Florida Senate Starts Looking At Teacher Pay, School Funding, Recess And Testing

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…

FDOE Memo: Every Student Succeeds Act Update

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…

School Board wants to keep marijuana that looks candy away from kids

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…

Budget chairman wants ‘serious look’ at testing

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…

Republican lawmakers have big plans for Florida’s unique process to revise Constitution

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.…