Florida School Boards Association
Families of children who have been bullied or harassed in a Florida public school soon will have access to state scholarships to attend private schools instead. But first, the State Board of Education must set the rules for how the controversial “Hope Scholarship” program will operate. The Department of Education has issued a draft proposal…
Some members of the 1998 Constitution Revision Commission are seeking to file a brief in the Florida Supreme Court as part of a legal battle about whether the state is meeting its constitutional duty to provide a high-quality system of public schools. Describing themselves as the “framers” of a 1998 ballot measure that put the…
School boards from across the state have gone to the 1st District Court of Appeal as they continue to challenge a controversial 2017 law that includes steps to boost charter schools. Eleven districts signed on to notices filed last week indicating they will appeal an April 17 ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper…
After several delays, the Florida Department of Education submitted its revised Every Student Succeeds Act plan to the federal government in mid April. Some civil rights group leaders want U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to do to the second version what she did to the first — reject it as noncompliant with federal law. Read…
It’s not a secret: Florida’s school districts are struggling to find enough money to place armed security on each campus, as now required by law. What is new lately is many local governments have begun saying they will not help out with their law enforcement departments. In the past few days, both the Pinellas and…
Unwilling to turn school staff into gun-packing “guardians,” some officials across Florida are turning to a controversial alternative to meet the demands of a state law approved after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.The Duval County School Board has became the second in two weeks to approve hiring and training dozens of new,…
Nobody cares more about civics education and involvement than former Florida Governor Bob Graham does. He’s the author of a book on the subject and the founder of a center for public service at the University of Florida. He knows it’s an important issue that needs more attention in our schools. Abundant studies show that…
A longtime Florida Department of Law Enforcement officer has been named the director of the newly created Office of Safe Schools, the state announced Tuesday evening. Damien Kelly has been an FDLE officer since 2005, most recently as a public corruption inspector, during which Kelly “became an expert in firearms certification and proficiency,” according to…
In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting and the state’s new law that requires armed security on every campus, some superintendents worry districts will now be competing for the same personnel. For the 2016-2017 school year, Florida’s Department of Education counted about 1,500 officers. But there’s more than twice as many public schools — about…
Forty-seven cents. That amount — less than the cost of a postage stamp — is how much Florida lawmakers increased general education funding per student for the coming year. School district officials instantly declared the budget a crisis, and pleaded with lawmakers (unsuccessfully) for a special session to reshuffle the dollars. Otherwise, they insisted, public…