A lawsuit that claims the Florida Legislature has failed to adequately educate the state’s children is going to the Florida Supreme Court. State leaders appealed for a halt to the proceedings after a trial judge rejected their request to dismiss the case, but an appellate court voted 8 – 7 this week to allow the lawsuit to proceed.
The lawsuit was filed two years ago by half a dozen students and parents. They were joined in the suit by Fund Education Now, a nonprofit focused on education reform in Florida, and Citizens for Strong Schools, a nonprofit based in Alachua County.
Readers rekindled the debate about whether Florida universities should “drive” more students into science, technology, engineering and math fields.
Trena G said government doesn’t have the authority to require a student pursue a certain degree.
Fine if he wants to make SUGGESTIONS to individual students, as to what they might enjoy studying. But, the gov has no right to dictate what people study, or what courses the school can offer. The schools are there to serve the students, not to serve the governor, or his state. The state is there to serve the students, not the other way around.
Dave said Scott is right to have some foresight to protect taxpayers from the future costs of current poor decisions:
The petition signers will soon be in some city park screaming at us because their degree in 15th century Chinese literature isn’t helping them find a job…liberals tend to rebel against common sense. And we have to suffer the consequences by bailing the idiots of out student loans then paying for a lifetime of welfare while they raise 3 kids on a McDonald’s job.
Bassetjaw offered an idea on how to encourage STEM graduates:
A market solution would be to waive all or a significant amount of tuition for students that attain STEM degrees with a GPA above 3.0. That would take someone with a brain to come up with. Sorry Florida you elected him.
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Reader reaction is an important part of building StateImpact Florida’s education coverage. Feedback Loop will be a regular feature highlighting your questions, criticisms and comments.
This map shows charter school attendance in every Florida county. Click on the image for an interactive map.
More than two dozen counties did not have a charter school during the last school year, despite a rising percentage of Florida students attending charter schools.
These interactive maps show the counties without charters and the percentage of students in each county that attend charter schools.
A recent article in The Nation magazine accused business leaders of using legislative tactics to hide their true intentions, which include privatizing virtual public schools. Writer Lee Fang talked about Florida as a leader in the pursuit of privatized education through vouchers and charter schools. But another writer says Fang got it wrong.
Fang cited former Governor Jeb Bush’s “far-reaching ten-point agenda for virtual schools and online coursework.” He wrote that a key to Bush’s success included a requirement that Florida’s public school students take some classes online.
The article quoted Patricia Levesque, who runs two education foundations chaired by Bush. At a retreat last year, Fang said she urged education reformers to spread the opposition thin by keeping them busy with legislative proposals.
Now, writer Bill Tucker takes the original article to task for what he sees as some serious flaws.
It’s that time between Halloween and Thanksgiving when first-year teachers start losing some of the initial excitement they had at the start of the school year, and when students (who haven’t had a school break in a while) start pushing new teachers to see what they can get away with.
Roxanna Elden, calls the month of November the “disillusionment phase” for rookie teachers.
Below, she tells us about her first-year teacher breakdown, and offers some tips for new teachers, friends and family members of new teachers, and people who help train new teachers.
“This Halloween marked the ten-year anniversary of my first-year teacher breakdown. I spent the afternoon in my car in a Burger King parking lot, crying too hard to drive. According to many of the teachers I interviewed for my book, I was right on schedule.
Which industries are adding the most jobs? Georgetown University researchers think they know the answer.
Marketing and sales and hospitality and tourism industries will create the most jobs in Florida between 2008 and 2018, according to a new Georgetown University report.
Overall, researchers expect the state will create 1.04 million jobs over the ten-year period.
The report projects information technology and health science will have the fastest percentage growth over that time period. At the bottom of the list is science, technology, engineering and math with just 3 percent growth and 21,100 new jobs expected.
According to the report, these five industries will create the most jobs in Florida:
High school dropouts looking to prepare for a General Educational Development test (GED) now have to pay for classes that used to be free. The same applies to those who want to take courses in English as a second language. The cost is minimal, but it could be a deal breaker for people having trouble making ends meet.
The Sun Sentinellays out the numbers. Nearly 340,000 adults took basic education classes last year. That number is expected to shrink this year by at least 38 percent. In Broward County alone, there’s been a 70 percent drop in students taking GED preparation courses.
Some students working on college degrees in Florida are signing a petition asking Governor Rick Scott not to sign their diplomas. The creator of the petition says it’s because of the governor’s repeated assaults on the Florida education system.
Petition author Eric Curtisson writes that Scott works constantly to remove students’ rights to higher education. Curtisson doesn’t offer examples, but the governor has gotten plenty of criticism in the education arena.
College debt is a major theme among the Occupy Wall Street protests, such as this October rally in Washington, D.C.
OnlineUniversity.net has released an infographic on schools that graduate students with the most and least college loan debt. And three of the top five colleges with the highest student debt are in Florida.
The University of South Florida has responded to Gov. Rick Scott's questions about students and graduates.
A few weeks back Gov. Rick Scott sent state universities a list of questions for data on university students and graduates — including how much they are earning.
It’s all part of Scott’s push to realign state universities so that they produce more graduates in fields expecting job growth. Scott has emphasized science, technology, engineering and math fields, or STEM, in particular.
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft has responded with a 106-page letter outlining the entire USF system’s efforts.
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