Teaching to the test. The FEA is rallying members to a petition started by UFS Professor/blogger Sherman Dorn. Gradebook.

Charter schools. In a vote along party lines, the House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee approves a bill that would allow charter schools to move into unused district buildings. redefinED. Coverage also from the Palm Beach Post, Tallahassee Democrat, Gradebook, StateImpact Florida.

Poverty. South Florida Sun Sentinel: "More than half a million kids under 18 in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties live in low-income households that earn up to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University reports. For a single mom and child, that translates into an income of $30,260 a year or less."

School security. A jury orders the Palm Beach County School Board to pay $1.7 million in a case involving a mentally challenged, 3-year-old girl who was sexually attacked by a 15-year-old ninth grader on a school bus in 2007, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. More from the Palm Beach Post. A Hernando County middle school teacher on paid administrative leave since last April is on a keep-off-campus list generated by district officials after the Newtown tragedy, reports Hernando Today. Osceola will beef up police presence at elementary schools, reports SchoolZone. The video of a girl beating another girl on a Pasco school bus gets posted on Facebook; arrests ensue, reports the Tampa Bay Times. An 11-year-old, special needs student in Duval either falls or jumps out of a school bus and sustains life threatening injuries, reports the Florida Times Union.

Teacher evaluations. The Florida Times-Union files suit against the Department of Education to force the release of teacher evaluation data. (more…)

Common Core. To conservatives: "I suggest you give up the bashing of a critically important reform simply because your political enemy endorsed it." EdFly Blog.

Charter schools. The highly successful Pembroke Pines charter school system says it deserves a share of the Broward school district's capital improvement dollars, reports the Miami Herald. The Pinellas school district will vote yet again Tuesday on whether to shutter the long-troubled Imagine charter school in St. Petersburg, reports the Tampa Bay Times. A Palm Coast charter hopes to bounce back from an F, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Teacher evaluations. Senate President Don Gaetz says the new evals may be too complicated and, combined with other big changes in education, could put the system at risk of imploding, reports the Florida Current. Washington Post ed blogger Valerie Strauss uses Gaetz's comments to tee off on Florida ed reform.

More on teacher pay. Gov. Rick Scott's proposal runs up against competing demands, reports the Tampa Bay Times. It "would provide welcome relief" but doesn't make up for "all of the damage this governor has done to public education," writes the Times editorial board. Cash shows respect, writes Times columnist Dan DeWitt. It'll help show teachers are valued, writes the Pensacola News Journal. Give Scott credit for supporting merit pay and across-the-board raises, writes the Daytona Beach News Journal. His commitment needs to be more than a one-time gimmick, writes the Palm Beach Post. A good thing no matter the motivation, writes the Gainesville Sun. Transparent pandering, writes the Panama City News Herald. "Met with skepticism," reports the Tampa Tribune. Lawmakers should be careful about both teacher raises and a proposal to transform the state retirement system, writes the Ocala Star Banner.

Satanists. They like the school prayer bill Scott signed last year. Really. Coverage from Tallahassee Democrat and Associated Press. (more…)

There is now a House companion to a Senate bill in Florida that would require private schools to get safety alerts just like public schools.

Rep. Mike La Rosa, R-St. Cloud, filed HB 369 Monday. It's a counterpart to SB 284, filed by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City. Both bills would require emergency response agencies to notify private schools about bombs, fire threats and other major incidents just like they do now with public schools. Only private schools that opt into a school district's emergency notification policy would be affected. (More here).

School safety is expected to be a leading education issue in the Legislature this year in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. The session begins March 5.

PolitiFact on PIRLS. PolitiFact looks into Gov. Rick Scott’s statement about how well Florida fourth-graders fared on the recent PIRLS results. The ruling: Mostly True.

Charter school funding. Palm Beach district officials are upset by state budget proposals that would once again give a modest amount of capital outlay money to charter schools and none to district schools. Palm Beach Post.

Class size reduction. Some Broward school board members are worried the district is pushing more students into AP classes to avoid class-size penalties. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Economies of scale. The Orange County School District joins with other big districts across the country to buy food together and drive down costs. SchoolZone.

School security. A defense expert gives South Florida teachers a day-long session on how to react to armed intruders in their classrooms, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. A Flagler mom pays for an armed deputy to patrol her child's school, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

School spending. Refinancing debt could ease Brevard’s budget crisis. Florida Today.

Testing protest. Is anybody in Florida going to kick it up a notch? Gradebook.

Mentors. A Winter Haven program links students with professionals. Lakeland Ledger.

ESE lawsuit. The latest from Hillsborough. Gradebook.

No honeymoon for Bennett. Especially from the teachers union, reports WCTV. The new commissioner should resolve the bureaucratic limbo over concordant test scores needed for graduation, editorializes the Tampa Bay Times.

Pensions. It’s a political issue for 2014 now that the Florida Supreme Court has ruled against the teachers unions, writes the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Writing. After last year’s reality check with FCAT writing, many schools changed their approach. Tampa Bay Times.

Teaching. Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto says the system is driving out good teachers like his wife.

Testing. Wendy Howard with the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education offers a defense of it in this Orlando Sentinel op-ed.

Scare tactics? How bleak is the budget situation in St. Lucie really? TCPalm.com

What really happened? A forensic audit of Manatee’s fiscal problems leaves unanswered questions. Bradenton Herald.

Perfect storm. A combination of factors led to Brevard’s budget crisis. Florida Today. (more…)

Pension ruling. In a case brought by the state teachers union, the Florida Supreme Court rules 4-3 that it is constitutional for the state to require teachers and other state workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay towards their pensions. Coverage from the Herald/Times Capital Bureau, Palm Beach Post, Lakeland Ledger, Orlando Sentinel, Daytona Beach News Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, Associated Press. StateImpact Florida considers potential impacts on the lawsuit against SB 736.

Teachers in Palm Beach and Broward are “devastated,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Bitter disappointment,” writes the Tampa Tribune. “Dashed hopes,” writes the Gainesville Sun. The state should offer modest raises to “lessen the sting,” editorializes the Tampa Bay Times. Gov. Rick Scott should convert the savings into better teacher pay, editorializes the Palm Beach Post.

School safety. Gov. Scott will “listen to ideas” but not push for gun law changes, reports SchoolZone. Some Pinellas schools will consider “buzz-in access,” reports the Tampa Bay Times. Officials in the Hernando district are quietly dropping the issue, the Times also reports. The Palm Beach County district will spend $400,000 on school police aides, with more expenses on the way, reports the Palm Beach Post. Escambia Superintendent Malcolm Thomas wants armed, plainclothes marshals, reports the Pensacola News Journal.

Charter schools. The Clay County School Board shoots down an application for a performing arts academy. Florida Times Union.

Test score limbo followup. State Sen. John Legg says fix the problem with concordant scores, pronto. Tampa Bay Times.

Teacher evals. Pasco officials say in response to a query from Patricia Levesque at the Foundation for Florida’s Future that the district isn’t ready for the new requirements, given the need to develop hundreds of new tests, reports the Tampa Bay Times. (more…)

School safety. Superintendents and lawmakers talk about more funding for more security. Coverage from Gradebook, St. Augustine Record, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Daytona Beach News Journal.  Some are worried about “open campuses,” reports SchoolZone. A bill is filed that would require private schools to get safety alerts, just like public schools, from police departments and other emergency response agencies, reports redefinED.

The chairman of the Osceola County School Board, Jay Wheeler, writes in this Orlando Sentinel op-ed that the federal government should tax guns and bullets to pay for school guards: “When 26 students and school staff get killed by a crazed gunman in a public elementary school, it is a sad wake-up call for all of us that we have to do a better job protecting ourselves from our own freedoms.”

In Palm Beach County, mayors plead with the school board to install metal detectors in every school, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. More from the Palm Beach Post. In Lee County, deputies begin patrolling elementaries, reports the Fort Myers News Press. More from the Naples Daily News.

Test score limbo. If high school students fall short on the FCAT, he or she can still graduate if they get a high enough score on the ACT or SAT. But the state has yet to set new concordant scores for the other tests since upgrading the FCAT, leaving many students in limbo. Tampa Bay Times.

Charter school laws. SchoolZone notes the Center for Education Reform’s annual report card.

Why grading schools is good. EdFly Blog.

Vouchers and creationism. A Jacksonville school is among those highlighted in this MSNBC op-ed by student activist Zack Kopplin.

Privatization. The Bay County school district moves towards privatizing bus service. Panama City News Herald. (more…)

Florida private schools would get safety alerts just like public schools under a bill filed this week.

SB 284, sponsored by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, would require police departments and other emergency response agencies to notify private schools about fires, bomb threats and other major incidents just like they do now with public schools. Only private schools that opt into a school district's emergency notification policy would be affected.

Similar bills fell short of passage in recent years, but school safety is shaping up to be a bigger issue in the Florida Legislature this year in the wake of last month's shooting tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

So far, there is no House companion bill. More details, background and context from James Herzog with the Florida Catholic Conference here.

Florida reform duel. At Jay P. Greene’s Blog, researcher Matthew Ladner responds to a recent critique of Florida’s reforms from Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Institute. If you want a serious discussion of what’s working or not in Florida, including the impact or not of school choice, these guys are among the ones to read. Ladner’s conclusion: “The problem for Florida reform skeptics, in short, is that there simply isn’t any other plausible explanation for Florida’s gains outside of the reforms. … With large aggregate gains and plenty of positive research, the reasonable course is not to avoid doing any of the Florida reforms, but rather to do all of them.”

School security. Superintendents discuss the issue with the Senate Education Committee, reports the Tampa Bay Times. More from SchoolZone. Committee chair John Legg says he’s not hot on the idea of arming teachers, reporters News Service of Florida. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gaultier says he's not hot on the idea of armed officers in every elementary school, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Broward school board members worry about the cost of extra school resource officers, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Cape Coral charter schools hire one, reports the Cape Coral Daily Breeze. The Hillsborough school board shoots down Superintendent MaryEllen Elia’s plan for armed guards in every elementary school, with some calling it overboard and too expensive, reports the Tampa Tribune. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Charter school growth. Florida adds 67 charter schools this year, helping the national number top 6,000, according to new numbers from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, reports SchoolZone. More from StateImpact Florida.

Better Burger vs. Bigger Burger. School boards have too big a conflict in interest in approving charter schools. EdFly Blog.

Sushi. Culinary students at Coral Gables High learn how to make it. Miami Herald.

Teacher evaluations. The Pinellas school board tweaks its state-mandated system, but still doesn’t like it. Tampa Bay Times.

Teacher pay. More on the merit pay court challenge. Tallahassee Democrat.

Teacher input. Get more of it. Tampa Bay Times.

Teacher turnover. Too much of it. Fort Myers News Press. (more…)

Tony Bennett. On his first day on the job, he meets with superintendents and the Florida Association of District Administrators and says he is an “unapologetic advocate for school choice,” reports the Tallahassee Democrat. More from The Buzz. His first comments on the “Commissioner’s Blog” here. Interview with StateImpact Florida.

Charter school funding. More than 1,000 people turn out for a meeting called by Pembroke Pines charter parents to demand equal funding for charter schools, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

School spending. If the Broward school district wants to get the money to repair old schools, it will have to restore trust with voters and overcome a “long and lousy history of stunningly bad behavior,” editorializes the Miami Herald: “The district has been plagued by cronyism, mismanagement and a culture of dishonesty. In a scathing grand jury report released almost two years ago, jurors said they found the district so thoroughly corrupt, so reckless in its spending of taxpayers’ money, they would have recommended abolishing the school board completely if the state Constitution didn’t require its existence.” In Manatee, a forensic audit finds “incompetency -- not criminal or illegal activity -- caused a $3.4 million budget deficit that rocked the public trust,” reports the Bradenton Herald. More from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

School prayer law. “For the Satanists, it was a godsend,” writes Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino.

Cold water on the party. Former state Sen. Dan Gelber says there isn’t much for Florida to celebrate in the latest Education Week rankings. Florida Voices.

Murmurs. School administrators wanted to hear more from Gov. Rick Scott, writes Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Bousquet.

Merit pay challenge. A hearing on the FEA’s challenge of SB 736 is set for Wednesday in Leon County Court. SchoolZone. (more…)