In the waning hours of their 2016 session, Florida lawmakers approved a bill expanding families’ school options across county lines. Education choice advocates trumpeted the move as a bold step to let students attend any public school in the state. They equated it with Florida’s broad charter school and tax credit scholarship programs. But officials…
n every election voters have the chance to make their voices heard, but this year they have the opportunity to cause a massive shift in the direction we’re going — especially in Florida. The national election — driven by the presidential race — has illustrated the intensity of voter dissatisfaction toward the two-party system, the…
Today’s Friday Five are five reasons your membership in FSBA is valuable: 1. Full time staff on call to answer all of your questions, all of the time 2. 125+ years of experience in Florida school board issues and challenges 3. Transparency with membership, meetings, budgets, and legislative priorities 4. Transparency with bylaws and policies…
Through homelessness and physical disability, it would have been easy for Norberto Orellana to give up on his studies. Instead, the 18-year old graduated from high school Thursday with a near-perfect GPA, a full ride scholarship and a goal to get into medical school. On the last day of classes for Miami-Dade public schools, he…
Over the past half century, Florida has changed from solidly Democratic to a two-party state that media, candidates and analysts watch closely to see which way the nation’s political winds will blow. How did this happen? Why, going into the 2016 election year, does Florida qualify as a premier swing state? Florida’s political evolution began…
Beginning this fall, high school football players in Florida will be limited to no more than 80 minutes of live contact in practices per week during the regular season, the Florida High School Athletic Association announced Monday. The new policy, which defines live contact as “a drill in game-like conditions” and “the only time that…
There is a problem in Florida classrooms and it starts with a lack of teachers. In Walton, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, school officials are turning to year round recruiting and hiring and other innovative ways to attract the brightest and the best. According to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), for the 2015 to…
TAMPA — Statewide scores on the Florida Standards Assessment showed modest gains this year, the Florida Department of Education said Friday as it released a large batch of results. Closer to home, there were gains and losses in the Tampa Bay area. Pinellas math scores were up. Hillsborough students dropped a bit in English. And…
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Florida schools are preparing for next year’s rollout of one of the nation’s most unrestricted open-enrollment laws allowing students to more easily cross district lines to go to school—a practice that has grown slowly nationwide amid both statutory and practical hurdles. Nationwide, 23 states had some type of mandatory, interdistrict open-enrollment laws in 2015, prior…