Florida School Boards Association
With House Republican leaders holding up a Senate-approved bill to mandate daily recess in public elementary schools, Florida senators will attempt another route to get the proposal enacted this year. Miami Republican Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor of the Senate recess bill (SB 78), filed a sweeping amendment Wednesday morning to her measure aimed at…
Several parents who oppose standardized-testing requirements in public schools are taking their battle to the Florida Supreme Court. The parents last week filed a notice that is a first step in asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal in a case related to what is known as…
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…
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…
Tallahassee, FL – Week 5 of the Florida Legislative Session has come to an end. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights, and visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.
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…
Tallahassee, FL – In our Week 3 update, FSBA Member Communications Manager BillieAnne Gay covers assessment, government oversight, and legislative happenings from the 22nd Floor of the Capitol.
Gabriela Fowler has a 4.7 GPA, takes college-level calculus and statistics courses, and is the president of her school’s business leadership club. But for the 17-year-old Hialeah High senior, a college scholarship funded by the record-setting revenues of the Florida Lottery somehow remains out of reach. Read More
For all the talk that Florida’s 2017 legislative session would focus on higher education, giving K-12 a breather, the climate is shaping up for potentially major changes to the state’s Jeb Bush-era test-based accountability system. The latest signal: The Senate Education Committee has scheduled a workshop for Tuesday, where it will tackle ideas in seven bills…
A bill that would eliminate the majority of high school end of course exams, allow schools to give the remaining statewide tests in a paper-and-pencil format and seeks to take student test scores out of the grading equation for teachers and schools has begun to make the rounds in Florida’s capital. Read More