Impending closures. Charter schools that received a string of F grades may face closure this summer, despite a suspension of school grading consequences during the 2014-15 school year. Gradebook.

District-charter merger? The Leon County School Board backs a plan to merge a district-created charter school with a traditional public school in Woodville. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU.

Results. Florida's urban school districts outrank many of their national counterparts in demographic-adjusted NAEP results, according to a new analysis by the Urban Insititute.

Elections. An embattled former administrator dives into the Leon County Schools superintendent's race. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU.

Charter schools. A Michigan liberal arts college backs a charter school in Palm Bay, Fla. Urban News Service.

Teacher evaluations. A union-backed challenge of a 2011 teacher merit pay law hits another legal snag. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (more…)

Private schools. What happens to private school records when private schools close? Sometimes, they disappear. Palm Beach Post.

Charter schools. The Broward school district is taking a closer look at how much it charges charter schools for bus transportation after a citizens task force complains the district is losing money on the deal and subsidizing the competition. Miami Herald. (The district is considering other ways to reduce busing costs, too, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.) A K-8 charter school that teaches boys and girls separately is proposed for Palm Beach Gardens, reports the Palm Beach Post.

School choice. The Palm Beach district gets 17,500 applications for about 9,000 district choice seats. Palm Beach Post.

Digital education. Florida's mandates on digital offerings brings opportunities and challenges, editorializes the Palm Beach Post.

Privatization. The Volusia school district is right to consider outsourcing custodial services to save money, editorializes the Daytona Beach News Journal. The move could save about $5 million a year, the News Journal reports.

Florida's progress. Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Blog: "Again, Governor Bush and supporters of his reforms have some solid evidence to draw upon when advocating for the Florida reforms, particularly the grade-based accountability system. The modest estimated effects in these high-quality analyses are not as good a talking point as the “we quadrupled the number of A-rated schools in six years” argument, but they are far preferable to claiming credit for what’s on the scoreboard after having changed the rules of the game."

Pace of change. Sweeping changes to teacher evaluations, academic standards and testing have district officials on edge and lawmakers considering changes. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)