Florida School Boards Association
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday will roll out a series of education proposals that touches on everything from high-stakes testing to the cost of college and represents a break from some of the signature moves put in place by former Gov. Jeb Bush. Scott wants to create an independent committee to…
TAMPA, Florida – As the debate over school choice continues to divide Florida educators, 10 Investigates found new ways charter schools companies are profiting off education. Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are authorized by – but not operated by – each school district. For each student who “chooses” a charter, his or her…
School was out for most students this summer, but education attacks in the race for Florida governor never took a vacation. Education has been one of the most divisive topics in this year’s contest. Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida have defended his record on education while bashing the record of Democratic…
Public support for Common Core, the education standards heavily supported by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has suffered as more people learn about it, according to a new survey. While 80 percent of Americans have heard about Common Core, 60 percent oppose requiring teachers to use the standards to guide instruction, the survey by PDK/Gallup…
The state’s pension fund beat expectations last fiscal year, earning a 17.4 percent return on investments and ending 2013-14 with a market value of $149.1 billion, the State Board of Administration announced Tuesday. That return was stronger than the previous fiscal year’s 13 percent return. All of the fund’s investments paid off last year, the board’s…
Jessica Gaspar was born in the U.S. and grew up speaking English at school — but at home, she speaks Q’anjob’al. That’s the Mayan language spoken by her Guatemalan parents. She said she and her brother struggled to practice their English once the school day ended. It’s why Gaspar volunteers at a community center on a…
With parents and students no longer tied to neighborhood schools, the Miami-Dade County public school district offers more options to keep kids in the public system. When classes start Monday, more than half of the students in Miami-Dade County will stream into a school they and their families picked themselves. With charter schools, magnet schools…
Florida is the nation’s second most poverty-stricken state, at 19.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure in 2012, and reported by the Tallahassee-based Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy (FCFEP) in a new August brief released Monday. Entitled ‘The Condition of Florida by the Numbers,’ the FCFEP paper also notes…
PANAMA CITY — Brandishing an imaginary gun will no longer be punishable at Bay District Schools if the School Board approves additions to its zero-tolerance policy. The recommended additional lines in Bay District Schools’ student discipline policy would prohibit disciplinary actions to be taken against students who simulate “a firearm or weapon while playing or…
The U.S. Department of Education is on the verge of releasing the first draft of new guidance on the peer-review process for standards and tests, a document that could exert a powerful influence on how states set academic expectations. Little known outside the assessment world, the process is wonky and technical. But it is an…