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Florida Association of District School Superintendents

Florida Schools Roundup redefinED education roundup

Florida schools roundup: School shooting tips, ex-charter owner sentenced and more

Compiled by redefinED staff November 14, 2018

Missed warning signs: More than 30 people knew of disturbing and threatening behavior by accused school shooter Nikolas Cruz but didn’t report it until after the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Two students who did try to report what they knew were brushed off by school officials, according to testimony Tuesday. Another tip failed to prompt action from the FBI, which led parents of one slain student to file suit Tuesday against the agency. The commission’s hearings continue through Friday. Sun-Sentinel. Politico Florida. Miami Herald. Associated Press.

Ex-charter owner sentenced: A former Florida charter schools owner is sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $5 million for racketeering and organized fraud. Marcus May, who owned 15 Newpoint Education Partners charter schools in Escambia, Bay, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, was found guilty by an Escambia jury in October of colluding with a vendor to sell materials to the schools for as much as triple the market rate, then splitting the profits. Pensacola News Journal. WKRG. Tampa Bay Times.

November 14, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Education amendment, funding request and more

Compiled by redefinED staff April 17, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Education amendment: A proposed constitutional amendment that bundles three education issues will appear on the November ballot. The Constitution Revision Commission, in a 27-10 vote, approves Proposal 6003, which calls for eight-year term limits on school board members, gives the authority to approve charter schools to an entity other than local school boards, and requires civics to be taught in public schools. It was one of eight amendments approved on Monday. Another education proposal, which would have allowed “high-performing” public school districts to apply for an exemption from following some state laws and regulations, as charter schools can now, was rejected by the CRC. There will be 13 amendment proposals on the ballot. Each must be approved by 60 percent of voters to take effect. Miami Herald. News Service of Florida. Gradebook. redefinED. Orlando Sentinel. Associated Press. Politico Florida.

Education funding: The state’s school superintendents say that if legislators are going to be called for a special session on gambling, they should also reconsider funding for education. The Florida Association of District School Superintendents wants the Legislature to increase the base allocation by $152 per student, which would cost the state about $300 million. It also wants to be able to use money from the program that calls for arming school employees to instead hire school resource officers. A previous request by the group for a special session to take another look at education funding was denied. Gradebook.

April 17, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: ‘Hope’ operators, school security and more

Compiled by redefinED staff March 28, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

Hope operators: Two charter school companies have been named the state’s first “Hope operators” in a unanimous vote by the Florida Board of Education. Somerset Academy, managed by Miami-based Academica, and IDEA Public Schools of Texas will now have access to low-cost loans for facilities, state grants, a streamlined application process and exemptions from some state laws if they apply to open “Schools of Hope” within five miles of persistently low-performing public schools. Somerset based its application on the work it’s done since taking over the Jefferson County School District, and IDEA puts on emphasis on college preparation. IDEA has already identified Tampa and Jacksonville as possible locations for schools. redefinED. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida.

School security: An increase of nearly $100 million in the state budget for school security probably isn’t enough to put an armed resource officer in every school, according to a report from the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. The superintendents are asking the Florida Board of Education to support their request that they be allowed to use the $67 million that’s in the so-called guardian program to train and arm school personnel, much of which will likely go unspent because many districts oppose the idea. News Service of Florida. The Palm Beach County School District expects to receive $6.1 million from the state as part of the new law requiring resource officers in every school. District officials say that will be enough to hire 75 officers and cover every school. Palm Beach Post. Brevard County school officials expect to get $2.4 million from the state, but say the cost of putting an officer in every school will be $7.8 million. Florida Today. U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, asks Attorney General Jeff Sessions to direct $75 million in the federal spending bill toward putting police officers into schools. Gradebook. School board in Martin and Leon counties vote to allow only trained law enforcement officers to carry guns in schools. TCPalm. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU. The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department is looking for 14 candidates to become school resource officers at 12 elementary schools in the unincorporated areas of the county, at a cost of $1.1 million. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Bradenton Herald. School security will receive extra funding if Marion County voters renew a 1-mill property tax that was approved in 2014 to provide $15 million a year for more teachers and for art, music, physical education and vocational programs. Ocala Star-Banner.

Extension denied: Oscar Patterson Elementary School won’t get an extra year to turn around its string of failing grades, the Florida Board of Education decides. Bay County School Superintendent Bill Husfelt appealed to the board for an extra year to get the school’s grade up to a C, so a decision on whether to close the school or turn it over to an outside operator could be delayed. Principal Darnita Rivers called the state’s decision “disappointing but not discouraging.” Panama City News Herald. WMBB.

March 28, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Walkout, special session request and more

Compiled by redefinED staff March 15, 2018

Compiled by redefinED staff

National walkout: Students from around the United States walk out of their classrooms to honor those killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland a month ago, and to protest against gun violence. Some also gathered at the White House, chanting for gun regulations, then marched to the Capitol for a meeting with sympathetic members of Congress. Associated Press. New York Times. Politico Florida. GateHouse. The 74. Education Week. Chalkbeat. Thousands of students around Florida, including those from Stoneman Douglas High, also walk out of their schools. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Palm Beach Post. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Times-Union. Florida Today. Lakeland Ledger. Lakeland Ledger. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Fort Myers News-Press. Pensacola News Journal. TCPalm. Gainesville Sun. Panama City News Herald. St. Augustine Record. Daily Commercial. Citrus County Chronicle. WUSF. WUFT. WJAX. WFLA. WTSP. WEAR.

Education budget protest: The state’s school superintendents are lobbying Gov. Rick Scott to call a legislative special session on funding for schools. They say the recently signed state budget won’t cover the rising costs of operating schools. The Legislature approved an $88.7 billion budget that includes a $101.50 increase in per-student funding, but the Florida Association of District School Superintendents points out in its letter to Scott that just 47 cents of that is free to cover such expenses as retirement contributions, employee health-care costs and utility bills. Most of the rest goes to school safety and improving mental health services. “We are grateful the state stepped up … to pass a school safety bill,” says Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie. “However, that I believe is being done at the expense of our core business.” News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. Scott received the budget Wednesday, and now has 15 days to decide on line-by-line items and whether to sign it. News Service of Florida.

School safety: The U.S. House overwhelmingly passes a $75 million Secure Our Schools bill to improve school safety by making grants to school districts and states to train students, teachers and law enforcement officers on quickly recognizing and responding to warning signs, for technology, and to develop anonymous reporting programs. Associated Press. Politico Florida. Sun-Sentinel. Language in Florida’s new school safety bill that allows charges for any school threats, even ones that are not specific, can be traced to a 2014 Sarasota school threat that a judge ruled could not be prosecuted because it was a general statement not directed at any individual. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Brevard County School Board members say they are open to arming select school employees. Brevard is the only one of the state’s 12 largest districts that is open to the marshal program provision of the new school safety law. Florida Today. School resource officers are now in all 16 Indian River County elementary schools. TCPalm.

March 15, 2018 0 comment

Florida Schools Roundup

Florida schools roundup: Testing conflict, report cards, lawsuit and more

Compiled by redefinED staff July 11, 2017

Compiled by redefinED staff

Testing conflict: The Florida Association of District School Superintendents is objecting to the state’s plan to dump the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test for high school students as an alternative to the algebra I end-of course exam. The Department of Education says the PERT standard is too low, and is recommending the PSAT as the alternative. Superintendents say both the PSAT and PERT should be options until the state has studied the relative value of each. The group also opposes the state’s plan to increase the SAT score required to use as an alternative to the 10th grade language arts test, arguing the state’s proposal raises the level to college readiness. Gradebook.

Late report cards: A provision of the new state education law will delay the issuing of end-of-year report cards by several weeks in 2018. The law pushes back all state standardized testing into the final three weeks of the school year, which means the Department of Education now has until June 30 to deliver test results to districts. The districts then factor in the test results and issue report cards. The only exception will be for 3rd-graders’ language arts test results, which must be delivered to districts by May 31. Gradebook.

Lawsuit issues: The education bill, H.B. 7069, was written to allow specific provisions to be found unconstitutional without the whole law being invalidated. But a threatened lawsuit against the law could challenge it on the grounds that it violates the state constitution’s rule requiring laws to address a single subject. If that happens and is successful, it would threaten everything else in the bill, from an expansion of the Gardiner scholarships for students with special needs to mandatory daily recess for elementary students. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer the Gardiner scholarships for the state. redefinED.

Top teachers: Florida’s teacher of the year will be named Thursday night by the Florida Department of Education. The finalists are Katelyn Fiori, an elementary school teacher from Indian River County; Diego Fuentes, who teaches children with disabilities in Marion County; Tammy Jerkins, who teaches pre-calculus in Lake County; Vanessa Ko, a middle school math teacher in Pinellas County; and Michael Miller, a 5th grade teacher in Osceola County. The winner gets $25,000, a trip for four to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and a year out of the classroom to be an education ambassador for the state. Orlando Sentinel.

July 11, 2017 0 comment

Catholic Schools Charter Schools Education and Public Policy Education Politics Education Reporting Funding Parental Choice School Choice

Florida charter school bill okayed along party lines

Sherri Ackerman February 6, 2013

Sherri Ackerman

The Florida House subcommittee on choice and innovation approved its first bill along party lines Wednesday, giving charter schools more freedom to grow but also including new accountability measures.

Lawmakers continue to amend the bill, which would allow charter schools to move into unused district facilities. It would also tighten some contract requirements to deter fiscal mismanagement.

Charter school advocates mostly offered praise for the proposal, which still has a long way to go in the legislative process.

“We think this is a very good bill,’’ said former legislator and lobbyist Jim Horne, who recalled supporting the state’s very first charter bill in 1995.

It didn’t pass that year, but did in 1996. Soon after, the first charter school opened, said Horne, who also served as education commissioner. Today, there are more than 500 charters serving 200,000 students – enough, if they were a school district, to rank as second- or third-largest in Florida and eighth-largest in America, he said.

Yet “we still have over 80,000 students on a waiting list,’’ said Horne, who represents Charter Schools USA. “Legislation like this moves things along.’’

The bill drew its share of criticism from traditional public school proponents. They cautioned the representatives to think about how some of the proposals – especially one that allows charters to move into district schools – might impact the future of public education.

“We have capacity at our schools because of charters,’’ said Colleen Conklin, a member of the Flagler County School Board. “We need to be responsible for reform. We need to have education settings where students don’t want to leave. We need a balance.’’

February 6, 2013 0 comment

Blog Administration Charter Schools Customization Parental Choice School Boards School Choice

Evolving conversations about school choice in Florida

Sherri Ackerman December 6, 2012

Sherri Ackerman

Frank

When people hear the term “school choice,” they usually don’t think about it in a traditional public school setting, said Joy Frank, general counsel for the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. But public school districts offer students a growing array of choice programs, too, from online classes to career academies to International Baccalaureate programs.

“We have embraced choice,” Frank told members of the Florida House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee during its first meeting this week.

Frank’s comments are another sign of evolving perceptions regarding parental school choice. She and others who are grounded in the traditional public school camp may not embrace publicly funded private options such as vouchers and tax credit scholarships. But it wasn’t long ago that even public options such as IB and magnet schools were considered controversial. Implicit in her remarks is an acknowledgement that giving parents more choice for their children is a worthy goal.

Frank went on to tout public school choice programs across the state, including Polk County’s Central Florida Aerospace Academy, which has a high school at the Lakeland Regional Airport. She also lauded the phenomenal growth of school choice in Miami-Dade County, which opened its first magnet school in 1973 and now offers some 340 choice programs serving 43,000 students. (Coincidentally or not, the Miami-Dade school district also has among the highest rates of students enrolled in charter schools and private schools via tax credit scholarships.)

Traditional school leaders in Florida are increasingly making similar statements.

December 6, 2012 0 comment

Blog Administration Education and Public Policy Virtual Education

A bill expanding Florida’s virtual education landscape advances

Amy Graham April 5, 2011

Amy Graham

A bill that would turn Florida’s virtual education landscape into a public-private potpourri of learning options passed a Senate committee this afternoon without a peep of dissent.

In fact, among the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee members who voted in support was a newly elected Democrat, Bill Montford, who is also the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. Among those who testified in favor of the bill, SB 1620, was an elected School Board member from a small northeast Florida county, Jim Adams, who said it would be an educational boon to students in rural areas and those in foster care. Most strikingly, among the organizations that signed up to voice support was the Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest and most successful public virtual school.

The bill is sponsored by Miami Sen. Anitere Flores, who said the goal is to provide as many quality online education options as possible for all Florida students. She told the committee the bill is the work product of many groups that came together to endorse a plan that provides fulltime and part-time virtual options, creates multiple statewide virtual providers that would be approved by the Department of Education, expands Florida Virtual School to serve K-5 students, and creates virtual charter schools and blended-learning charter schools.

The bill is similar to a report issued by a choice working group called the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education, a group that included both private providers and Florida Virtual School representatives. Though it is getting a late start in the 2011 session, the bill looks likely to pick up momentum. The outgoing and respected education commissioner, Eric Smith, issued a statement in support: “Florida is a national leader when it comes to the use of virtual instruction in public education, showcasing programs and entire schools that are using technology to fulfill the academic dreams of students. Should this bill become law, it will mean the dawn of a new era of education innovation in our state, resulting in countless new learning opportunities for every student.” Additionally, a press conference is scheduled for Thursday to showcase the broad-based and bipartisan support.

A House bill introduced last week, HB 7197, is not nearly so ambitious, and the push is to conform the House approach with that of Sen. Flores.

April 5, 2011 2 comments