Florida School Boards Association
Senator David Simmons says teachers shouldn’t have to hold down second jobs: “It breaks my heart when I see teachers having to work in the evening just to make ends meet and we’ve got to improve teacher compensation,” he says. Simmons, an Altamont Springs Republican, is chairing his chamber’s K-12 Education Committee. And he says…
The United States Department of Education regulations for accountability, state plans and data reporting were released November 29, 2016, effective January 30, 2017. Of note, the state plan due dates are pushed back to either April 3 or September 18, 2017. The timeline for school improvement decisions based on the accountability system is moved back…
Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican who chairs the Senate’s public-education budget subcommittee, said Wednesday he will make another push that could reduce the amount of standardized testing in Florida schools. During the first meeting of the Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Simmons framed over-testing as something that crimps the state’s ability to spend…
High-quality assessments are essential to effectively educating students, measuring progress, and promoting equity. Done well and thoughtfully, they provide critical information for educators, families, the public, and students themselves and create the basis for improving outcomes for all learners. Done poorly, in excess, or without clear purpose, however, they take valuable time away from teaching…
Florida education funding could face tight times in the coming legislative session, with revenue low and competition for resources high. But key state senators told the state’s school board members this week that they remained staunch supporters of public schools, and they would work to direct as much money as possible into the system, while…
After considering and incorporating extensive feedback from stakeholders across the education system and the public, the U.S. Department of Education today announced final regulations to implement the accountability, data reporting, and state plan provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), with a focus on supporting states in using their flexibility to provide a high-quality,…
Florida needs to invest more money in schools that offer students longer school days and years. And the state should ease regulations on public schools that perform well. Those are two provocative ideas raised by incoming state House Speaker Richard Corcoran in a recent interview with the head of a South Florida law firm. Corcoran, who is set to lead…
Tens of thousands of Florida’s poorest students are finding it harder to afford college because of tougher qualifications for the state’s Bright Futures scholarship. The academic scholarship was created in 1997 to keep the state’s top students in Florida schools. But the legislature voted in 2011 to increase the required scores on ACT and SAT…
Newly released national high school graduation rates show improvement across the board, including in Florida. But Florida continues to sit near the bottom of the pack, despite its growth. The 2014-15 data, distributed by the White House on Monday in advance of an education speech by President Barack Obama, shows Florida had a 77.9 percent…
The U.S. Department of Education today released non-regulatory guidance to help states, districts and schools provide effective services to improve the English language proficiency and academic achievement of English learners (ELs) through Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The guidance is an…