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…)

Board's budget request: The Florida Board of Education's formal budget request to the Legislature asks for a $673 million boost in funding for the 67 school districts that includes $200 more in per-student funding and a $100 million increase in the safe schools initiative. Of that total, $170 million would be new funding from the state and the rest would come from increases in local school property tax collections. The board also is asking for $67.5 million for the school guardian program, and ignored one member's call to let districts use unspent funds from the program for other security measures.  The budget request now goes to the Legislature for consideration. News Service of Florida. Politico Florida. Gradebook. Meanwhile, the Joint Legislative Budget Commission officially rejects requests to make $58 million in unused funds from last year's school guardian program available for districts to spend for resource officers and other security measures. TCPalm.

Charter rejection overturned: The Florida Board of Education overturns the Leon County School Board's rejection of a charter school's application. The decision means the Tallahassee Classical School will be allowed to open in the 2019-2020 school year. Leon school board members unanimously denied the charter's application because they felt the school did not reflect the community's diversity and that it would discriminate against disabled students. But the state BOE sided with the Florida Department of Education's Charter School Appeal Commission, which ruled that the Leon board did not have good cause to reject the application. It's the second time this summer that the board has overruled local decisions to deny charter schools' applications. redefinED. (more…)

Education bills: House leaders are considering changing the so-called "schools of hope" legislation to allow school districts to compete with charter school companies for part of the $200 million fund created by the bill. Originally, the bill was conceived as a way to recruit highly regarded charter companies to open schools in areas with persistently low-performing traditional public schools. “What we’re arguing for is an equitable playing field, where we would have the ability to be able to compete for the dollars that are set aside,” said Broward School Superintendent Robert Runcie, who helped pitch the plan to legislators. Politico Florida. A Senate committee spent just nine minutes to describe, amend and approve its version of the "schools of hope" bill. “These issues have been discussed around here, and we’re just putting them in the conference posture,” says Senate Appropriations chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater. Miami Herald. School officials expect the "education train" bill to continue to morph in the final days of the legislative session, which could mean further changes to the state's standardized testing. St. Augustine Record.

Budget discussions: Negotiations continue between Senate and House leaders on an $83 billion budget, and details are slowly emerging. The proposed deal allots $200 million for the "schools of hope" proposal and $200 million to expand the Best and Brightest teacher bonuses program, but won't allow increases in property tax revenue for schools. Per-student spending would be increased only slightly. But, says Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, "It would be a mistake to only count in the education budget what comes directly through the FEFP (Florida Education Finance Program, the formula that determine per-student spending). I think there are other educational opportunities that we'll give to our constituents, and I think that improves the overall quality of our system." Florida Politics. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. The budget agreement comes only after extensive one-on-one talks between Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes. Tampa Bay Times.

Title I concerns: School officials and educational consultants have concerns about the way the Florida House education bill would distribute federal Title I funds, which are intended to help low-income students. The House bill calls for Title I funds to be spread more evenly among schools, including charters. Cheryl Sattler, a Tallahassee consultant on federal education funding, says the bill would mean fewer dollars for children in low-income schools and fewer resources for preschools. "Low-achieving schools couldn't expect help," she says, "so they will stay low-performing." Gradebook.

Financial literacy: The Senate passes a bill requiring Florida students to take a financial literacy course to graduate from high school. Senators name it the "Dorothy L. Hukill Financial Literacy Education Act" to honor the Republican senator from Port Orange, who has missed the session as she has undergoes cancer treatment. “This has been a bill that Sen. Hukill’s worked on since the day she came to the Florida Senate. I can’t even count the number of conversations that I have had with her about this bill since she’s been here with us,” said Sen. Jack Latvala. Florida Politics. WFTV. News Service of Florida. (more…)