Florida School Boards Association
Going into the 2015 Florida legislative session, Senate Education Committee chairman John Legg said only one school-related bill mattered: Changes to the state’s testing system. In the end, that’s all lawmakers could manage to accomplish before the House abruptly ended session three days early over budget disagreements. HB 7069 is one of just nine bills…
Hearing complaints that state tests carry too many consequences, the Hechinger Reportreviewed the stakes attached to Common Core-associated exams in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Its question was, essentially, how will each state use its test scores? “We found that very few states will be using this spring’s scores for any student-related decisions. And…
TALLAHASSEE — As a $5 billion rift splits the Legislature, the House sent its members home Tuesday with three days left in the legislative session, a rare move that shocked lawmakers, lobbyists and others working at the Capital.. “We have done all we can this session,” House Speaker Stever Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, told his surprised…
The sudden shutdown of the Florida House that derailed the 2015 session Tuesday makes it even more difficult for the Legislature’s presiding officers to agree on the framework for a special session. The ugliness between House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner won’t easily subside, and Gov. Rick Scott has already said he…
They are so gosh darned good to us, I don’t know how we stand it. From the moment they arrive in Tallahassee, our state legislators insist on sending back unnecessary gifts. Fancy-sounding laws we neither asked for, nor need. It’s too much. Really. Please, stop. Take this new schools bill (HB 1145) the House passed…
Florida faces a confidence crisis in its annual testing program. Last week, for the second time in two months, the computerized system crashed, the result of avoidable vendor errors. The upshot has been heightened challenges to Florida’s 15-year-old accountability model. Parents and education advocates question whether the state pushed online testing before its time. They…
Private schools in Florida are becoming vastly more dependent on state voucher programs that pay all or part of tuition for students with disabilities or from low-income families, an Orlando Sentinel analysis has found. The families of nearly 100,000 Florida students received vouchers worth about $544 million this year as the Legislature has steadily…
The Miami-Dade School District is taking advantage of a new state law and eliminating more than 300 final tests — also known as end-of-course exams. The law rescinds a requirement that districts give students a final exam in all subjects that don’t already have a required state exam. “Today’s announcement should come as welcomed news to everyone…
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has eliminated nearly all of the 300 District-Developed End-of-Course (DDEOC) assessments that were originally scheduled for Spring 2015. The move follows the passage of HB7069, a law that provides flexibility for districts to determine how to measure student progress, eliminating the state mandate for district-designated, end-of-course exams to be given in…
TALLAHASSEE — Blaming the federal government for Florida’s financial woes, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday said he was prepared to call Florida lawmakers back for a special session to complete the budget — and even encourage them to pass a bare-bones budget if necessary. Scott also suggested one of his top priorities was in jeopardy:…