A proposed constitutional amendment in Florida that would have allowed taxpayer funds to go toward religious institutions, including schools, was struck down by a judge Wednesday. Amendment 7, titled “Religious Freedom,” was slated for the November 2012 ballot. It was crafted by legislators last spring to counteract a provision of the Constitution known as the Blaine Amendment, which says taxpayer dollars cannot be spent “in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”
The proposed “Religious Freedom” amendment states:
Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to provide, consistent with the United States Constitution, that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding, or other support and to delete the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.
Florida’s education commissioner is defending his decision to toughen the standards for tenth grade reading. Commissioner Gerard Robinson acknowledges more students are likely to fail that portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). He is seeking a passing score that’s two points higher than a panel of school and business experts recommended.
Robinson told The Palm Beach Post editorial board this week that tougher scores are necessary to make sure high school graduates are ready for the next step. Tenth graders must pass the FCAT reading exam in order to graduate.
Florida’s graduation rate has been on the rise for the last six years. In fact, the rate has reached its highest level ever. That’s the news from the Florida Department of Education, which just released a report for the 2010-2011 school year.
The results show minority students in particular continue to graduate at higher levels. Hispanic students have increased graduation rates 13 percent and African-American students are up 11.5 percent since 2006-07. Overall, Florida’s graduation rate rose more than one point to 80.1 percent last school year. That’s an increase of nearly 10 percentage points since 2006-07.
The current graduation rate is 68.4 percent for African-Americans, 77.3 percent for Hispanics, and 86.8 for white students. Continue Reading →
The first TUDA was offered in 2002 and is given every other year. It assesses the performance of public school students and compares scores for 21 urban districts across the nation. It continues to grow, and every district that was invited to participate this year agreed to do so.
2011 is the first year the Hillsborough County school district participated, and the results show Hillsborough students get some bragging rights. It turns out they largely outperformed their peers in the other 20 urban districts that took part, and performed above the national and state average.
Gov. Rick Scott has unveiled his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. It’s $4.6 billion less than the current state budget, but education gets a big boost. Scott is seeking a $1 billion increase in education spending with a focus on grades K-12. “Despite tough economic times,” said Scott, “this investment will provide the third highest level of state funding ever into Florida’s 67 school districts at 9.5 billion.”
It’s an about-face for Scott, who proposed a 10 percent cut in education last year. Lawmakers ultimately gave him an 8 percent decrease. As Scott’s popularity ratings took a nosedive, he started looking at how education could play into his plan to create 700,000 jobs in the state over seven years. Continue Reading →
Gov. Rick Scott sees a brighter future for Floridians through higher education. In a letter to newspaper editorial boards around the state, Scott said education pays off through “higher earnings and lower unemployment rates.” Then he addressed the money issue.
For the school year beginning next fall, he wrote that Florida’s student population is expected to climb by at least 30,000. If funding levels stay the same, Scott says that’s an automatic increase in education spending of $191 million. But local revenues continue to slide, leaving districts with $200 million less than they currently have to spend. Then there’s the loss of $780 million in federal funding. It’s ugly, and the result, says Scott, is an expected budget hole of $1.2 billion dollars just for the state’s schools.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating the death of a Florida A&M University (FAMU) student who had reportedly been hazed by his fellow band mates. 26-year-old Robert Champion died shortly after he collapsed on a bus in Orlando, where he and other members of FAMU’s famed Marching 100 were performing.
Governor Rick Scott decided the state should be involved in the death investigation. In a meeting with reporters last week, he said, “I think it’s very important that we do a thorough investigation, and I think it’s also important that we review our hazing policies…When things like this happen, you’ve got to make sure in your organization, our universities in this case, that people feel comfortable coming forward, you know, if they see something like this because I don’t want this to ever happen again.”
We’ve heard about Governor Rick Scott’s proposed “parent trigger law,” which would give parents the power to shut down low performing schools and transform them into charter schools. Now we’re hearing from some of the people who would be impacted by the change.
Maria Mendoza’s daughter attends an underperforming elementary school in Ft. Myers. She told the Fort Myers News-Pressthe school and the teachers could be better. Her daughter took it a step further, saying she likes the school, “but they could teach the subjects better.”
Most districts offer some sort of school choice program, and many are mulling how to make those programs work for more kids. The parent trigger bill hasn’t been filed with the Florida Legislature yet, but the kind of reform it would bring has long been part of Gov. Scott’s agenda.
A survey that tracks the way states use data to improve the quality of education finds progress across the board. The data could be anything from individual standardized test scores to the performance of whole school districts.
The Data Quality Campaign is in its seventh year. More than fifty organizations around the country are now part of the effort to get state leaders focused on improving the use of education data. The idea is to quickly and easily get mounds of information to as many people as possible. The hope is that easily accessible data will lead to more informed decision-making by teachers, students, parents, and even lawmakers. Ultimately, the campaign sees better student outcomes as a result.
The index focuses on the concept of school choice, which has been popular with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature. Lawmakers passed a series of bills last spring to broaden school choice options. The result is easier expansion of virtual and charter schools, and more opportunities for kids to transfer to better performing public schools or into private schools using vouchers.
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