Florida School Boards Association
Florida’s $91.1 billion state budget, approved by the Legislature six weeks ago, was finally sent Friday to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it next week — while also vetoing more than $100 million in spending.Lawmakers took their time sending the spending blueprint to DeSantis, who has until June 29 to act. But…
For some children, all it took was the rain. When thunderstorms passed through the Panhandle this winter, the sound was enough to distress some students just returning to school, reminding them of Hurricane Michael’s raging path last October that left much of the state’s northwest in ruin. They would run to their teachers in tears,…
Florida government leaders didn’t hesitate to send out alerts and announcements last September, after Education Week issued its 2018 “Quality Counts” report that rated the state fourth nationally for student achievement. Read More
After a state commission found out Wednesday that nearly 200 schools, including many charter schools, have not had armed security as required by state law, commissioners urged the Florida Department of Education to “name names and name people” to try to force compliance. Within two hours, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran agreed to publicly name non-compliant school…
The state public safety commission that’s been investigating the 2018 Parkland school shooting is meeting in Sunrise Tuesday, the first of two days of meetings this month. On the agenda: mental health services in schools, how schools handle reported threats, and changing discipline programs. Read More
A statewide grand jury charged with investigating whether school districts are complying with safety requirements following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will start hearing testimony “as early as next month,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Tuesday. The Florida Supreme Court impaneled the grand jury in February, at the request of…
The number of students using state vouchers to attend private schools has dipped for the first time in recent years as corporate contributions have slowed. At the same time, the number of campuses receiving state-backed scholarships continues to grow. The funding allows children to attend largely unregulated and mostly religious schools. Read More
Sticking closely to its posted timeline, the Florida Department of Education on Friday announced the release of a first draft of high school math and language arts standards revisions for input from the general public. Groups of experts from around the state have been reviewing the current standards, based primarily on the Common Core, in…
It was supposed to be operational six months ago, part of Florida’s wide-ranging effort to prevent the next school shooting: a sprawling new database that would merge people’s social media posts with millions of records on individuals who have been bullied, placed in foster care, committed a crime, or even been mentioned in unverified tips…
Florida has an estimated 400,000 children who need behavioral-health services, but 55 percent of them don’t get any treatment, members of a health care panel were told last week. That translates to 220,000 children across the state, or about one child in every classroom, health official Jeffrey Brosco told members of the Florida Healthy Kids…