Testing for “voucher” kids. The Orlando Sentinel editorial board concludes tax credit scholarship students should take the same standardized tests as their public school peers: “Comparing apples to apples, scholastically speaking, will enhance transparency and accountability.”
From Florida with love: A Florida education advocate named Lowell Levine gets extended mention in the latest Rick Hess column, a follow-up to a piece about the unfortunate politicization of Newtown. Levine tells Hess, in part: You just do not want to hear the truth ---it is writers like you who are in denial and contribute to violence in schools. You are a shame to your profession. Good by and have a great life------A$$@#%&!!!!!... I’m not sure if it’s the same guy, but a Lowell Levine in South Florida applied to be Florida ed commish and, according to the Palm Beach Post, founded an anti-bullying foundation.
Education funding. From a Miami Herald year-end-wrap-up editorial: “Investments in education pay off. That’s a lesson Gov. Rick Scott seems to be learning as he pushed to restore some of the K-12 funding that he previously cut.”
“Lower ed.” Former Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson makes the year-in-review from Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano.
Class size. Do districts need more flexibility? asks Gradebook. SchoolZone looks at compliance in Central Florida districts.
The year’s biggest education stories. According to StateImpact Florida. Amendment 8 is in there.
End of course exams. DOE will study the possibility of concordant scores for the Algebra I test, reports SchoolZone.
More Newtown repercussions. Armed deputies may be patrolling Alachua County elementary schools when students return Jan. 3, reports the Gainesville Sun.
Tweaks coming to teacher evals? Gradebook: “Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bush's education foundation and a key voice in state education legislation, meanwhile, is floating a draft bill that would alter the evaluation system, too. She sent an e-mail to superintendents last week seeking input.”
Tony Bennett on charter schools. In a Q&A with the Orlando Sentinel, Bennett is asked whether lawmakers should tighten scrutiny on charter schools. His response: “When the charter movement began, the intent of charter schools was to trade increased freedom and flexibility for a higher level of accountability. Somewhere along the way, we lost track of that, and in too many cases, charter schools are held to lower standards than traditional public schools.”
Arming teachers? Teachers don’t like the idea, floated in the wake of Newtown, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm agrees. Brevard schools go into lockdown after a man makes threats referencing Newtown, reports Florida Today. Rumors of violence in Hillsborough, reports the Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Tribune. More security discussions in Broward, reports the Miami Herald. A stranger trespassing on an Alachua middle school campus raises questions, reports the Gainesville Sun. Florida parents are among those ordering stacks of $300 bulletproof backpacks, reports the Orlando Sentinel. (Image from americablog.com). “Schools can’t be prisons,” editorializes the Pensacola News Journal.
More contracting issues. Four employees in the Division of Blind Services, which is under the Department of Education, are ousted after an audit reveals a sweetheart deal in the works over a contract, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
A day in the life. Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab spends a day with a teacher.
More poor kids. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Budget cuts. Brevard Superintendent Brian Binggeli recommends $39 million in cuts in the wake of a failed sales tax referendum. Florida Today.
Fallout over LGBT vote. SchoolZone.
