Florida School Boards Association
Dennis Mope’s dream of running a network of military-themed charter schools for at-risk students ended quickly and with little warning this month in Jacksonville and Orlando. Two of Mope’s Acclaim Academy charter schools closed abruptly, displacing hundreds of students just three weeks before the end of the school year. A third school in Kissimmee was…
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Acclaim Academy is officially closed as of 3:15 Friday. It’s the charter school’s third and final campus to be shut down in Florida. With only a few weeks left of classes, students are now being relocated to their home schools so they can finish their testing. Out of about 250 students, the…
Many controversial education-related proposals died with the abrupt end of the Florida Legislature’s spring session. Some, however, live on as the chambers prepare to negotiate the 2015-16 budget during a June special session. Among the most troubling to school district leaders is a proposal to require districts to share a portion of their local tax…
Private schools in Florida are becoming vastly more dependent on state voucher programs that pay all or part of tuition for students with disabilities or from low-income families, an Orlando Sentinel analysis has found. The families of nearly 100,000 Florida students received vouchers worth about $544 million this year as the Legislature has steadily…
School choice in the form of charter schools offers parents good options for their children’s education. But corporate welfare in the form of taxpayer-funded construction of private facilities is another matter entirely. Once again, the Legislature is on track to favor charters over public schools, with the House considering diverting tens of millions of dollars…
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. Florida legislators on Friday endorsed a line of changes for the state’s public schools, including easing class size penalties for school districts and encouraging students to start wearing uniforms. The Florida House passed several education bills, including one that would let privately-run but publicly-funded charter schools tap into local property taxes to pay…
School districts would have to share local school construction and maintenance money with charter schools, according to an amendment filed by an influential state senator. Sen. Don Gaetz, former Senate president, filed the amendment Tuesday. The amendment would require half of the money raised by an optional local property tax to be split between charter…
For two years, the Florida Senate squashed House attempts to revise the state’s charter school laws. The 2015 session looks quite different. Senate Education Committee chairman John Legg, who operates a Pasco County charter school, this week filed a bill (SB 1448) that adopts the language of a House Choice and Innovation proposed committee bill on…
As Jeb Bush edges closer to a presidential run, no issue may better define him than his efforts to improve education in Florida and the nation. To detractors, including the teachers’ unions, Bush undermined public education by promoting issues using vouchers to send students to private schools, expanding charter schools and emphasizing rigid testing and…
Back about 15 years ago, the Florida Legislature gave school districts the opportunity to apply for charter status, freeing them from many of the rules and limitations that the state imposes on public education. Hillsborough County won the label. So, too, did Volusia and Palm Beach counties. The districts tinkered around the edges of the…