School choice wins: A clear winner in Tuesday's elections in Florida is school choice, according to the founder of the state's tax credit scholarship program. "When given a clear choice between a candidate who supports empowering parents to choose K-12 options for their children and a candidate who wishes to restrict those choices, voters prefer the candidate who supports educational choice," says John Kirtley, whose Florida Federation For Children donated about $1.6 million to school choice supporters in 39 key races around the state. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the tax credit scholarship and several others. Gradebook.
Education challenge: The Florida Supreme Court hears oral arguments today in a 2009 case that claims the inadequacy of funding for education is a violation of the state constitution. Citizens for Strong Schools, the plaintiffs, lost at trial and in an appeal as judges ruled that the constitutional amendment requiring a "high quality education" uses political terms that can't be objectively measured. Another plaintiff, Eunice Barnum of Jacksonville, says her then-elementary aged children "were failing in math, failing in reading, even though they were there every day. The constitution clearly says that it’s the paramount duty of the state to provide a high quality education. And, you know, when I went to school, ‘F’ was never considered high quality. It just wasn’t.” WJCT. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)
After the storm: Fifteen Bay County schools reopened Monday, more than three weeks after Hurricane Michael devastated the county and surrounding areas. A school district spokeswoman said about 90 percent of the teachers reported for work, but the district won't have a good count of students until later in the week. Students face a lack of supplies, no Internet service, damaged gymnasiums and split schedules. But the operative phrase of the day, according to Moseley High School principal Brian Bullock, was "we'll figure it out." Other Bay schools are scheduled to open later this week or next week. Panama City News Herald. Associated Press. WJHG.
Election day: More than 5.1 million Floridians voted before today, election day, according to state officials. That's 38.7 percent of the state's 13.27 million registered voters. On the ballot are the governor's race, a U.S. Senate race, 12 constitutional amendments, local ballot initiatives and school board elections. Polls are open until 7 p.m. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Hillsborough County is asking voters to approve an extra half-cent on the sales tax to raise money to pay for replacing and repairing faulty air-conditioners, make capital improvements and build schools, and harden schools for security. The tax would raise about $138 million a year and be collected for 10 years. Gradebook. State law bars school districts from spending money on political advertisements. But it doesn't stop school districts from using existing resources to communicate factual information about issues, such as a tax referendum. And so it is that every public school in Miami-Dade County has rotating messages on their school marquees drawing attention to the tax measure on today's ballot, #362, which would raise money for teacher pay and school security. Miami Herald. Previewing the races for district 1, 2 and 5 seats on the Brevard County School Board. Florida Today. (more…)
