John O'Connor is the Miami-based education reporter for StateImpact Florida. John previously covered politics, the budget and taxes for The (Columbia, S.C) State. He is a graduate of Allegheny College and the University of Maryland.
A business advocacy group is running television ads that say Florida might have to cut education funding if the state expands Medicaid health coverage.
The National Federation of Independent Business has also set up a website — FloridaCanDoBetter.com.
“Washington promises to pay the billions in new costs. But with these endless federal deficits can we really trust them?” The ad states. “If Florida gets stuck with the long term bill it will bust our budget. That could force big cuts for funding in education.
“Protect our budget and schools,” the ad concludes, asking viewers to sign a petition.
Lawmakers are debating whether — and then how — to expand Florida’s Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for an individual and $32,500 for a family of four, are eligible for Medicaid under the federal law.
Medicaid is a state-run, but federally funded health care program for the poor and disabled.
Lawmakers are working on adjustments to the state's teacher evaluation law, including requiring evaluation be based only on students in the teacher's classes.
Florida lawmakers moved a step closer to requiring teachers only are evaluated based on the performance of students in their classes, according to the Gainesville Sun.
Currently, evaluations for teachers in subjects not tested by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test are assigned a score based on the school-wide average. That means an art or music teacher could be evaluated using FCAT reading scores.
A 2011 state law requires schools districts to base at least 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student improvement on standardized tests. Known as a value-added model, the complicated statistical formula tries to strip out factors such as attendance or class size to measure just how much the teacher has improved the student’s scores.
Critics say the evaluations have large margins of error and score can have large variations from year to year.
Lawmakers — most notably Senate President Don Gaetz — were not satisfied by the first batch of statewide teacher evaluation data and want to change the formula.
A House committee has approved a bill creating three types of high school diplomas.
The House Education committee unanimously approved a bill creating three high school diploma options for Florida students.
Students could choose from scholar, college and career and industry options. The scholar option requires high-level courses — such as Physics and foreign language — while the industry option lets students opt for professional training classes and certification.
The bill, H.B. 7091, initially raised concerns — most notably from Patricia Levesque, director of the Foundation For Florida’s Future — that lawmakers were lowering the bar for some students. But school officials believe new graduation requirements, which included passing end-of-course exams, meant more students would struggle with mandatory courses.
Those concerns had been smoothed over Wednesday afternoon. Levesque supported the bill. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett did as well. The committee’s Democrats and Republicans both voted in favor.
If private schools want to accept McKay Scholarships, Adam Emerson with the Fordham Institute writes, they should also accept some oversight.
Florida’s special education scholarship program needs more accountability, a school choice researcher argues, despite opposition from a coalition of schools which administer the scholarships.
The Coalition sent a survey to the 1,155 participating McKay Scholarship schools in February. It received 474 responses, representing approximately 40 percent of the McKay schools. Results indicate that 1) nearly all of the schools are conducting norm-referenced assessments of their students; 2) these education professionals do not believe the FCAT is an appropriate measure for their students with disabilities; and 3) 61 percent of the schools responding reported they would no longer participate in the McKay Scholarship Program if required to give the FCAT to their students.
The McKay Scholarship Program was designed so parents of children with disabilities would be able to identify and participate in programs that would meet the needs of their children. Many parents choose to participate in the McKay program because they do not believe the FCAT and a one-size-fits-all approach to education are in the best interest of their children who have disabilities and do not fit the “norms.” The McKay Scholarship Program has been very successful and popular with parents because it provides them with the ability to choose a school that best meets the unique needs of their children.
The Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland. The stone imparts "the ability to deceive without offending" -- flattery would be a form -- to those who kiss it.
University of South Florida education professor Sherman Dorn parses some of the language — what he calls “blarney” in a St. Pat’s Day theme — surrounding new education standards adopted by Florida, 44 other states and the District of Columbia.
The standards, known as Common Core, ask students to know fewer topics, but to have a deeper understanding of those topics. The goal is that students will be ready for college-level work or a job upon graduating high school.
Dorn’s list has 10 items, but we’ll focus on two: Whether Common Core means the end of local control of education and the differences whether common standards will mean a common curriculum.
State Board of Education member Kathleen Shanahan.
A Florida Senate budget proposal includes money for teacher raises, but the State Board of Education is worried the spending plan does not set aside enough money to expand Internet access at state schools.
The Florida Department of Education says 263 schools lack broadband access while 1,600 schools don’t have the high-speed wireless Internet needed for digital classrooms.
The agency asked for $390.1 million in its budget request to offer schools grants to upgrade their wireless Internet access. The agency requested another $51.7 million to obtain 304,000 computers, tablets or other devices needed for testing.
Board members are worried they haven’t adequately explained why the money is needed — and that they are running out of time as lawmakers begin debating the budget. Legislators are working on a spending plan for the last full budget year before new education standards — known as Common Core State Standards — and accompanying test are scheduled to take effect in the fall of 2014.
Internet access will be important as Florida schools switch to Common Core and replace the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test with online exams. In addition, a state law requires Florida schools deliver half of their instruction digitally beginning in the fall of 2015.
“They’re not there at all,” board member Kathleen Shanahan said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We have our responsibilities to be ready for Common Core…we haven’t made our case.
A screenshot of the Florida Virtual Academy website. The schools are affiliated with K12, Inc.
A network of online charter schools tied to education firm K12, Inc. will not seek to open schools in Marion, Orange and Seminole counties next year, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
A lawyer representing Florida Virtual Academy said the schools would not be able to open by next fall if the local school districts continued to oppose the schools. The charter schools plan to apply again in those districts.
Both the House and Senate have set aside less for education in their budgets than Gov. Rick Scott. Rep. Erik Fresen says the House budget will include a teacher raise, but would not say how much teachers would get.
Florida House and Senate leaders have set aside less money for education in their initial budget outlines than did Gov. Rick Scott.
Both House and Senate leaders have expressed doubts about Scott’s $480 million plan to give teachers a $2,500 across-the-board raise. Scott’s budget would have spent $14.3 billion on education.
School media specialists will play an increasingly important role as schools focus more on high-quality texts due to Common Core standards.
Pasco County media specialists are rallying Tuesday to oppose a proposal that would restructure their job duties and shift many from library and technology support roles to the classroom.
The school district is facing a $23 million shortfall in the 2013-2014 school year.
In the old days media specialists were known as librarians. They still manage the library, but they’re also teaching students how to use PowerPoint and other software essential for school and business.
Media specialists also keep school technology running smoothly.
“Who’s going to take care of the iPads and the iPods…and run to the classroom when teachers have the iPads and none of them are seeing the network and they can’t get online?” asked Marilyn Shafer, a media specialist at Gulf Middle School in New Port Richey. “[A teacher’s] whole lesson has fallen apart unless somebody can respond immediately.”
School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the district is reorganizing its media specialists, rewriting the position requirements. If the school board accepts Browning’s budget proposal, the district would still have 30 media specialists working regionally among schools. The district currently has 58 media specialists.
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