Florida School Boards Association
Despite a bumpy and contentious year, the Republican-led Florida Legislature returns to the state Capitol on Monday with the goal of trying to draw up new maps for 40 state Senate districts. This marks the third special session of the year for legislators, and also marks the third time that lawmakers have altered the boundaries…
SARASOTA – More than 20,700 state exams in 2015 were not graded because students did not fill out enough answers, compared with about 5,600 similarly ungraded exams in 2014. While 20,700 incomplete exams seem like a lot, it accounts for only 0.6 percent of the more than 3.3 million tests taken in 2015. The Florida…
The Collier County school district will now explicitly protect students and employees who are harassed or discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Read full article
Nicole Hockley lost her 6-year old son in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting almost three years ago. So she started the Sandy Hook Promise, an organization that works to protect children from gun violence. On Wednesday, Hockley is scheduled to speak at the Miami-Dade County School Board to encourage Florida’s largest school system to…
On the heels of a confession by a phony South Florida doctor that he had provided performance-enhancing drugs to high school athletes, Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho ordered up a random drug testing program. More than a year after the highly publicized announcement, the program has yet to get off the ground. “We’ve just…
Floridians long have criticized schools’ use of restraint and seclusion in handling out-of-control students with disabilities. Rule changes have been discussed since 2009, to limited effect despite clear intentions. State Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican, is ready to try again. Flores has filed SB 452 this week with very direct goals: It would ban all student seclusion,…
So many groups have called on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to “pause” the state’s school accountability rules for 2015, it seemed the right time to put the question to him (well, his press office, really). The response: “Governor Scott believes in accountability and results. DOE (Department of Education) will continue to follow the law.” All other questions…
Two key Florida civil rights organizations, along with three parent groups, have joined the growing crowd calling for reconsideration of the way the state’s spring test results are used. The NAACP and League of United Latin American Citizens Florida branches, Miami-Dade PTA, Fund Education Now and Parents Across America-Florida sent a letter Wednesday to Gov. Rick…
State law needs to be changed to make it easier for high schools to crack down on the recruiting of student-athletes, the executive director for the Florida High School Athletic Association told a Senate committee Wednesday. Roger Dearing asked lawmakers to pursue legislation in their 2016 session that would instill harsher penalties for coaches and…
TALLAHASSEE — Jeb Bush’s signature achievement in education policy as Florida governor may be at risk of coming apart. A champion of what became known as Common Core education standards, Bush pushed a set of high-stakes tests for students and a system of grading schools as the centerpiece of an education agenda that defines much…