FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know (Week of October 10, 2016)

FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know Each week, Executive Director, Andrea Messina, picks five of the top education news pieces to share with members. Read. Learn. Share. Retweet.   New report out on nation’s Hispanic student demographics Class size amendment may be topic of conversation, again Researchers Studying Ways To Predict School Violence…

Modern E-Rate Puts Telephones On Hold in K-12

Even in the internet age, the lowly telephone remains an indispensable tool in the day-to-day operations of nearly every school.  But thanks to the double whammy of declining state aid and disappearing federal subsidies for such “legacy” technology services, districts nationwide are scrambling to fill a roughly $359 million hole in their collective budgets, according…

Miami Beach city leaders urge Florida’s school officials to push for class size changes

Miami Beach city leaders have turned to Florida’s superintendents for help in trying to close loopholes in the state’s class size reduction rules.  The City Commission recently sent district leaders a copy of its September resolution that asks lawmakers to reverse the “weakening” of the 2002 constitutional amendment that occurred. Those include examples such as a…

State issues final order for workers’ comp cost increase

As expected, state insurance regulators have issued a final order jacking up the price of worker’s compensation insurance by nearly 15 percent.  The order was published Thursday.  The decision approves the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) request “for an overall combined statewide average rate increase of 14.5 percent,” the Office of Insurance Regulation said in a…

Significant Education Cases on Supreme Court Docket

The U.S. Supreme Court opened its new term Oct. 3 still feeling the effects of the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia. With the nomination of Merrick B. Garland stuck in political limbo, the eight members of the court have adopted a cautious approach to their docket for the new term, many legal experts say. …