State Senate President Bill Galvano told a Sarasota business audience Tuesday that the more conservative Florida Supreme Court being fashioned by Gov. Ron DeSantis could pave the way for education reforms that had been struck down in the past. “We have a new court,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, told a sold-out crowd of 270 at the Argus…
After two hours of discussion Thursday, Kim McDougal was enthusiastic. “It’s a great day,” the former chief of staff and top education adviser to Gov. Rick Scott told colleagues attending Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis’ education transition team meeting. “We’re moving from school choice to informed, high quality school choice,” she said. Read More
Florida’s Supreme Court justices gave just a few hints Thursday of how they’re thinking about a 9-year-old case that contends, essentially, that the Legislature has shortchanged some students in the state’s public education system. The case, Citizens for Strong Schools vs. Florida Board of Education, focuses on the Florida constitution’s mandate that the state has a “paramount…
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is very close to knowing how much money her department has to spend in the next fiscal year. On Wednesday, the House approved a spending package that includes fiscal 2019 funding for the U.S. Department of Education. The legislation, which the Senate passed last week, includes several increases for…
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…
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…
Your religious views matter, and don’t let anyone ever tell you differently. This goes for evangelicals and agnostics, and everyone in between. A lawyer might argue it’s a First Amendment right, but it’s also a courtesy we should all embrace. Even, or especially, when we don’t agree. I mention this because of a story I…
The U.S. Department of Education will move forward with grants to schools in Florida and other states that took in children evacuees from Hurricanes Irma and Maria and then struggled with unexpected costs, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy‘s office announced Tuesday. Under legislation Congress pushed through and approved in February, with Murphy’s backing, the department will…
Lawmakers sent a message to President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in their bill to fund the federal government: We’re not the biggest fans of your big education ideas. Congress would increase spending at the U.S. Department of Education by $2.6 billion over previously enacted levels in fiscal year 2018, up…
This afternoon, legislative leaders announced that an agreement has been reached on the $87 billion state budget. Because this is a day later than would be necessary to adjourn on Friday, it is expected that the Session will be extended and the budget will be subject to a final vote on Sunday or Monday. As…