Florida School Boards Association
Following up on a campaign promise, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday released a plan to increase education spending in Florida to a record high. Scott wants the state to spend $7,176 on each public-school student — a $261 bump over this year’s figure and $50 more than the record set in 2007-08. His proposal would…
MIAMI — A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s health care system for impoverished and disabled children violates several U.S. laws. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan said lawmakers had for years set the state’s Medicaid budget at an artificially low level, causing pediatricians and other specialists for children to opt out…
TALLAHASSEE — Lower gas prices and rising consumer confidence prompted state economists on Monday to boost revenue estimates for next year’s budget by $622 million. The calculations improved the odds that Gov. Rick Scott will deliver on his campaign promise to cut taxes and fees, which lawmakers must approve. When Scott first announced a plan…
Technology is here to stay. The question, state Sen. John Legg says, is how to make it work best for students and teachers in Florida’s classrooms. Hoping to amp up the conversation, Legg brought together close to 300 education and technology leaders on Thursday for a half-day symposium all about the issue. “Unfortunately, when many…
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The state board that oversees Florida’s schools wants a boost in school funding for 2015. The State Board of Education voted Monday to ask state legislators to approve a $19.6 billion budget for Florida’s public schools. The increase includes a $232 increase in per-pupil funding to match what Gov. Rick Scott…
Florida’s Republican governor says he wants to expand the pool of children who would qualify for the state’s new personal learning accounts. In the midst of a contentious back-and-forth over education, Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign released a second-term agenda Monday morning. The Associated Press has fleshed out some details already, but one noteworthy proposal hasn’t gotten much attention: A declaration…
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…
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…
MIAMI — With more than 51,000 unaccompanied Central American children already here, and more expected to come, school officials ask the federal government for a helping hand. Border kids costs more to educate, about $1,900 per head. Teachers must be bilingual. The students will need health care and psychological services because many arrive sick and…
The tens of thousands of immigrant children crossing the U.S. border — many from Central America — could mean less federal money for education, Clare McCann at the New America Foundation warns. Federal spending rules could mean every dollar increase for immigration services is a dollar cut from education. Miami-Dade schools expect a surge in…