#FridayFive – Week of April 25, 2016 Telecom companies’ financial decisions leave some schools without internet Simpson’s paradox and this year’s NAEP scores 90% of parents think their children are at or above grade level Tennessee cancels testing after vendor fails to deliver Lots of success stories in public schools
DetailsWASHINGTON — Florida is a political juggernaut, wooed by presidential candidates and often pivotal in deciding who occupies the White House and which party controls Congress. But the nation’s third-largest state punches below its weight in Congress. Only one of the Florida delegation’s 29 members — two senators and 27 House members — is chairman…
DetailsTALLAHASSEE — The Supreme Court of Florida handed the insurance and business industries a significant defeat on Thursday, ruling in a 5-2 decision that the state’s attorney-fee caps in workers compensation law are unconstitutional. “We conclude that the mandatory fee schedule is unconstitutional as a violation of due process under both the Florida and United…
DetailsAfter meeting for about a half hour with Republican Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday, incoming Florida Senate president Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he and the governor seem to be in general agreement about their future goals for Florida’s 12 public universities. Enhancing the State University System — and adding $1 billion in funding to it over…
DetailsTAMPA — On April 14, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law an education bill that, in part, established changes to the present structure of the Florida High School Athletic Association, forcing the organization to allow schools to opt-in to membership on a per-sport basis. Now the FHSAA — which has been in charge of high…
DetailsTwenty-two local schools will get a piece of the $134.6 million pie that is school recognition dollars — an initiative that annually awards schools for achieving either an “A” or substantial progress on state-issued report cards. And while school officials will readily accept the newly minted checks, they also critique the program’s incentive methods, weighing…
DetailsIn a move towards strict liability, a recent Florida Supreme Court holding allows no room for public agency error under Florida’s Public Records Act (“Act”). On April 14, 2016, the Supreme Court of Florida issued on opinion in Board of Trustees, Jacksonville Police & Fire Pension Fund v. Lee, and held that a party is…
DetailsTeachers and other school employees who have long anticipated a bonus from the state’s A-Plus plan shouldn’t have to wait much longer. The money should be delivered to school districts on Tuesday, according to the Florida Department of Education. School grade appeals have been reviewed, and the 2015 grades are now formalized. So the $134.6…
DetailsAt the urging of some Florida lawmakers who said school districts were spending too much to build campuses, the state has tightened rules on construction costs. Central Florida district leaders say they fear the new rules, part of a massive education bill signed by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month, will hamper their ability to…
DetailsTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The number of children showing up to school with their required shots is dropping according to the Florida Department of Health. New data sent to the state’s 67 school districts on Friday showed that nearly 93 percent of kindergarten students and 90.6 percent of seventh-graders had their required immunizations this year.…
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