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.
“And I ask you to please consider that recommendation very carefully,” Scott said, according to the prepared speech. “On this point, I just cannot budge. I ask you again today to send me a budget that significantly increases state funding for education.”
Scott argued teachers deserve a raise. And then he asked lawmakers to remember a a favorite teacher. Scott didn’t threaten a veto if lawmakers disagree.
“Like me, you all are probably here today thanks to a great teacher who believed in you,” Scott said. Then Scott asked for a show of support — at once literal and metaphorical.
“Will you please stand now in honor of that great teacher?”
The old Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee, with the new Capitol behind it. The 2013 Legislative session begins today.
The 2013 Legislative session officially opens today in Tallahassee. Lawmakers will meet for 60 days and with no election or redistricting, fewer high-profile issues and a small budget surplus, education could be a headline issue this year.
Here’s five things to watch as lawmakers return.
Budget: Teacher raises?
State analysts project Florida will have a small budget surplus this year. Gov. Rick Scott would like to give teachers an across-the-board $2,500 raise. Lawmakers like the idea of paying teachers more, but don’t like the idea of a standard raise after passing a law in 2011 requiring school district pay teachers based on student performance.
But lawmakers must also look down the road to new education requirements taking effect in the fall of 2014 and fall of 2015. In 2014 all Florida schools are scheduled to move to new education standards and an accompanying online test.
The following year lawmakers have required schools to deliver half of their lessons digitally, using iPads, Kindles or other devices. Supporters say digital curriculum and textbooks are more interactive and can be updated more easily. Students use high-tech devices everyday, and schools say students are comfortable using them for school as well.
The chairman of the Senate education committee has filed a bill postponing the next generation of standardized tests until schools have the technology in place.
The chairman of the Senate education committee has introduced a bill postponing the next generation of standardized tests until Florida schools prove they have technology and broadband capable of handling the computerized tests.
Sen. John Legg’s bill, S.B. 1630, would require school and district information technology systems “be load tested and independently verified as appropriate, adequate, efficient, and sustainable” to handle the new test.
Education students at the University of Central Florida are learning how to use books and other materials to design lessons which meet Common Core standards. A survey of educators found most teachers were familiar with the new standards, and most had received at least two days of training on the new standards.
Seven out of ten educators in a national survey said they have had at least two days of training for new, tougher education standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states.
But more than half of those surveyed disagreed that their textbooks and curriculum were aligned with the new standards.
The poll surveyed educators about how familiar they are with the Common Core State Standards. The standards are intended to be tougher, teaching fewer topics but expecting students to be able to demonstrate their knowledge and use evidence to defend their reasoning.
The standards will also allow for better comparison of student performance from state to state and internationally.
Florida schools have fully introduced the standards in kindergarten and first grade, with all grades scheduled to move to the new standards by the fall of 2014.
According to the poll, nearly one in four surveyed said they were not familiar with the Common Core math standards. Just 8 percent said they were not familiar with the Common Core English language arts standards. Similar percentages of teachers said they were not familiar with their current state standards.
March 1 is the deadline for Congress to strike a budget deal or a series of automatic spending cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over a decade takes effect.
The cuts — known as sequestration — would hit military spending, courts, national parks and K-12 and early childhood education programs. That includes Head Start, the federal early childhood education program.
We spoke with Louis Finney, director of the Hillsborough County Head Start program about what the cuts would mean for the 3,500 children enrolled in the program and its roughly 700 employees.
We also asked him about President Barack Obama’s proposal to expand early childhood education programs.
When the sniping against new state education standards begins, Florida's business leaders were told not to abandon their foxholes.
The Florida Council of 100 held a summit Wednesday in Orlando to discuss Florida’s transition to new education requirements known as Common Core State Standards.
Advocates say the standards focus on deeper knowledge of fewer subjects, and not only ask students what they know but to prove how they know it.
Kelli Wells with the GE Foundation says businesses need to stand up for new education standards, particularly if educators and politicians get nervous about falling test scores.
Businesses need to support school districts as they switch to new, tougher education standards which will help stock American companies with a competitive workforce.
That’s what Kelli Wells, who heads education efforts for the GE Foundation, told a Florida business group at an Orlando discussion of Common Core State Standards.
Florida, 44 states and the District of Columbia have fully adopted Common Core standards for math and English language arts. The standards focus on deeper knowledge of fewer subjects, and not only ask students what they know but to prove how they know it.
The standards, speakers said, emphasize focus, coherence and rigor. They are also designed to allow better comparisons between states, and to foreign students.
But while the change is necessary and worthwhile, Wells said it won’t be easy. Businesses need to back up politicians and schools districts who might become wobbly when fewer students are passing the new, tougher standardized tests which will accompany Common Core.
After analyzing the first year of data, the Florida Department of Education believes the state's teacher evaluation formula is sound.
Students in math classes taught by the state’s highest-rated teachers made 19 percent more progress than the average student.
For students taught by the highest-rated reading teachers, student scores improved 8 percent more than the average student.
Students of the lowest-rated reading teacher’s made 36 percent less progress than the average student. While students of the lowest-rated math teachers made 40 percent less progress than the average student.
That’s according to a state Department of Education analysis of the first year of statewide teacher evaluation data presented to the State Board of Education this week. You can read the full report here.
Education experts are worried about the development of Florida's next standardized test.
For the first time, a majority of experts surveyed by a Washington D.C.-based education consulting are concerned about the progress Florida and 21 other states are making developing the next generation of standardized test.
“Millions of dollars have been spent over the past few years with very little concrete to show for it,” one insider said.
Florida is one of 21 states helping design the PARCC exam as part of a move to new education standards known as Common Core. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett said this week that Florida may need to come up with a ‘Plan B’ in case the test isn’t ready for the 2014-2015 school year.
District schools must calculate the class size of every classroom and count every violation. Charter schools are allowed to use a school-wide average, which school officials say is more forgiving.
In the 2010-2011 school year, 28 of 71 Florida schools districts — 39 percent — were penalized for not meeting class size limits, according to state data. In 2011-2012, 22 of 71 Florida districts — 31 percent — did not meet class size limits.
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