Florida School Boards Association
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran declared Tuesday during a swing through Southwest Florida that he’s planning to stay “on offense” during the 2018 legislative session, potentially foreshadowing another contentious year in the Legislature. Referencing a controversial education bill passed this year that is being challenged in court, Corcoran told the Charlotte-DeSoto County Republican Club that…
How do you fix struggling schools? One idea: Pay teachers more. Teacher bonuses are among several ideas the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts have proposed as they compete for additional funding through a controversial new state program designed to rehabilitate Florida’s lowest performing schools while potentially supplanting them with privately run charters. Read More
Americans’ support for public schools has risen in the last year—across the country and across the political spectrum—but the public also wants schools to go beyond academics to provide more career and student health supports, according to the 49th annual education poll by Phi Delta Kappa International. Read More
Last week the Orange County School Board voted unanimously to join numerous other Florida school districts in petitioning the courts to declare recently enacted House Bill 7069 unconstitutional. The decision to join the litigation was not made lightly, and was made only after concluding that constitutional principles of a uniform, high-quality education and local control…
Mike Mogil doesn’t believe climate change is caused by humans. The 72-year old former National Weather Service meteorologist says global temperatures have been fluctuating for millennia, and recent extremes could very well have nothing to do with mankind. Now, he wants to make sure Florida’s public school students get the same perspective. Mogil is one…
Deer Park Elementary had a problem. Its discipline referrals and warnings were on the rise, with 433 incidents last year for 574 students, which didn’t bode well for the school’s academic performance. “There is a direct correlation between disruptions in the classroom and how well students learn,” said principal Margie Polen, who pointed to the…
A new study from criminology researchers at Florida State University reveals that a more diverse school board can lead to more equitable school punishment among black, white and Hispanic students. The team found that black and Hispanic students were more likely to be suspended in schools with larger minority populations. However, white students attending schools with larger…
Mor than half of the Florida traditional public schools eligible to vie for newly minted “Schools of Hope” grants submitted applications by Tuesday’s deadline, the Florida Department of Education reported. The program was a late add-on to a House proposal that set aside millions of dollars to support the creation of new charter schools to…
After a rocky start in which U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ team was criticized for being too heavy-handed, confusing, or inconsistent in responding to states’ plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act, approvals of state plans are now coming at a fast clip. Read More
The Florida Department of Education says it will be up to each of the state’s 67 county school districts to determine which of their local teachers is eligible for the state “Best and Brightest” bonus program that lawmakers revamped as part of a massive education law that took effect this summer. Hershel Lyons, Florida’s chancellor…