Editor’s note: Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam was a late arrival and one of the last speakers at Wednesday’s education summit on Common Core in Orlando. But he delivered some of the most memorable lines, stressing better communication with parents about education reform and school choice. Here’s a transcript of his remarks.

This is all our responsibility. Making sure that our kids can compete in a global workforce. Our piece of the puzzle may be school nutrition. And working with Sen. Montford and MaryEllen (Elia) in Hillsborough and others. We’re going to be in Pinellas tomorrow kicking off a breakfast program. We know kids can’t do well on the FCAT (if they’re hungry). I know back when we took the HSCT 25 years ago, the home ec teacher made sure every kid had a glass of orange juice and a ham biscuit.

But as a parent of four public school students – my wife’s president of the PTA, Jean (to Jean Hovey with the Florida PTA). She has a spring fling planning meeting today. We need to raise $15,000 at the carnival. But the biggest challenge I think we face as we continue to push Florida where Florida is capable of going, is managing the expectations and preparing parents for what we are asking of them. Because as a guy who is amazed at the homework my kids have, and how technology has transformed their world – my daughter stayed home yesterday sick, she was devastated. She was ruining her perfect attendance record, which is not a guilt I was ever burdened with. As she felt better during the day, she got on the computer and had almost no make-up work because so much of her work was computer-based. It was easily accessible. It was web-based. It was already there. She could email her teacher on Edmodo and all these other things. My 5-year-old’s excited about the points he’s accumulated on Accelerated Reader.

I have parents, when we’re sitting around at Beef O Brady’s after a T-ball game, who may be concerned about the rate of reform, the rate of transformation in education. But they don’t realize they’re on the cutting edge of that transformation. You know, they got a daughter who’s about to graduate from high school with an AA, because she’s also been taking dual enrollment at the community college. They don’t realize that’s an extraordinary transformation in how we’re preparing a new work force in partnership with our state colleges. Or someone who has the opportunity to take PE online as a band member, on the computer, through the virtual school. Or any number of other things where they’re not going about the traditional method.

Parents are of course experts on education because they went to school, right? It’s the same thing in the Legislature. The two things that everybody is an expert on: ethics and election issues, and education issues. Because they all got elected, and they all went to school somewhere. It’s a very dangerous thing.

But parents are the same way. They think this is not what I did when I was your age, therefore, we’re trying to do too much. I didn’t have to pass Algebra to graduate from high school, therefore, we’re doing too much. We have to have champions, in the business community and in public life, who are constantly painting the picture. We’re not breaking through mediocrity. We’re celebrating greatness. We’re the sixth best in the country and continuing to do better. We’re closing the minority achievement gap, and continuing to do better. But here’s why it’s important. Here’s why your kids are doing things you weren’t doing in third grade. Here’s why they’re going to have to hit certain milestones you didn’t have to hit to graduate from high school. Because you weren’t competing against Bangalore and Beijing to get a job.

But nobody’s reminded them of that. And nobody’s reminded them of all the options their kids have that they didn’t have. (more…)

From Religion News Service:

Since Florida became the first state to try them in 1996, virtual public schools have enjoyed dramatic growth, with at least some of it coming from religious families. Like home-schooling parents, parents of virtual public school students like having their children home so they can integrate religion and values into the school day.

In the 2011-2012 school year, 275,000 students were enrolled in online K-12 programs, up from 50,000 a decade ago, according to “Keeping Pace with Online and Blended Learning: A Guide to Policy and Practice 2012,” a report from the Colorado-based Evergreen Education Group. Currently, 32 states and the District of Columbia offer virtual public schools.

A growing number of private religious schools are also seeking religious course developers to develop virtual courses for them.

“There’s a lot of interest about online learning in the faith community,” said Matthew Wicks, chief operating officer for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Full story here.

Promise of online learning. Pinellas math and statistics teacher Rob Tarrou puts his lessons online, a la Khan Academy, and wins fans around the world, reports the Tampa Bay Times. My favorite graph: “A reporter recently asked students in that statistics class how many had other teachers post educational videos online. No one raised a hand. Next, students were asked how many wished their other teachers would post videos online. Nearly all raised their hands.” See a “Tarrou’s Chalk Talk” video here.

Valerie Strauss on Tony Bennett coming to Florida: Column here.

Rick Scott’s ed plan falls short. Especially on charter schools, editorializes the Tampa Bay Times.

Republican hubris and Amendment 8: In its roundup of election winners and losers, the Tampa Bay Times suggests Amendment 8 had a lot to do with vouchers – and that it fits into the narrative about GOP overreach.

Contracting complaints. At the Division of Blind Services, which falls under the Florida Department of Education, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

Amendment 8 debate. Video at the Naples Daily News. Featuring Jim Towey, Ave Maria University president, and Howard Simon, Florida ACLU executive director. The Naples Daily News also runs this op-ed in favor of 8.

Drug-sniffing dogs. The U.S. Supreme Court considers arguments in two cases, including one in Florida, with potential implications for the use of drug-sniffing dogs in public schools, reports Education Week.

Request for investigation. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, wants an investigation of online education provider K12, reports StateImpact Florida.

Online growth. Lake County appoints its first virtual school principal, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Growth in tax credit scholarships. From redefinED (with speadsheet showing district-by-district growth over the past eight years). From Gradebook.

Vouchers and the Florida Supreme Court. Critics of the three justices up for a merit retention vote say their 2006 ruling on vouchers is evidence of liberal judicial activism, the Washington Post reports in a broader story about the campaign against the justices.

Trying to compete with teachers unions for influence. The Miami Herald looks at growing political contributions from charter and virtual school interests, and frames the story this way: “Some observers say the big dollars foreshadow the next chapter of a fierce fight in Tallahassee: the privatization of public education.” Last Friday on redefinED, Doug Tuthill argued that the term “privatization,” as typically used in ed debates, is misleading.

Florida Supreme Court and vouchers. Two separate columns in recent days cited the Florida Supreme Court’s 2006 decision to overturn vouchers as a reason behind efforts to convince voters to deny the retention of three justices. South Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo here. UF law professor Joe Little in the Tallahassee Democrat here.

State Board of Education is wrong. So says the Tampa Bay Times, in this editorial about the board’s decision to set race-based achievement goals that include steeper rates of progress for low-income and minority students. More coverage in the Orlando Sentinel here.

Complaints about private school in Pasco. WTSP-Ch. 10 talks to parents who say officials are doctoring tests and report cards at Zephyrhills Christian Academy, a private school that accepts McKay vouchers for disabled students.

Superintendents and tax-credit scholarships. St. Johns County Superintendent Joe Joyner relays his concerns to the Florida Times Union.

New teacher evals cause angst in Pinellas. Tampa Bay Times story here.

Voucher tsunami. (This story from the Topeka Capital-Journal is a couple weeks old, but I didn’t see it until this weekend.) A leading state lawmaker in Kansas, Rep. Marc Rhoades, says vouchers are on their way to the Sunflower State, and he references programs in Milwaukee and Florida: “In my opinion, it’s like a tidal wave that’s coming, and I don’t know that the education establishment can withstand it forever.”

In the next five years, Florida aims to double the number of students attending charter schools, to 360,000, and more than double the number attending private schools with tax credit scholarships, to 100,000, according to the state Board of Education’s draft strategic plan.

It’s no secret that expanding school choice is central to the board’s vision of education reform. But the draft plan, which the board is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, shows just how sweeping that vision continues to be, even for a state that’s already recognized as a national leader in learning options.

Charter schools: Last year, Florida had 518 schools and 179,940 students enrolled in charter schools. The BOE’s draft goal for 2017-18: 829 schools and 359,880 students.

McKay scholarships: Last year, 24,194 students with disabilities used these vouchers to attend private schools. The draft goal for 2017-18: 31,441.

Tax credit scholarships: Last year, 40,248 low-income students attended private schools with them. The draft goal for 2017-18: 100,620.

Virtual education: Last year, 3.84 percent of Florida students were enrolled in online programs part time and 0.24 percent were enrolled full time. For 2017-18, the BOE is shooting for 5 percent part-time and 1 percent full-time. (more…)

We like to think of Florida as School Choice Central, but there is more competition for that title every year and, alas, according to the Center for Education Reform, it may now belong to Indiana. The Hoosier State takes the top spot in the center's newly created “Parent Power Index,” released today, while Florida comes up short by a hair.

The center credits Florida for being a leader in private learning options and online course enrollments. But it says the state should allow independent bodies such as universities to authorize charter schools (there are constitutional questions here) and adds that “funding of charter schools in Florida has become increasingly inequitable.” It also notes: No parent trigger law.

Indiana, meanwhile, gets praise for its fledgling statewide voucher program and a “much tested and improved charter school law.”

The center says the upcoming movie Won’t Back Down inspired the index, which “measures the ability in each state of a parent to exercise choices, engage with their local school board, and have a voice in the systems that surround their child.”

Florida: The Seminole County School District, one of the state's biggest, offers more online classes and other educational options to compete with private and charter schools and home schooling (Orlando Sentinel). Meanwhile, another large district receives 36 applications for new charter schools (Palm Beach Post).

Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam says questions remain on a voucher proposal that's expected to get legislative attention next year (Nashville Public Radio). State education officials and the Nashville school board are in a standoff over a proposed charter school that wants to open in an affluent part of the city (Education Week).

Louisiana: In the wake of the new voucher program, state education officials will consider tightening rules for the establishment of new private schools. (New Orleans Times Picayune) Expanded online learning options give Louisiana students a chance to graduate early or catch up on credits. (The Advocate)

Washington: The state PTA opposes the charter school initiative on the November ballot. (The News Tribune)

Texas: Some charter school supporters oppose a state education funding lawsuit that suggests state resources are inadequate. (Austin American Statesman)

Indiana: Between vouchers and charter schools, northwest Indiana parents have more school choices than ever before. (Post Tribune) (more…)

by Star Kraschinsky

Florida Virtual School® (FLVS®) opened its virtual doors in August 1997 as the country’s first Internet-based public high school with seven teachers and 77 students. Today, the statewide, public virtual school serves more than 122,000 public, private, charter and home-schooled students in Kindergarten through 12th grade and provides e-solutions to all 67 Florida school districts, the remaining 49 states and to 57 countries.

Through FLVS and online learning solutions, curriculum and scheduling choices are no longer limited to local school offerings or a student’s zip code. Access is offered 24/7/365 from any place with Internet connection. Fast forward 10, maybe even just five years, and this paradigm shift on how to best serve students – where they are and not where we want them to be – will be almost complete.

The fundamental belief of FLVS that every student is unique and learns at a different pace is as true today as it was 15 years ago. It’s all about personalized learning and instruction.

In the future, when funding completely follows a child, he/she will be able to be zoned to one “home” school, but take courses from various schools. Students and their parents will have educational choices; they will be able to map out their own personalized learning journey.

With funding following the student, the bottom line will not be at the center of all decisions made; the student will be at the center – as he/she should be. (more…)