Florida School Boards Association
Florida lawmakers could overhaul the state’s testing system this year, cutting the number of exams students take and reducing the impact it has on public schools. Or they could tweak it, shifting testing to later in the school year and studying whether national exams — such as the ACT and SAT — could in a…
House and Senate leaders began laying down markers for budget negotiations, ahead of votes this week that could begin the process of hammering out a compromise on the state spending plan for the year beginning July 1. The back-and-forth began as the chambers stand roughly $4 billion apart, with sizable differences on spending for public…
Florida has channeled billions of taxpayer dollars into scholarships for poor children to attend private schools over the past 15 years, using tax credits to build a laboratory for school choice that the Trump administration holds up as a model for the nation. The voucherlike program, the largest of its kind in the country, helps…
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran wants nonprofits that have operated high-performing charter schools in other states to replicate their success here. To that end, he’s made them an offer: $200 million to cover facilities costs, personnel and specialized educational offerings, plus a wish list of statutory and regulatory changes designed to help them prosper. But…
A bill that would expand two of the state’s school-choice programs is heading to the House floor after gaining approval Thursday from the House Education Committee. The proposal (HB 15), sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, was amended Thursday to add back provisions that would expand the reach of the Gardiner Scholarship program, aimed…
Port St. Joe – Billy Quinn, Danny Little and Cindy Belin of the Gulf County School Board joined over 130 school board members, district superintendents, and other education leaders in Tallahassee March 29-31 to participate in the Florida School Boards Association’s 30th Annual Day in the Legislature Conference and Board of Directors’ Meeting. Read More
A sweeping plan to reduce standardized testing in Florida’s K-12 schools cleared its first state Senate committee on Monday, after lawmakers struck a compromise to blend competing reform proposals. Despite political drama last week that delayed the policy discussion, senators breezed through vetting SB 926 and passed it unanimously after considering most of the amendments…
Fed up with traditional K-12 public schools that perpetually fail, often in Florida’s poorest communities, Republican lawmakers in the state House have proposed a bold — and costly — idea to help those students. They want to spend $200 million in 2017-18 to entice “the best of the best charter schools in the entire country”…
House leaders have revealed detailed plans for boosting charter schools after pledging for weeks to invest heavily in alternatives to traditional public education. House education committees this week approved three proposed committee bills that would ease the proliferation of charter schools, including giving them access to significantly more public money. Read More
The House and Senate are on track to start budget negotiations with a gap of $2 billion in their proposals, providing fresh reasons for skepticism that lawmakers will complete a spending plan by the scheduled May 5 end of the legislative session. The Senate on Thursday published an initial draft of its budget that would…