Should schools be allowed to charge students for participation in school sports.
Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Luc Cohen.
The state does not explicitly prohibit schools from charging students to participate in school sports.
But many Florida schools have their own policies banning the practice.
Earlier this month, the Broward Bulldog published a story accusing the cheerleading booster club at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland of collecting tens of thousands of dollars from parents in order for their children to be on the team.
The State Investigative Unit has opened an investigation into the allegations. The booster club has since disbanded and handed over all financial operations to the school.
But the issue raises a question about pay to play policies in Florida. Continue Reading →
Florida pays International Pearson Inc. $249 million dollars to administer the FCAT. Pearson also pays to lobby Florida lawmakers.
Florida pays International Pearson Inc. millions of dollars to administer the FCAT during its current five year contract – $249 million dollars to be exact.
But Pearson also spends money – up to $800,000 – to lobby state legislators, as central Florida’s WFTV reports.
Public records show Pearson spent at least $580,000 on lobbyists since 2007. This is two years before Pearson’s current contract.
WFTV confirmed Pearson does not donate to individual legislators, but has donated to political action committees that have pushed lawmakers to increase testing and raise the standards. Continue Reading →
Lawmakers and lobbyists look down from the second floor on the state Capitol building as students protest higher education cuts and tuition increases.
Students occupied the Capitol chanting, “They say cut back, we say fight back.” State representative Dwight Bullard (D-Miami), center, jumped in chanting to let the students know they have a friend in the legislature.
“I support more funding for education, so the same issues they’re fighting for, its easy for me to stand with them,” Bullard said.
“I love seeing youth energy getting involved in government because often times its too many blue jackets and khaki pants walking around this place.”
Florida students meet outside of the Capitol in Tallahassee to distribute signs before they Occupy the Capitol to protest tuition increases and cuts to higher education funding and scholarship programs.
Ralph Wilson, a PHD students in mathematics at Florida State University, gets his tuition paid through a research assistantship. “I have it great compared to a lot of the undergraduates or high school students who are about to start their educations here in Florida because the tuition is seeming like its going to continue increasing every year,” Wilson said. “These are my colleagues, these are my friends. And if something is going to threaten their livelihood, I absolutely take offense.”
Florida State University junior Cherry Smith, freshman Elizabeth McCawley and Lissa Reed, and senior Gladys Nobriga. Nobriga acknowledges Florida has some of the cheapest tuition rates in the country. “They’re saying they want to raise it closer to national averages, but that’s always rising also,” Nobriga said. “Its not fair that we don’t get the same education rate that they may have gotten.”
Broward College, Palm Beach State College and Valencia College – the second largest community college in the state – voted not to raise tuition. Continue Reading →
“This is where many children, especially low income children, forget a portion of what they learned during the prior school year over the summer break,” said Ann Stone, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer for the Wallace Foundation.
“Since this happens every summer, summer learning loss accumulates and ends up contributing substantially to the achievement gap that we see between low-income children and their more fortunate peers,” Stone said.
Stanton College Preparatory School in Duval County ranked 8th in the country for effectively preparing students for college. Suncoast Community School in Palm Beach County ranked 9th.
More high schools in the Miami-Dade school district prepare students for college than any other district in the state.
Jeffrey Johnston killed himself in 2005 after being picked on by classmates. Florida's anti-bullying law is named after him.
Three of every ten bullying incidents reported in Florida last year happened in Palm Beach County schools, according to state data.
That’s been the case since Florida approved a law in 2008 requiring school districts to report bullying and follow-up with parents — or face penalties.
Palm Beach County schools reported one incident of bullying for every 95 students during the 2010-2011 school year – the highest rate among Florida’s large schools districts. That rate is three and a half times higher than Tampa’s Hillsborough County schools, four times higher than Miami-Dade County schools and 10 times higher than neighboring Broward County schools.
Students from around the state protest tuition increases. Students and professors say financial decisions made by boards of trustees trickle down to impact academics.
Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Georgia Howard.
Every state university in Florida has a board of trustees that makes all the big financial and academic policy decisions.
But most of the trustees don’t have any background in education.
That raises a question: Is management experience or a background in higher education more important to overseeing a state university?
The powers and duties of boards of trustees include everything from handling school money to choosing its policies for student admissions.
Two of the 13 members of each university board have close ties to the school — the faculty president and student body president.
The rest are appointed by the Board of Governors or the governor’s office, and few of those appointments have university experience.
Only three of the 121 appointed trustees at Florida’s 12 universities have worked in higher education.
Student leaders and administrators from Palm Beach State College and Miami-Dade College North are joining Florida PIRG to call for a bipartisan bill to keep interest rates low.
“We are urging Senators Nelson and Rubio to act to extend the low interest rate on federal student loans on behalf of all students,” Christine Lindstrom said, Florida PIRG Higher Education Program Director.
The groups are focusing on Latinos, which Lindstrom said have been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn.
“Roughly 63,000 Latino students in Florida will see their loan amount increase by over $900 on average, which would total an additional $62-million in loan debt,” said Lindstrom. Continue Reading →
Instead, 143 bullying incidents were not reported to the state because of a glitch with the school district’s new computer system, said district spokeswoman Jackie Johnson.
With the mistake, Alachua County school district was the largest of Florida’s 10 districts to report no bullying in 2010-2011.
With the mistake corrected, Alachua County schools had the fourth-highest rate of bullying in the state – with one case for every 192 students. That’s more than twice the state average rate.
Florida colleges are the top 100 producers of associates degree graduates.
Sixteen Florida colleges are among the top 100 producers of associate degrees in the country, according to a Community College Week report.
University of Phoenix Online Campus was the top producer with 33,449 associates degrees awarded last school year. The online campus also came in first for graduating minority students.
Online school aside, Miami-Dade College in Florida leads the nation.
The now four-year institution awarded 9,090 associates degrees last year, putting the school in second place. Miami-Dade College also ranked second in the country for associates degrees to minority students.
More highlights:
13 other Florida colleges were also named top producers of total associate degrees for all minority groups.
14 Florida colleges were named top producers of total associate degrees for African American students. Continue Reading →
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