Charters security ruling: An administrative law judge rules that the Palm Beach County District must assign security officers to charter schools in order to comply with a state law passed last year. The school board had refused to provide officers for Renaissance Charter School Inc., which operates six schools in the county. "(The law) clearly and unambiguously requires school boards and superintendents — not charter school operators — to ‘establish or assign’ SSOs [safe-school officers], with the assistance of local law enforcement agencies, to every public school within their respective jurisdictions, including charter schools,” wrote Judge John Van Laningham. He did not rule on who is responsible for paying for the officers. News Service of Florida.

Guns at schools: Two bills that widen the ability of people to have guns on the grounds of schools are approved by the House Criminal Justice Committee. H.B. 403 would allow people to carry concealed weapons in churches that also have schools on the same property, and H.B. 6005 would require school districts to allow anyone over 18 years old to store a firearm in their vehicles on school grounds. Both were supported by the National Rifle Association. The current law allows districts to prohibit guns at schools and their parking lots. News Service of Florida. Sun Sentinel. Gradebook. Florida Phoenix. WFSU. (more…)

Charter schools report: A report issued Monday by the research group Integrity Florida warns state officials about the proliferation of charter schools. The report concludes that charter schools have largely failed to deliver promised innovation, and says the closure of an average of 20 charter schools a year since 1998 "comes with a cost to taxpayers.” Ben Wilcox, research director of Integrity Florida, writes: “Lax regulation of charter schools has created opportunities for corporate profiteering, financial mismanagement, fraud and criminal corruption.” News Service of Florida. Florida Times-Union. WWSB. Capitol Soup. Florida Phoenix. WFSU.

School abuse reports: Students at a private Port St. Lucie military school have been punched, choked, kicked, used as free child labor and placed in shackles as punishment for various transgressions, according to reports the state Department of Children and Families has been compiling since 1994. But the Southeastern Military Academy is still open, though it has just 12 students this year. The school isn't licensed by the state or any private organization, other than the National Association for Christian Education, but it doesn't need to be because licenses aren't required of private schools in Florida. According to the Florida Department of Education, the school has received $250,000 since 2014 in McKay scholarships, given by the state to students with special needs. School operators Alan and Molly Weierman had no comment. WPTV. (more…)