Several school-choice related proposals before the Florida Constitution Revision Commission could be in line for revisions.
The full commission has scheduled a marathon of meetings at the state capitol next week. All four of its school choice-related proposals could appear on the agenda. Three of them could see substantial changes.
Blaine Amendment
Commissioner Roberto Martinez has sponsored a proposal that would eliminate Florida's ban on government support of religious institutions.
This week, he proposed an amendment that would merge it with another proposal, which would eliminate a provision allowing the Legislature to ban property ownership by "aliens ineligible for citizenship."
Martinez would likely argue both proposals would purge outdated language rooted in bigotry from Florida's governing document.
A rival amendment by Commissioner Anna Marie Hernandez Gamez would take a different approach, declaring the so-called "Blaine Amendment" cannot block Florida's existing private school choice programs or "successor" programs lawmakers might create.
Some school choice advocates question whether the Blaine Amendment is truly a barrier to private school choice in Florida, as it stands.
Charter districts (more…)
Bills advance: A bill that would offer bullied students a state scholarship to attend private schools is approved by a Senate subcommittee. The bill for the Hope Scholarship program, filed by state Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, was approved on a party-line vote by the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. It would become the fourth state scholarship program. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer two of them. Orlando Sentinel. News Service of Florida. redefinED. Politico Florida. A bill that would require high school students to pass a financial literacy course as a graduation requirement has been approved by a Senate subcommittee. The bill, which was filed for the fifth straight year by state Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, got unanimous support from the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Prospects for the bill are uncertain. Some legislators say it would further cut into time needed for other requirements. News Service of Florida. Gradebook.
Teachers save student: Two Palm Beach County teachers are credited with saving the life of a 3rd-grader who accidentally stabbed himself in the arm with a pencil and punctured an artery Nov. 1. Kolston Moradi was waiting to be picked up from Equestrian Trails Elementary School in Wellington when the accident happened. Blood began gushing when Kolston removed the pencil. Reading teacher Mandi Kapopoulos used her shirt sleeve as a tourniquet, and ESE coordinator Elizabeth Richards grabbed gloves and pressed on the boy’s wound with her hands. The emergency medical technician said Kolston could have died if the teachers hadn't acted quickly. Sun-Sentinel.
School flexibility: A Miami-Dade County lawyer who sits on the state Constitution Revision Commission is proposing that high-performing traditional public school districts get the same exemptions from state statutes that charter schools are given. "I'm a big believer in choice," says Roberto Martinez, a former Florida Board of Education chairman. "And choice works both ways." Martinez's amendment defines high-performing districts as those that maintain a B grade or higher from the state in two years out of a three-year period, not drop below a C, and keep financial reserves above the state-required minimum. The commission will decide by May what amendments are placed on the ballot. Gradebook.
Testing reforms: Under the proposed "Fewer, Better Tests" bills filed Wednesday in the Legislature, all K-12 assessment testing would take place in the final three weeks of the school year, starting in the 2017-2018. S.B. 926 and H.B. 773 would also require results be returned to teachers within a week of testing, and that an understandable report be sent to parents. It also directs the education commissioner to study the feasibility of replacing the Florida Standards Assessments with the SAT or ACT. If the changes are approved, the state would also have to renegotiate its contract with testing vendor American Institutes for Research. Bill sponsors Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami; Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah; and Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, say the goal of the bills is to reduce stress and anxiety among students, parents and teachers. Miami Herald. Orlando Sentinel. News Service of Florida.
Per-student funding: Florida's spending per student ranks well below the U.S. average among states, according to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics. In the 2013-2014 school year, Florida spent $8,714 per student. The U.S. average was $10,936. Miami-Dade County spent the most per student among districts, $9,106. Gradebook.
Teaching incentives: Senators on the Florida PreK-12 education budget committee react coolly to Gov. Rick Scott's $58 million proposal for incentives to recruit and retain teachers. Specifically, senators criticized Scott's proposal for $10 million in hiring bonuses for new teachers who score in the top 10 percent in their subject-area exam. "It concerns me that we continue to look for the best performers in college -- and not the best teachers," said Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze. Miami Herald.
Gun-free zones: Bills filed in the Legislature this week are aimed at ending gun-free zones in Florida - including at K-12 schools. Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and Rep. Don Hahnfeldt, R-Villages, filed S.B. 908 and H.B. 803 to eliminate all restrictions on where people with concealed-carry permits can take their guns. Miami Herald. (more…)
Having a judge determine how much money to spend on Florida schools and where to spend it is “an exercise in futility, and madness, and a waste of funds,” Florida Board of Education member Roberto Martinez said today.
Martinez’s comments came after a Department of Education attorney updated the board on a high-profile lawsuit that charges the board and lawmakers with violating state constitutional provisions for high quality schools. It was filed in 2009 by eight plaintiffs, including the Orlando-based parents group Fund Education Now. Last month, the Florida Supreme Court refused to block it from going to trial.
Martinez, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, is among the defendants. Here is what he had to say:
So basically they’re asking a sitting trial court judge in a county – in this case, Leon County – to tell 67 superintendents and the Board of Education, for example, how much funding to put into a particular program in a district, correct? Among other things? (The attorney says yes.)
I’ve probably been one of the most outspoken members on the board for more funding for education, funding for effective programs and I believe we need more of it. But to have a court judge, no matter how capable – and this is a capable jurist – be given the responsibility to determine how much money is adequate, in order to fund a particular service or program in a particular district in the state of Florida, is an exercise in madness. It is a ridiculous relief to request because at the end of the day, it cannot be implemented. It cannot. And in fact, a judge does not have the authority to tell the Legislature how much money to appropriate. They don’t make the funding decisions. (more…)
A Florida Board of Education member proposed today that the state end its textbook adoption process, saying teachers and principals are best equipped to decide which materials are needed to help students.
Roberto Martinez of Miami said the time is right for that step, given Florida’s education reforms - tough standards, a tough accountability system and big changes to the teaching profession – as well as digital learning advances that are easing access to high-quality instructional materials.
“It seems we’re now at the stage - and certainly will be at the stage in the next couple of years - where the teachers and principals working with the districts should then be able to have the freedom to do as they deem appropriate, based upon the exercise of their professional judgment, to use whatever materials they want,” Martinez said at a board meeting this morning. “If they want to use textbooks, let them use textbooks. If they want to use primary source material, fine. Digital? Fine. Whatever it is. But I think we’re at that stage where we can give them that kind of freedom to accomplish the outcomes that we want.”
Martinez said he wanted the board to add elimination of textbook adoption to its legislative priorities for next year. He did not offer a timeline for ending the process, but in a letter to board members Monday he wrote that the Department of Education needed to work with school districts to develop “an effective transition plan.”
“These changes would get rid of the expensive and unnecessary burdens that impede the ability of our teachers and students from accessing the latest, most advanced, and best educational materials, many of which are, or will become, available through digital learning,” he wrote.
Martinez’s proposal isn’t entirely new; last year, the board discussed a plan to make Florida classrooms all digital within five years. Nevertheless, Tuesday’s comments drew an enthusiastic response from fellow board members and two superintendents in attendance. (more…)
Two more months. As expected, the Florida Board of Education decided this morning to extend the search for a new education commissioner. The board discussed the issue for about three minutes before voting unanimously in favor of a new timeline.
The original deadline for applications, Sept. 27, had drawn 16 candidates through last Friday, but no big names in ed reform and school choice circles. The new deadline is Nov. 30.
Several board members made brief reference this morning to candidate quality.
If the candidates are not "up to the level we have set - which is a very high level - I would like to have the flexibility to, if needed, to extend the deadline (again) or take other appropriate action," said board member Roberto Martinez of Miami. "I assume that would be implicit in all this."
Yes, said board chair Gary Chartrand: "We're not going to lower our standards here. And Bob, if we're not satisfied with the results, at that point in time, I think we certainly have the right to push that date out further."
The new timeline: (more…)
As the Florida Board of Education ramped up its search this morning for a new state education commissioner, one of its board members offered a polite suggestion to Gov. Rick Scott and Florida lawmakers: Give the next commish some space.
"I think all of us, the board and the political establishment, needs to understand that we need to give that person a lot of autonomy so that they can function professionally with minimal interference from the political folks," said board member Roberto Martinez of Miami (pictured here). "I say that respectfully to our elected officials."
The board is looking to replace Gerard Robinson, who left last week after little more than a year on the job. The next commissioner will be Florida's fifth in eight years, not counting interim commissioners.
Technically, the state board of education hires the commissioner. Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 to make the board responsible for that decision, in an attempt to keep education policy better insulated from shifting political winds. But it hasn't quite worked out that way.
After his election in 2006, former Gov. Charlie Crist nudged out former Education Commissioner John Winn, who was close to former Gov. Jeb Bush. The board replaced Winn with Eric J. Smith. But after Scott was elected in 2010, Smith was out, clearing the path for Robinson. Robinson abruptly announced his resignation July 31, saying he needed to return to his family in Virginia.
The board expects to have a list of candidates on Sept. 27. More from the Tampa Bay Times here.
EdWeek’s Politics K-12 blog offers an intriguing list of possible education secretaries in a Romney administration, including one prominent Floridian: Jeb Bush. But the otherwise great list overlooked another Floridian: Eric J. Smith, the state's former ed commissioner.
Smith, nudged out last year by Gov. Rick Scott, was hired by the state Board of Education in late 2007 and immediately found himself on a high-wire: Shepherding the state’s proposed new science standards, which for the first time included the teaching of evolution, through public hearings and a divided state board. Ultimately, the board approved them 4-3.
Smith led the way on Florida’s Race to the Top application and was a strong supporter of legislation that changed the way Florida teachers are evaluated and paid. Like Indiana’s Tony Bennett, he was an original member of Chiefs for Change and enjoyed strong backing from Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. One Bush ally, T. Willard Fair, was so upset by Smith's ouster that he resigned from the BOE in protest.
"Dr. Eric Smith would make an outstanding U.S. Secretary of Education,” Roberto Martinez, another board member, told redefinED via email. “When he was Florida's Commissioner of Education he proved himself to be best in the nation. During his tenure he led Florida to the top of the nation in achieving several significant educational benchmarks. He is a successful reformer because as a former hands-on teacher, principal, and superintendent he knows what works in the classroom.”
Smith’s is now a fellow in education policy at the George W. Bush Institute. His successor as commish, Gerard Robinson, is stepping down at the end of this month.
