Patricia Levesque runs two foundations created by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — the Foundation for Florida’s Future and the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Levesque and Bush are a powerful team advocating for school choice, the controversial parent trigger bill, and Common Core standards being implemented nationwide. Levesque is a divisive figure, drawing criticism [...]
A loose-knit network of education activists generally opposed to the direction Florida has been taking its schools recently is attempting to organize into a more potent political force. The groups include parents, people who want more state funding for schools, and others who are fed up with the brand of testing-based school accountability that Florida [...]
A band of activists is trying to organize Florida education groups toward a common purpose. To do so they are forming two non-profit groups, one a 501(c)3 and the other a 501(c)4. What does that mean? Under Internal Revenue Service rules, a 501(c)3 is a non-profit for religious, charitable or educational purposes. These types of [...]
Florida is the teacher’s pet in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) latest Report Card on American Education. The report ranks state K-12 performance, progress, and reform. Florida comes in 12th in the most recent rankings, but it’s one of the leaders in making progress. Florida is also tied for first overall in policy – [...]
Remember that Reuters story last week which took a longer look at claims that Florida schools have improved under former Gov. Jeb Bush’s leadership? A blogger for the Foundation for Excellence in Education — one of two foundations Bush started to support his education agenda — has responded. Mike Thomas counts the Reuters piece among [...]
The two-day Excellence in Action annual summit started Tuesday, with a focus on school choice, Common Core and the politics of education reform.
The Foundation for Excellence in Education’s annual conference starting this morning in Washington, D.C. The agenda hits most of the main policies former Gov. Jeb Bush has supported: How to make teachers more effective; school district accountability; charter school accountability; the parent trigger and funding; and what to expect from new Common Core assessments. The [...]
The Foundation for Excellence in Education received $1.55 million from the Walton Family Foundation in 2011, according to a rundown on the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet blog. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush started the Foundation for Excellence in Education to push new education policies — some of which were pioneered in Florida during Bush’s two [...]
For 15 years Florida has conducted an experiment in public education. The goal was to improve the entire education system by granting charter schools more leeway to innovate. Welcome to StateImpact Florida’s Charter Schools 101 series examining the effect those schools have had on students, teachers, parents and communities — and what comes next. One [...]
Congress needs to reauthorize federal No Child Left Behind education standards, but President Barack Obama is growing tired of waiting. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said a month ago that the agency planned to issue waivers to exempt some states from NCLB requirements as many states claim a high percentage of their schools will fail [...]
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