Florida School Boards Association
For years, Republican lawmakers in Tallahassee have boasted about Florida’s charms as a low-tax state, and according to a recent report, Sunshine State residents do have the lowest tax burden in the continental United States (trailing only Alaska nationwide.) But with more than 21 million people in the state and hundreds more coming by the day,…
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…
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…
Enrollment in Florida’s public schools is projected to grow by fewer than 17,000 students in the 2019-2020 academic year under a forecast approved Tuesday by state analysts.The projected increase for 2019-2020 is not as robust as in prior years, in part, because of the expansion of voucher-like scholarship programs that could send more students to…
A school-safety commission examining the mass shooting at a Parkland high school heard testimony Thursday about Florida’s fractured and overwhelmed mental health system. As part of a three-day hearing in Broward County, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission turned its focus to the role the mental health system may have played in…
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…
After the Parkland school shooting in February, the state’s mandate was simple and swift: Put an armed officer in every public school by August. But the new state requirement — passed three weeks after the February school massacre in the hopes of deterring future campus shootings — is proving difficult for schools to carry out…
Florida House Republicans are playing mythbusters on claims of stagnant school spending. The House Majority Office, which is overseen by Speaker Richard Corcoran, released a five-minute video May 17 that takes aim at teachers’ unions and state educators (and unnamed “media allies”) who say the 2018-19 education budget isn’t enough to cover the costs of…
Looking at the new requirements coming down to school districts this year as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act and the amount of funding coming from the state for those initiatives, the numbers, according to School Safety and Security Chief Mike Jones, just don’t add up. Read More