sarasota school threat that a judge ruled could not be prosecuted because it was a general statement not directed at any individual. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Brevard County School Board members say they are open to arming select school employees. Brevard is the only one of the state's 12 largest districts that is open to the marshal program provision of the new school safety law. Florida Today. School resource officers are now in all 16 Indian River County elementary schools. TCPalm. (more…)
