Florida School Boards Association
The Sunshine State’s education system ranked right in the middle of the nation, according to a new WalletHub study. Florida came in at No. 26 — between South Dakota and Ohio. To determine which states had the best — and worst — education systems, WalletHub analyzed 25 key factors of a state’s education system including…
Florida issued its annual batch of school grades last month. Each elementary, middle and high school got an A, B, C, D or F. Those grades certainly matter if a school consistently earns a D or an F. According to state law, such low performers risk being closed, converted to charter schools or turned over…
One group, describing itself as the “framers” of an education constitutional amendment, was largely appointed by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles. Another group was appointed by 1990s-era Republican legislative leaders. But two decades after the groups served together on the 1997-1998 Florida Constitution Revision Commission, they are clashing in the state Supreme Court. The root…
As part of their efforts to prevent school shootings, Florida lawmakers mandated the creation of a centralized database that will combine individual-level records from the state’s law-enforcement and social-services agencies with information from people’s personal social media accounts. The provision, tucked within the 105-page law passed in March following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas…
Congress passed a bipartisan overhaul of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act on Wednesday and sent it for signature to President Donald Trump, who has made career and technical education, or CTE, a priority for his administration. The $1.1 billion program, last reauthorized in 2006, provides funding for job training and related…
When the Every Student Succeeds Act was first passed in late 2015, Florida officials pledged that they’ll do everything in their power to keep their long-standing accountability system mostly intact. That’s despite the fact that the federal law has several new requirements that states must abide by. They include factoring in the test scores of…
How do you tell a teacher who’s got the passion and gets the results, you’re fired? “I’m getting emotional thinking about it right now,” said Emily Mixon, a drama teacher in Escambia County who just learned she won’t be able to return to the classroom next month. “My purpose is to educate. I can’t believe at…
What to do? President Donald Trump’s administration has in many ways held up Florida’s education system as a model for the nation. It’s hired many former Florida education officials to top jobs in its own education department. Yet Florida’s proposed plan to meet federal Every Student Succeeds Act standards is now the only one that remains…
For years, education leaders in Florida have been ratcheting up standards and expectations for students in public schools. Policymakers have increased the passing scores on the state-mandated tests that determine whether students can graduate and the grades their schools receive. Just last month, they voted to hike the required scores for graduation for public school…
Critics of Florida’s public education funding system got another piece of ammunition Wednesday, as Education Week rated the state’s school spending an F alongside 25 other states. The publication, which annually issues a well regarded national rating of state education systems, noted that Florida does exceedingly well in finance equity, or the way it allocates across…