Florida Senate Starts Looking At Teacher Pay, School Funding, Recess And Testing

Senator David Simmons says teachers shouldn’t have to hold down second jobs:  “It breaks my heart when I see teachers having to work in the evening just to make ends meet and we’ve got to improve teacher compensation,” he says.  Simmons, an Altamont Springs Republican, is chairing his chamber’s K-12 Education Committee. And he says…

School Board wants to keep marijuana that looks candy away from kids

As Florida prepares for the arrival of medical marijuana, the Miami-Dade School Board is urging lawmakers to keep cannabis away from school children — unless they have a prescription. At a meeting on Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to call on the Florida Legislature to ban medical marijuana dispensaries within 2,500 feet of schools if they…

Florida Lawmakers Look For Answers On Workers’ Comp

With businesses bracing for rate increases, Florida House members this week began grappling with the tricky political and legal challenge of revamping the workers’ compensation insurance system.  Staff members held briefings Tuesday and Wednesday to try to help lawmakers understand the complicated system, which is likely to be one of the highest-profile issues of the…

U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. Announces Expansion of School Ambassador Fellows Program to Include School Counselors

U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. announced today that school counselors will have the opportunity to apply for the School Ambassador Fellows program starting with the 2017-18 cohort of ambassadors. The program currently includes the Teaching Ambassador Fellows (TAF) and Principal Ambassador Fellows (PAF). Including the voices of teachers, principals, counselors and other…

Associated Industries seeks public comment on workers’ comp rates

Associated Industries of Florida moved Tuesday to build public support behind a fix for rising workers’ compensation insurance rates that business interests see as a threat to the state’s economy.  The lobby solicited comments from the public “on how Florida can restore a stable, self-executing, and affordable workers’ compensation system as the Florida Legislature intended,”…

FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know (Week of October 10, 2016)

FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know Each week, Executive Director, Andrea Messina, picks five of the top education news pieces to share with members. Read. Learn. Share. Retweet.   New report out on nation’s Hispanic student demographics Class size amendment may be topic of conversation, again Researchers Studying Ways To Predict School Violence…