Join the School Breakfast Challenge

When children are hungry, it’s harder for them to succeed. And for too many kids, school meals are the only meals they can count on. That’s why we’re launching the #SchoolBreakfast Challenge with @FloridaMilk & @nokidhungry to ensure no child starts the day on an empty stomach. pic.twitter.com/SUiMJD6FcD — Commissioner Nikki Fried (@NikkiFriedFL) August 19,…

School Boards Association looks to new ideas for 2020 legislative platform

A year ago, with school safety still high on Florida’s list of concerns, the state’s school boards association focused much of its legislative platform on increasing campus security with armed officers and hardened facilities.  Having gotten much of what it asked for, the association is looking to new ideas for the 2020 session, for which…

FSBA Friday Five – August 16, 2019

  Surprise!  Students retain more reading printed text  Building a better backpack A teachers’ library for science lab equipment results in more hands on science for kids There is opportunity to be found within the growing diversity of U.S. adolescents Top secret teens: The high schoolers recruited by the National Security Agency

New tax estimates point to ‘winded’ economy

Heading into a critical election year, Florida legislators may have to tighten spending because of a combination of a slowing economy and reverberations of financial decisions.  State economists on Wednesday drew up new estimates that predict the state will take in about $867 million less in revenue over two years than earlier anticipated. Read More

Education Board Considers Streamlined Misconduct Rules, Mandatory Substance-Abuse Courses

The State Board of Education is poised to consider new rules next week, including a requirement that all public schools begin teaching students each year about youth substance abuse. Schools would also be mandated to report the professional qualifications of people teaching the classes, according to the rule.   The reporting proposal would require school superintendents…

Florida is now monitoring students’ social media behavior

As kids head back to school across Florida in the coming weeks, the state has a new tool designed to help school districts identify, assess and provide intervention services to students whose behavior may pose a threat to themselves of others.The Florida Schools Safety Portal (FSSP) was unveiled by the state Department of Education on…

Getting tough: Florida’s education chief Richard Corcoran tells school districts to fall in line

Mental health. Career planning. Personal finances.  The list of topics that Florida lawmakers have required school districts to cover in classrooms continued to grow this year — some with little advance notice or funding to support them.  The mental health mandate, for instance, came from the State Board of Education less than a month before…

FSBA Friday Five – August 9, 2019

Results are in. PDK poll of the public’s attitudes toward the public schools for 2019 Cool stuff—there may be a SuperEarth (far, far, away) Build empathy and understanding by paring comics and novels Pushing back on averages and embracing the science of the individual A 2-step process for reducing student chronic absenteeism