Education bill: The Florida House Education Committee passes H.B. 733, the nearly all-inclusive education bill that would cut standardized testing and make significant changes to the state’s K-12 education system. The bill does not include mandatory recess time for elementary students, which is in the Senate’s proposal. Miami Herald. Sunshine State[Read More…]
Tag: Sandy Balfour
Florida schools roundup: Capital funding, budget cuts, testing and more
Capital funding for schools: A bill that would allow school districts to raise local tax rates for construction and maintenance also would require those districts to share the money with charter schools. Now, Senate PreK-12 Appropriations chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, says if the bill passes, “there won’t be a need”[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Evaluations, recess, discipline, LGBT sign and more
Teacher evaluations: About 98 percent of the teachers evaluated in Florida during the 2015-2016 school year were rated either “highly effective” or “effective,” according to the Department of Education. Less than 1 percent of the state’s teachers got an “unsatisfactory” rating, and only 1.2 percent were rated “needs improvement.” The numbers[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Bright Futures, capital funding, testing and more
Bright Futures: The proposed expansion of Bright Futures scholarships is moving in two directions within the Florida Senate. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, wants to expand the scholarships for high-achieving students to cover full tuition and fees, and to allow them to use the money for summer classes. S.B. 2,[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Transfers, Saturday school, hacking and more
Open enrollment rules: The state’s new open enrollment law was intended to give any student a chance at any open seat at any public school in the state. But in practice, the law could reduce a student’s chances of enrolling in an out-of-district school. The law gives in-county transferring students priority over[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Extra pay, middle school marriage and more
Payment questioned: A Broward County School District audit reveals that the district paid a former district police employee about $23,000 over her approved salary in 2015. Jillian Haring was a special assistant to the district police chief, making $60,664. But she was also being paid for other duties that the district[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Bonuses, achievement gap, arrests and more
Teacher bonuses program: The chairman of the Florida Senate K-12 education appropriations subcommittee says he wants to rewrite the bill authorizing teacher bonuses. Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, would remove the use of teachers’ SAT or ACT scores from the formula for granting bonuses and replace it with a different measure of[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Graduation, common exams, growth and more
Graduation path: State Rep. Ralph Massullo, R-Citrus County, files a bill that would give students a way to graduate without passing the Algebra I or the 10th-grade language arts Florida Standards Assessment exams. H.B. 407 would allow graduation for students who have earned 24 credits with a 2.0 GPA if they[Read More…]