Congress Sends Career-Technical Education Bill to President Trump

Congress passed a bipartisan overhaul of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act on Wednesday and sent it for signature to President Donald Trump, who has made career and technical education, or CTE, a priority for his administration.  The $1.1 billion program, last reauthorized in 2006, provides funding for job training and related…

Florida Risks Losing $1.1 Billion in Federal Funds Over ESSA Spat

When the Every Student Succeeds Act was first passed in late 2015, Florida officials pledged that they’ll do everything in their power to keep their long-standing accountability system mostly intact.  That’s despite the fact that the federal law has several new requirements that states must abide by. They include factoring in the test scores of…

Florida stands alone as sole state without federally approved accountability plan

What to do?  President Donald Trump’s administration has in many ways held up Florida’s education system as a model for the nation. It’s hired many former Florida education officials to top jobs in its own education department.  Yet Florida’s proposed plan to meet federal Every Student Succeeds Act standards is now the only one that remains…

Counseling, Mental Health Access Dominate Federal School Safety Meeting

Students—especially those from vulnerable populations and children in remote areas—aren’t getting nearly enough access to mental health services.   That’s according to a slew of experts who testified before the federal school safety commission Wednesday. The panel has been charged with making recommendations for combatting mass school shootings in the wake of the February 14 massacre at Marjory…

Civil rights groups urge U.S. Education Secretary DeVos to reject Florida’s latest accountability plan

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…

U.S. News Reveals Rankings of Best High Schools

U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in education rankings and civic journalism, today released the 2018 edition of Best High Schools. The rankings evaluate more than 20,500 public high schools nationwide to identify schools that best serve all of their students – including historically underserved populations – and assess the degree to which…

161 Students From Across the Country Named 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholars

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced the 54th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars, recognizing 161 high school seniors for their accomplishments in academics, the arts and career and technical education fields.  “I want to congratulate this year’s class of Presidential Scholars on their achievement and also thank their parents, teachers and other academic…

Feds to provide grants to schools enrolling hurricane evacuees

The U.S. Department of Education will move forward with grants to schools in Florida and other states that took in children evacuees from Hurricanes Irma and Maria and then struggled with unexpected costs, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy‘s office announced Tuesday.  Under legislation Congress pushed through and approved in February, with Murphy’s backing, the department will…

Florida submits revised Every Student Succeeds Act plan

The Florida Department of Education sent in its revised federal school accountability plan Monday, months after the U.S. Education department said multiple revisions were needed.  In its updated version, the state said it had filed for a waiver of certain testing rules for middle school students in science and math, so they do not have to…