FDOE Memo: Every Student Succeeds Act Update

The United States Department of Education regulations for accountability, state plans and data reporting were released November 29, 2016, effective January 30, 2017. Of note, the state plan due dates are pushed back to either April 3 or September 18, 2017. The timeline for school improvement decisions based on the accountability system is moved back…

State Chiefs Pitch ESSA Spending Rules With Less Bean Counting

The Council of Chief State School Officers has proposed its own plan for ensuring that federal funds supplement and do not supplant state and local education spending, a plan that differs in a few key respects from the U.S. Department of Education’s own proposed rules.  Under the proposal that CCSSO is submitting as a formal public comment…

Empowering Students Through Nutrition This School Year

Reading, writing, and arithmetic aren’t the only things our nation’s children will be learning this school year!  Schools have made major strides in helping students learn the importance of healthy eating through balanced meals and nutrition education. Now that kids and teens are boarding their buses for another school year, the entire school community has…

New ESSA Spending Regulations Proposed

After months of criticism from Republican lawmakers, state chiefs, and teachers’ unions on its approach to spending rules for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the U.S. Department of Education last week released a new proposal that appears to give districts and states some additional flexibility when it comes to ensuring federal funds for low-income students…

Down to 4: Finalists listed for superintendent position

The St. Johns County School District is closing in on its superintendent search with four names advancing into the finalist phase. In-person interviews will begin the first week of October.  After some debate during Tuesday’s workshop meeting, board members settled on candidates Tim Forson, Mark Porter, Vicke Cartwright and Elizabeth Alves. Read full article

Sarasota County School Board settles on superintendent finalists

Sarasota County School Board Chairwoman Shirley Brown thanked the the Superintendent Search Committee before the board accepted the committee’s list of superintendent finalists at the school board’s meeting last night.  The list features eight applicants, including Executive Director of Career, Technical and Adult Education for the Sarasota County School District Todd Bowden. Although Bowden is the…

FSBA #FridayFive – Week of August 21, 2016

FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know Each week, FSBA Executive Director, Andrea Messina compiles 5 Things You Should Know from education news. US judge blocks White House’s transgender school bathroom policy The best places for children in 2016 Unaccompanied Minors In The US Experience Problems Getting An Education Education NEXT 2016 Education poll…

Judge Weighs Third-Grade Policy After Contentious Hearing

A state judge is weighing a decision that could shake Florida’s education-accountability system following a marathon hearing Monday in Tallahassee.  After nearly nine hours of testimony and arguments, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers wrapped up a hearing on state and local policies for allowing students to move to the fourth grade but did not rule…

Judge Halts Obama Administration’s Transgender-Student Rules Nationwide

A Texas federal judge issued a nationwide order late Sunday, temporarily halting application of the Obama administration’s guidance on transgender students while a 13-state legal challenge on the issue, led by Texas, is decided.  The case is one of a number of legal challenges related to the May guidance, in which the U.S. Departments of…