Florida School Boards Association
Influential state Sen. David Simmons is wasting no time in his effort to improve Florida’s public school testing model. Simmons has dedicated his PreK-12 Appropriation Subcommittee’s entire second session to a discussion on assessments, and how to streamline the time and money spent on them. Read More
Charter schools. Vouchers. Tax-credit scholarships. Education savings accounts. What are these things and how do they relate to school choice? Education Week reporter Arianna Prothero breaks down the different forms of public and private school choice. Read More
Senator David Simmons says teachers shouldn’t have to hold down second jobs: “It breaks my heart when I see teachers having to work in the evening just to make ends meet and we’ve got to improve teacher compensation,” he says. Simmons, an Altamont Springs Republican, is chairing his chamber’s K-12 Education Committee. And he says…
The United States Department of Education regulations for accountability, state plans and data reporting were released November 29, 2016, effective January 30, 2017. Of note, the state plan due dates are pushed back to either April 3 or September 18, 2017. The timeline for school improvement decisions based on the accountability system is moved back…
State lawmakers will need to decide whether to hold property taxes flat or have the option of providing a significant funding increase to public schools, the chairman of the Senate budget-writing committee said Thursday. The remarks added new urgency to an emerging debate over what to do about a decision by the Legislature early this…
Most local school districts kept their classes small enough this fall to meet Florida’s class-size rules, according to recently released data from the Florida Department of Education. Read full article
Below are “5 Things You Should Know” handpicked by FSBA Executive Director, Andrea Messina. READ. LEARN. SHARE. RETWEET. Have you heard of “new collar” jobs? New study looks at new pathways into the labor market 50-state comparison of civic education policies The Future of School Busses is Connectivity Want to be a powerful leader? Be…
As Florida prepares for the arrival of medical marijuana, the Miami-Dade School Board is urging lawmakers to keep cannabis away from school children — unless they have a prescription. At a meeting on Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to call on the Florida Legislature to ban medical marijuana dispensaries within 2,500 feet of schools if they…
Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican who chairs the Senate’s public-education budget subcommittee, said Wednesday he will make another push that could reduce the amount of standardized testing in Florida schools. During the first meeting of the Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Simmons framed over-testing as something that crimps the state’s ability to spend…
For the first time in 20 years, Florida embarks on a constitutionally mandated update of the state Constitution next year and, if Florida’s top Republican officials have their way, they will use the process to overturn the most controversial rulings of the state’s high court — on education spending, private school vouchers and political redistricting.…