More out, less in: Altered assumptions push Florida’s pension debt up $2.6 billion

In a small, unassuming Capitol conference room last week, state pension officials made multi-billion-dollar tweaks to the Florida Retirement System’s 1.1 million-member pension plan.  The two-day conference concluded with revisions to key assumptions used to determine the value of the state pension fund. The result: another $2.6 billion in public debt. Read full article

NAACP Officially Calls for a Ban on New Charter Schools

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is officially calling for a ban on new charter schools.  During its national meeting in Cincinnati Saturday, the NAACP’s national board ratified a proposal which was put forward by its members this summer. Members cited concerns over discipline and segregation within charter schools, among many other…

Opinions: Five myths about charter schools

They’re in demand among parents who say traditional public schools have failed — but they’re not always successful. Their intense rate of growth has fueled an equally intense debate about the role they’ll play in the future of U.S. education. Advocates see their expansion as evidence that parents have a huge appetite for school choice.…

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…