Florida School Boards Association
Back about 15 years ago, the Florida Legislature gave school districts the opportunity to apply for charter status, freeing them from many of the rules and limitations that the state imposes on public education. Hillsborough County won the label. So, too, did Volusia and Palm Beach counties. The districts tinkered around the edges of the…
Close your eyes for a minute and daydream about a world without bubble tests. Education Week recently reported that some Republican Senate aides are doing more than dreaming — they’re drafting a bill that would eliminate the federal mandate on standardized testing. Annual tests for every child in reading and math in grades 3 through 8,…
State senators had a laundry list of questions for Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart last week. They aren’t done yet. On Tuesday, Sens. Don Gaetz, Bill Montford and John Legg sent Stewart six pages of follow-up questions. “We appreciate your willingness to discuss these issues fully and candidly and to engage senators on a very specific level,” the…
Your Jan. 3 editorial, “An encouraging Voucher Victory,” fails to correctly explain the basics of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Vouchers divert money from the public school system by allowing corporations to fund the voucher program instead of paying taxes to the state. A corporation may receive tax credit for up to 100 percent…
Florida, often considered a leader in school reform, wasn’t ranked among the top 10 in the nation for public education this year. It wasn’t even in the top 20. The state earned 28th in an overall ranking of states and the District of Columbia published each year by Education Week in its “Quality Counts” report.…
Following up on a campaign promise, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday released a plan to increase education spending in Florida to a record high. Scott wants the state to spend $7,176 on each public-school student — a $261 bump over this year’s figure and $50 more than the record set in 2007-08. His proposal would…
When lawmakers return to Tallahassee in March for the annual legislative session, they have a lot of questions they need to answer about public school testing. Senators laid out their concerns about the state testing system last week at a series of meetings. They don’t know how many tests the state requires, or how long…
Letter to the Editor in response to the editorial “Encouraging voucher victory” posted on January 3, 2015 Religious freedom? In your Jan. 3 editorial “Encouraging voucher victory” you mention that you fail to see how Florida’s Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship scheme violates the separation of church and state. I became a plaintiff in this case…
Florida’s public education system has dropped dramatically in a widely cited ranking of the 50 states. The drop from sixth place to 28th place on Education Week’s “Quality Counts” report is a black eye for state educators. Two years ago, Gov. Rick Scott cited Florida’s high ranking as vindication of the state’s education policies. But…
Candidates mouthed the words “education” a lot in 2014, but it was not a decisive election issue. Still, against the odds, 2015 might be the year the Florida Department of Education makes a sincere effort to make its testing policies reasonable. There has been legitimate concern that Rick Scott, safe in his second term and…