Florida will have fewer kids enrolled in traditional public schools in the coming years. That’s the consensus of the Education Enrollment Conference. The panel of state economists and legislative staffers is compiling projections for public schools over the next decade.
The reason for the enrollment forecast is money. The panel recommends school district renovation and construction budgets to the Legislature based on the enrollment projection.
After crunching the numbers, they don’t see a need for any new schools within the next five years. The student population is expected to slowly decrease starting this fall, so it looks as though schools will have sufficient classroom space.
He used a lot of jargon – “devolution,” “delivery systems,” “performance funding” – to explain what the Board of Governors and others are trying to change within the State University System.
StateImpact Florida sorted through the buzzwords and the bureaucratese to find the three things Brogan wants to accomplish:
Florida’s economy isn’t back to pre-recession peak levels, but it’s growing. That’s what the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform heard Monday as the panel looks for ways to reform the State University System.
Panel members want to know what the job market will look like in the coming years and which industries may have worker shortages soon.
Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research, looked at trends for the state through 2030. For now, she said Florida is among a handful of states that hasn’t recovered from the recession.
First Lady Ann Scott reads to kids at the Tallahassee Museum.
Florida first lady Ann Scott likes to read. She’s trying to get more kids reading, too.
Friday morning at the Tallahassee Museum, she helped kick off the 2012 Summer Literacy Adventure. The program is designed to get kids interested in reading and keep them motivated to read all year.
Scott told an audience of museum campers that she loved school growing up, but couldn’t wait for summer break.
“One of the first things that I did was head to the local library near my home,” said Scott, “and I would peruse the aisles looking at books that I thought I might enjoy reading, checking out a stack of books and seeing how many I could get through in a week.”
Florida students did better than expected in reading and math, according to a Florida Department of Education analysis of the latest batch of Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results.
Results for 2012 FCAT 2.0 Reading show 59 percent of students in grades 4 through 8 scored a 3 — considered ‘satisfactory’ — or above. In FCAT 2.0 Mathematics, 57 percent of students in grades 4 through 8 scored a 3 or higher.
The test is more demanding than its predecessor. This school year was the first time new achievement levels were in place.
The 2012 scores are roughly equal to last year’s scores, after the state education department compared the old scores to the new scale.
Suezan Turknett, principal of Imagine School at Evening Rose in Tallahassee, speaks to parents.
Charter schools tend to be less diverse than traditional public schools, according to a new report, and federal and state officials should consider rules that give charter schools more flexibility in choosing students.
As schools of choice, charters could use diversity to improve student education, according to a report from the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) and The Century Foundation. But federal law requires charter schools give every applicant the same chance at enrolling — typically through a lottery.
That’s a problem, the authors write, because charter schools traditionally are started to provide an alternative to failing schools in low-income and minority communities. Studies show a lack of diversity can be detrimental to kids, they argue.
After an onslaught of applications, the deadline has been extended for anyone hoping to be on FPU’s Board of Trustees.
39 applications were received by yesterday’s deadline. Continue Reading →
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