A legal challenge is being waged over a contract with the Florida Department of Education. A rejected vendor is protesting DOE’s selection of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) to develop test items and more under the “Florida Interim Assessment Item Bank and Test Platform.” The funding is provided by a Race to the Top grant from the U.S. government.
CTB/McGraw-Hill contends the state’s negotiation team goofed in their assessment of the bids. DOE issued an Invitation to Negotiate and received bids from eight vendors. The bids were narrowed down to five companies, then two. CTB and HMH were the two finalists. Now, the rejected company has filed a formal protest with the state. At issue is a contract worth nearly $37 million for HMH.
This was a good year for us at StateImpact Florida.
We launched six months ago with the mission of becoming Florida’s source for education news and analysis brought to you by NPR and WUSF in Tampa, WLRN in Miami, and WJCT in Jacksonville.
We had a few successes and learned a few lessons along the way. Here’s a look back at our biggest, best and favorite stories from 2011.
The New Year will bring consideration of a four-day school week in a suburban Tampa district. It’s been the goal of Pasco County School Board member Steve Luikart since he came on the job a year ago.
Luikart is a Pasco native who spent several decades as a teacher and administrator before running for a seat on the board. He now chairs a task force that is researching four-day weeks as a way of saving money while making sure student needs are met.
The task force had its first meeting in September. Members are examining an array of possible scenarios beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, like closing all schools and district buildings on Mondays or Fridays. Initial estimates several years ago suggested Pasco could save $3.2 million annually.
Rep. Will Weatherford is the next Florida House Speaker. The Pasco County Republican also was involved in trying to open a rejectd Pasco County charter school.
When the Legislative session opens next month, expect these folks to make the most news — or maybe just the most noise.
Gov. Rick Scott — Scott got much of what he wanted last year. The first bill he signed into law — with a press event at a charter school — required statewide teacher evaluations.
This year Scott has thrown out two markers: He’d like $1 billion added to K-12 budgets and he wants state universities to graduate students in fields which expect job growth, such as math, science and engineering.
When Florida voters implemented the class size amendment in 2002, they mandated that public schools limit the number of students in core classes like math and science. The limit varies depending on the grade level. Schools were given until the 2010-2011 school year to be in full compliance.
Since 2002, districts have been striving to hit the magic numbers: no more than 18 students per core class through grade 3, 22 students in grades 4 through 8, and 25 students in grades 9 through 12. Districts were given gradual caps to follow on their way to full compliance. But as the recession pulled money away from education funding, it became easier for districts to pay fines for violating the amendment rather than pay what it costs to follow the rules.
Here's six bills to watch in the upcoming legislative session.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is something of a slow news week for education reporters.
But lawmakers return to Tallahassee next month, so we’ll spend a few days getting you up to speed on what to expect this legislative session and who the key players are.
Here’s six bills that could set the tone on education for the Legislative session.
Zabala said she’s most concerned that portions of federal disability law intended to provide access to students with disabilities are instead being used to keep those students out of the school of their choice.
It’s worth reading her comments in full, so here they are after the jump:
Most facilities at UCP’s Bailes campus are designed to be accessible for students with disabilities, including this playground.Charter schools are supposed to give students an alternative to their neighborhood schools.
As our investigation found earlier this month, most charter schools in Florida serve no severely-disabled students.
But during our research, we found one county where charter schools were serving LOTS of kids with disabilities: Orange County in the Orlando area.
UCP (formerly United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida) runs several schools where the philosophy is students with and without disabilities learn more together.
How do they do it when other charter schools say they can’t afford to serve kids with severe disabilities?
You can hear more from the parents, teachers and other supporters of UCP in the audio story below.
To read the full online version of this story, click here.
Isabella, 8, was forced to leave Miami Children's Museum Charter School after her mom, Miami School board member Raquel Regalado, learned Isabella has autism. Now, Isabella is at a traditional public school in Miami with a program for kids with hearing impairments.
Earlier this month, an investigation by StateImpact Florida and the Miami Herald revealed that most Florida charter schools are not enrolling students with severe disabilities, like autism or cerebral palsy.
The findings caused Miami-Dade School Board member Raquel Regalado to share her own story of how her daughter with autism was forced to leave a Miami charter school.
“People think that parents choose not to apply to charter schools, and that’s not true,” said Regalado.
“And within the special needs community, parents know, why even apply? Because legally they have the ability to deny you access. That’s why I wanted to tell people that it happened to me.”
UCP's Bailes campus in East Orlando serves students as young as six weeks up through 3rd grade. About half of the school's students have a disability.
When her three-year-old granddaughter moved to Orlando, the dean of education at the University of Central Florida knew exactly where she should go — a school founded for children with disabilities.
“She would have the opportunities to work with these very skilled teachers,” Robinson said, “but also in such a diverse classroom so that from her very early years Ellie would understand differences in people.”
It’s one of seven charter schools run by the non-profit UCP, affiliated with the central Florida chapter of United Cerebral Palsy. And it’s unique in several ways.
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
