Florida School Boards Association
Rick Scott has selected Carlos Beruff, the Manatee County Republican who ran for U.S. Senate in 2016, to serve as chairman of the powerful Constitution Revision Commission. Read More
The testing wars have returned to the Florida Capitol. Two years after widespread computer problems undermined confidence in the state’s new standardized tests and sparked a political firestorm, lawmakers are once again floating ideas to reduce high-stakes exams in Florida schools. Read More
Abbey Clements could hear the sounds of the nation’s deadliest K-12 school shooting as she huddled with her 2nd graders singing Christmas carols to drown out the terrifying noises coming from down the hall. Read More
Once again, Florida lawmakers will try to force school districts to share part of their local tax dollars with charter schools so that those privately managed schools can enjoy the same access to funding for maintenance and construction projects as traditional public schools. Read More
State Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, told reporters Thursday that “there’s no one that’s actively lobbying against” efforts to require mandatory daily recess in Florida’s public elementary schools. There has so far been no obvious or outspoken public opposition to the measure, but district administrators quietly have voiced concerns about requiring all schools to have recess —…
House Speaker Richard Corcoran said Wednesday that he is open to compromise with the state Senate on his hardline new rules aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in the budget process. Senate President Joe Negron has resisted Corcoran’s rules, last week even threatening to sue the House over what he considers an unconstitutional attempt to…
Half of a two-part effort to bridge differences between charter schools and traditional public schools over construction funding was approved Tuesday by a Senate committee — but the other measure was left to an uncertain future. The Senate Education Committee voted 6-2 to advance legislation (SB 376) that would require school districts to share construction…
Nearly all of Florida’s evaluated public school teachers continued to receive strong reviews in 2015-16, according to newly released data from the state Department of Education. As in previous years, about 98 percent of teachers statewide rated either “highly effective” (42.9%) or “effective” (52.0%), with a tiny 0.2 percent receiving “unsatisfactory” marks, 0.7 percent as…
The members of the 2017-18 Constitution Revision Commission are being named this month. The Commission’s proposals, if any, must be submitted at least 180 days before the 2018 general election. Florida has more methods for amending its constitution than any other state. Two of these have been in the Florida Constitution from the beginning (legislative…
How much Florida spends to recruit and keep quality teachers for its K-12 public schools could potentially quadruple next year — and maybe even reach as high as a quarter of a billion dollars — under tentative plans being crafted in private by Republican House and Senate leaders ahead of the 2017 session. Read More