Sammy Mack is the Miami-based education reporter for StateImpact Florida. Sammy previously was a digital editor and health care policy reporter for WLRN - Miami Herald News. She is a St. Petersburg native and a product of Florida public schools. She even took the first FCAT.
StateImpact Florida is working with WLRN-Miami Herald News on Elevation Zero, a special series focused on how the state is dealing with rising seas.
And we want to know: What does sea level rise mean to children and teens in Florida? Have you talked to your kids about it? How are they learning about it?
Most of the schools in the Florida College System pledged to meet that challenge, but as the Sun Sentinel reported over the weekend, the results so far have been mixed:
“… the degree options are limited, the eligibility requirements are often tough and the marketing efforts have been light.
Broward College opened the program up a month ago, but so far no one has signed up for any of the 80 open slots. … [Broward College and Palm Beach State] have decided against offering discounts in nursing, one of the most popular high-demand degree fields.”
Schools and students in Florida are in trouble if the money runs out.
Going into the weekend, there are a few signs of movement on the federal shutdown drama–which seems like a good time to check in on what the shutdown could mean for education in Florida if it isn’t resolved soon.
We’ve rounded up a few stories that explain who could feel the pinch and why:
PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Governor Rick Scott has ordered state agencies not to use state funds to cover things that would otherwise be paid for with federal dollars. CBS 4 in Miami reports that medium-sized school districts and special services are vulnerable:
A legislative review prepared last week for Florida Senate leaders contends that small to medium-sized school districts could have problems meeting payroll after Oct. 14 because of their reliance on federal education aid. The Department of Education disputed that report and said districts received their federal funding back in July and have enough money to make it to the end of the school year.
But a DOE spokeswoman did not dispute that other federally funded programs such as vocational rehabilitation and blind services will probably have to stop making payments to vendors and providers next week.
COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LOANS
Florida made a top ten list of states that would be affected by a shutdown of the FAFSA process for college students applying for federal aid. WalletHub analyzed which states have been hit hardest by the federal shutdown and crunched the numbers in a few different categories:
From senior citizens who can’t obtain the Social Security money they depend on for survival to students who are unable to secure the loans they need to pursue higher education, the unintended consequences of these nonsensical political games will continue to mount until we hit a breaking point.
COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH FAMILIES
Speaking of higher education, Slate.com has this look at how college students with families rely on federally-funded safety net programs—like housing subsidies and food stamps—that will be held up as a result of the shutdown:
The economic reality for all single parents struggling to get through college is tough: low wages, economic precarity, and a greater risk of dropping out. The No. 1 concern for these parents is child care. When only half of all colleges provide any kind of child care services, student-parents are vulnerable to disruptions to programs like Head Start. … But even those college students who find a way to meet their child care needs during the shutdown may face an even bigger concern: going hungry. As of Tuesday, the government had stopped funding the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children; J’Kai Jackson told NBC News that without support from WIC, she would “have to drop out of school to find work to provide food for my child.”
VETERANS
And college benefits for veterans are at risk, too. As Military.com reports, this is only the latest federal budget squabble to cause trouble for tuition assistance programs:
Every military branch has stopped processing tuition assistance applications until either a continuing resolution — a stopgap spending measure — or budget to fund the government for Fiscal Year 2014 is passed. … In March, the Army, Air Force and Marines abruptly halted tuition assistance because of sequestration budget cuts, but the assistance was reinstated by Congress in an appropriations bill, amid an outcry from service members, veterans groups and military advocates.
At the start of last school year there were about 15,000 fewer full-time jobs in Florida public schools than there were in 2007. Almost all of those jobs — 99.5% — are support staff positions like custodians, secretaries and classroom aides.
The Common Core hearings planned for next week are not everything critics had wanted.
Florida’s Common Core hearings aren’t until next week, but the criticism has already started.
In September, Gov. Rick Scott asked Florida to sever its financial ties to a consortium of states–the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC–that’s developing a new assessment based on Common Core standards. At the time, Scott said he wanted to listen to parents’ concerns and hold town hall meetings on the Common Core.
There are fewer custodians and support staff in Florida public schools than there were in 2007.
A StateImpact Florida analysis of jobs in Florida public schools shows that while full-time staffing is almost back to pre-recession levels, one group of employees hasn’t come back: the support staff.
Since the recession began, Florida’s public school budgets have been hit with more than $2 billion dollars in cuts from state and federal funding, decreased property tax revenue and sequestration. StateImpact has been following the resulting layoffs and hard choices in schools across the state.
But at the start of last school year there were still about 15,000 fewer full-time jobs in Florida public schools than there were in 2007. Almost all of those jobs — 99.5% — are support staff positions. Custodians, secretaries, classroom aides—there just aren’t as many people filling those roles anymore.
LISTEN: WHAT IT MEANS TO LOSE SUPPORT STAFF
You can see a breakdown of year-to-year full-time employment numbers in Florida public schools here:
[Joan Cooper] says she’d rather the district take the money that would be spent on new stationery, signage and the like and spend it on things students actually need.
Proponents of the name change included 67 year old Wells Todd who moved to Jacksonville from Missouri 10 years ago.  … “So you have people come here tonight who (say) you’ve got to keep the name, you’ve got to keep the name. It’s our tradition,” Todd said. “Was lynching a tradition? Tar and feathering a tradition? Dragging people onto chain gangs a tradition? Economic exploitation a tradition?”
Students with disabilities are less likely to be students at charter schools.
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington has released a study showing that charter schools in New York City are less likely to serve children with disabilities than traditional public schools in New York.
StateImpact Florida has reported on the exclusion of children with disabilities from Florida charter schools. It’s part of a national trend. A 2012 report from the Government Accountability Office highlighted national disparities in the numbers of students with disabilities attending charter schools.
This new look at New York City schools points out a certain amount of self-exclusion from charter schools, but goes on to detail how more factors are at play. From the CRPE summary: Continue Reading →
Florida is backing out of its role as a leader on the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment.
jannoon028 / freedigitalphotos.net
Take it back? Gov. Rick Scott wants Florida to sever financial ties with the PARCC assessment
The PARCC consortium is made up of 18 states and the District of Columbia. The states are working together to develop a new, multistate assessment test that would measure students’ achievement in the Common Core.
Florida has been one of those states. When Charlie Crist was governor, the PARCC group won a $186 million federal grant to support its work—and Florida was put in charge of the money.
But now, controversy is churning over the Common Core standards, and Governor Rick Scott has asked to sever those financial ties.
It’s a Wednesday morning and the waiting room is already starting to fill up at the North Miami Beach Senior High School clinic.
Sammy Mack / StateImpact Florida
The school-based health clinic at North Miami Beach Senior High School is a full-service clinic.
A 16-year-old girl with an enormous red bow pinned above her ear approaches the appointment window. A beveled glass pane slides open. The woman behind the desk doesn’t ask for insurance information — she asks to see a hall pass.
“Go ahead and have a seat.”
Red Bow takes her place in a waiting room chair next to classmates who, between hushed exchanges of gossip, occasionally erupt in giggles.
This school clinic at North Miami Beach is part of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation School Health Initiative—a network of school-based health clinics in Miami, operated by the University of Miami M Miller School of Medicine. Connected to larger teaching hospitals and an array of specialists by electronic health records and telemedicine, clinics like this are re-imagining the role of the school nurse. And there’s evidence that what’s good for students’ health is good for their grades.
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