Florida School Boards Association
A House education panel on Thursday began delving into the issue of raising teacher pay, with a key lawmaker saying that while “everything is on the table,” the panel still needs to figure out where the money would come from.Rep. Chris Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who chairs the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said his panel…
By his own admission, Kenneth Wagner isn’t “a super-religious person.” But the police chief in suburban Jacksonville recently found himself pleading with God — praying enough people would apply in time to fill close to 50 job openings. Earlier this year, after lawmakers in Florida required school districts to heighten security following a mass school…
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced this week that it will use most of the $166 million it received in Volkswagen settlement money to replace diesel buses and shuttle vans with electric models . . . Some $5 million of that $116 million will help districts replace older diesel school buses with electric…
The Legislature will hold a second round of Interim Committee Meetings this week. Education related Committees and Subcommittees will receive overviews on educator professional development, the state system of school improvement, teacher compensation, and the FDOE’s Legislative Budget Request (LBR). Other Committees will consider a few bills of interest, including bills relating to public records,…
Census Tract 119.04 in Hillsborough County constitutes a perfect rectangle in a densely populated section of West Tampa just north of Al Lopez Park . . . . The Census Bureau defines a tract as “hard to count” if 73% or fewer residents return their Census questionnaires. In the 2010 Census, the mail-back rate for…
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he would be pushing the Florida Legislature to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers to $47,500. While each school district sets their own starting salaries now, Florida currently ranks near the bottom in the nation for average teacher pay, and salary raises have been something that teachers have…
Hundreds of Florida schools learned late Friday how large a piece of the state’s $131.5 million recognition fund they’d get this year, if any. The news came shortly after the Department of Education finished processing 2018-19 school grade appeals, finalizing the list of which campuses would be eligible for the $100 per student award. Read…
A bill filed by an influential Republican state senator proposes to repeal Florida’s “Best and Brightest” program for teacher bonuses, after years of dissatisfaction from many teachers with the program’s requirements. Read More
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been tight-lipped about the details of his teacher-compensation plan for the upcoming legislative session, but this week he suggested doing away with a controversial bonus program.Yet a number of Republican lawmakers and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran say they want to keep bonuses in teacher-pay discussions during the 2020 session. Read More
The Florida House made clear Tuesday that prekindergarten and early education will receive heavy attention in the coming legislative session, as the state aims to better prepare its children for kindergarten and beyond. “This is where it starts. It starts with early learning,” Education Committee chairwoman Rep. Jennifer Sullivan said to introduce her panel’s two-hour…