State Chiefs Pitch ESSA Spending Rules With Less Bean Counting

The Council of Chief State School Officers has proposed its own plan for ensuring that federal funds supplement and do not supplant state and local education spending, a plan that differs in a few key respects from the U.S. Department of Education’s own proposed rules.  Under the proposal that CCSSO is submitting as a formal public comment…

Associated Industries seeks public comment on workers’ comp rates

Associated Industries of Florida moved Tuesday to build public support behind a fix for rising workers’ compensation insurance rates that business interests see as a threat to the state’s economy.  The lobby solicited comments from the public “on how Florida can restore a stable, self-executing, and affordable workers’ compensation system as the Florida Legislature intended,”…

OnBoard Blog, November 2016 – “Tips for Reaching Consensus on Your Board”

Tips for Reaching Consensus on Your Board Present your position as lucidly and logically as possible. Consider other members’ reactions. Avoid arguing solely for your idea. Postponement of decisions to reconsider and work through the issues can be vital to the process. Do not assume that someone must win and someone must lose when discussion reaches…

How the political clout of a charter school mega-company could be at risk in Florida

One of Florida’s largest for-profit charter school management companies, Academica, has long enjoyed considerable influence in the state Legislature. Until last year, two Academica employees served as state lawmakers — and the brother-in-law of the company’s founder also held the education purse strings in the House. Read full article

Minorities, poor hit hardest by stricter Bright Futures requirements

Tens of thousands of Florida’s poorest students are finding it harder to afford college because of tougher qualifications for the state’s Bright Futures scholarship.  The academic scholarship was created in 1997 to keep the state’s top students in Florida schools. But the legislature voted in 2011 to increase the required scores on ACT and SAT…

U.S. Department of Education Releases Guidance on Supporting Early Learning through the Every Student Succeeds Act

The U.S. Department of Education released today non-regulatory guidance to help ensure young children from birth through third-grade get the strong start they need to achieve success in school and in life. This is the Department’s first comprehensive look at how the nation’s new education law supports our youngest learners. Read full article