Florida School Boards Association
Supporters of Florida Constitution Revision Commission Amendment 8 focus on the part that would create school board term limits, viewing it as a popular idea that could push the proposal to the 60 percent vote needed for passage. Critics say the measure goes much further, though — with some potentially devastating provisions that could dramatically…
Florida’s newest voucher program is to begin this fall, with parents who say their children are bullied in public schools able to apply for private-school scholarships that could pay tuition for part of the 2018-19 school year.The State Board of Education on Wednesday approved the rules for the new Hope Scholarship program, which was created…
The summary language of a proposed constitutional amendment that would revoke the exclusive authority of school boards to operate public charter schools is “affirmatively misleading” to voters, according to a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Florida against Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner. Read More
The League of Women Voters in Florida was right to challenge a seriously misleading constitutional amendment proposal in court. Many of the amendments proposed by the Florida Constitution Revision Commission for a November vote have serious flaws, such as lumping four issues into one amendment. But one of the batched amendments is so deceptive that…
What to do? President Donald Trump’s administration has in many ways held up Florida’s education system as a model for the nation. It’s hired many former Florida education officials to top jobs in its own education department. Yet Florida’s proposed plan to meet federal Every Student Succeeds Act standards is now the only one that remains…
Question: Is highly qualified teacher still required under ESSA? The short answer: Nope, you can toss the phrase “highly qualified teacher” into the trash, as far as the law is concerned. The longer answer: ESSA got rid of the requirement in the law it replaced, the No Child Left Behind Act, that teachers must be…
A lawsuit filed last week may or may not succeed in knocking the education amendment off the ballot, but – win or lose – it has already underscored the duplicity of the Constitution Revision Commission. Amendment 8 on the ballot seems bland enough, proposing eight-year term limits for all school board members and directing the…
A new state law that sets a minimum membership level for teachers’ unions appears to be increasing enrollment in unions around the state. Participation in Miami-Dade’s teacher’s union jumped from 44 percent last year to about 50 percent now, spokeswoman Sonia Diaz said. Broward’s membership has hit 65 percent, union president Anna Fusco said. And…
A school-safety commission examining the mass shooting at a Parkland high school heard testimony Thursday about Florida’s fractured and overwhelmed mental health system. As part of a three-day hearing in Broward County, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission turned its focus to the role the mental health system may have played in…
A constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow charter school organizers to bypass local school boards to get approval is “intentionally misleading” because it doesn’t directly explain to voters that the amendment is designed to circumvent local control and intentionally leaves out the word “charter,’‘ a lawsuit filed Thursday in Leon County Circuit…