Florida School Boards Association
It’s 5:40 a.m. A band of high-schoolers stand outside a row of mobile homes framed by statuesque mossy oaks along the corner of Brittany Boulevard, not far off Capital Circle in northwest Tallahassee. They await their hour-long bus ride to school. Sunrise is more than an hour away. More likely than not, they’ve had less than…
DetailsIs eight years enough? For Hialeah Sen. Rene Garcia, a Republican, and West Palm Beach Rep. Mark Pafford, a Democrat, the answer is “no” — if Floridians want to diminish the influence of special interests in the Legislature. “We are a representative democracy and we should be making sure that it is the elected officials…
DetailsTALLAHASSEE — When Gov. Rick Scott rolls out his budget proposal Monday, he’ll talk about spending more money on schools, but some fellow Republicans say he’s not telling taxpayers the whole truth. A spike in school spending will have to come from higher property taxes on businesses and homeowners in Florida, and that has Republican…
DetailsOvercoming years of partisan bickering over the federal government’s role in public education, congressional negotiators came to an agreement on Thursday to revise the No Child Left Behind law for the first time since it was signed by President George W. Bush 14 years ago. Although Democrats and Republicans agreed that the law — passed…
DetailsA long line of frustrated parents prompted Florida Rep. Debbie Mayfield to file a bill that would banish the state Board of Education and turn the commissioner of education into an elected cabinet position. Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican, said she made her decision to file HB 767 Friday afternoon after spending hours in her…
DetailsTALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans once again are taking aim at the Florida Retirement System, arguing taxpayers can save billions of dollars by closing the huge public employee pension program to new members and offering them a 401k-style investment plan. The proposal, which is expected to be offered by House members in the coming legislative session,…
DetailsHere in the tiny town of Vardaman, everything moves slowly. Especially the Internet at the local high school. The trouble begins early each morning. Teachers sweet-talk their computers while trying to load the school’s online attendance system. A few get lucky. The rest shake their heads, write the names of absent children on a sheet…
DetailsTALLAHASSEE — A Senate panel Thursday approved a measure aimed at improving and expanding the Early Steps program, which serves infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and delays. The Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee backed the bill, part of a series of efforts by Senate President Andy Gardiner to help people with what…
DetailsIncreasing students’ school options remains a high priority for several Florida lawmakers, who continue to file bills aiming to accomplish that goal. The latest in a string of measures is Rep. Chris Sprowls’ revival of his spring effort to codify student transfers across district boundaries. Last time, school district officials picked holes in the proposal,…
DetailsFlorida school districts dramatically increased their use of a loophole in the state’s class size law last year, according to newly released Department of Education data that’s bolstering lawmakers’ call for changes to the rule. By the numbers, districts identified 56 percent more of their schools as “schools of choice” in 2014-15 than a year…
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