Florida lawmakers have taken great pains to include charter schools in the pantheon of the state’s public education system. But the state Ethics Commission saw things a bit differently in a draft advisory opinion offered to a Lake Wales city commissioner who also serves as legal counsel to the Lake Wales charter school system. Read…
DetailsPrivate schools in Florida will collect nearly $1 billion in state-backed scholarships this year through a system so weakly regulated that some schools hire teachers without college degrees, hold classes in aging strip malls and falsify fire-safety and health records. Read More — Part 1 Read More — Part 2 Read More — Part 3
DetailsIn a swift, 20-minute meeting, the panel charged with updating the Florida Constitution on Tuesday rejected all but a few of the 2,012 public proposals submitted to the Constitution Revision Commission, advancing only six of them, after months of encouraging the public to submit ideas. Read More
DetailsJust to get it on the record here, thirteen Florida school boards including Pinellas County filed suit Monday in Leon County court, challenging the constitutionality of several provisions within the law created by HB 7069. The lawsuit comes as no surprise. Speculation ran rampant that such a legal battle would emerge from almost the moment after the…
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The Legislature held the first round of Interim Committee Meetings last week in preparation of the upcoming 2018 Legislative Session. Please click on the file below to access our report on the bills and presentations that were considered. In addition, please click on the other files listed below for a few quick updates on items of interest.…
DetailsOne Floridian wants the Bible and prayer in the state’s public schools. Another seeks to prevent state funds from going to any institution that promotes religion. One resident calls for all school district superintendents to be appointed, while another says they should all be elected. A third would do away with the job altogether. These…
DetailsFlorida lawmakers will again consider a proposal that would require high-school students to pass a financial-literacy course before graduation. The Senate Education Committee this week unanimously passed a financial literacy bill (SB 88) spearheaded by committee Chair Dorothy Hukill, a Port Orange Republican. Republican state Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen of Fort Myers, filed a House version…
DetailsWhen Edgardo Ortiz boarded a flight from Puerto Rico to Florida on Oct. 7, with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, he didn’t have a concrete plan for what would happen next. He planned to stay with his aunt in Kissimmee, enroll his daughter in school, and look for a job. Read More
DetailsClick below to read Executive Director Andrea Messina’s top picks for this week’s education news. Read. Learn. Share. Retweet. 1. Learning about STEM from astronauts while they are in space: Learn more 2. Black Girls CODE organization expands in Detroit: Learn more 3. Ways teachers can help students during disasters, difficult times: Learn more 4. Heard about the $1 Billion…
DetailsA bill that won’t likely be filed for another 30 days rose to the top of the Florida House’s education priorities Wednesday, as Speaker Richard Corcoran and the chairmen and vice chairmen of all education committees gathered to announce the “Hope Scholarship.” Modeled after the corporate tax credit scholarship, which allows donors to contribute to…
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