A series of emails led Seminole County school officials to question K12's teachers.
Below is the draft report from the Florida Department of Education inspector general. The agency was asked to investigate whether K12, Inc. was using properly certified teachers in Seminole County.
The report finds no evidence that the company used teachers lacking Florida certification. But the report found the company did use three teachers who were not certified for the subject they were teaching.
Both K12 and the Seminole County schools district have disputed the report (read their responses here). the inspector general will consider those responses and could alter the conclusions or recommendations before issuing a final report.
Attorneys for K12, Inc. and Seminole County schools have responded to a preliminary report by a Florida Department of Education investigator.
The Florida Department of Education inspector general has released a draft report in its investigation of online education firm K12, Inc. The agency was asked to investigate whether K12, Inc. was using properly certified teachers in Seminole County.
The report (read it here) finds no evidence that the company used teachers lacking Florida certification. But the report found the company did use three teachers who were not certified for the subject they were teaching.
Both K12 and the Seminole County schools district have disputed the report. The inspector general will consider those responses and could alter the conclusions or recommendations before issuing a final report.
Read K12’s and Seminole County schools’ responses, after the jump:
Speaker Will Weatherford says the House budget proposal goes above and beyond what Gov. Rick Scott requested when he asked lawmakers to prioritize education.
The Florida House has released its proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Speaker Will Weatherford says education was prioritized over everything else.
“The big winner is education,” Weatherford said. “We invested over a billion dollars into our K-12 education system from last year.”
He said that amounts to a 6.2 percent increase in overall education funding.
Weatherford said they created “a silo of funds” to be funneled down to the districts, including up to $676 million available for teacher pay.
“They can spend as much of that on salaries as they want or as little,” Weatherford said. “The reason why we like that is because it creates flexibility for the district.”
He hopes that at least half of whatever is set aside for teacher salaries will be merit-based.
Two bills could give Florida students more flexibility in earning their high school diploma.
After years of adding requirements to earn a high school diploma, Florida lawmakers have proposed bills which would allow students more flexibility in how they earn a diploma.
A House proposal (HB 7091) would create three diploma tracks: College and career; industry and scholar. All three diplomas require four years of English language arts.
Students seeking an industry diploma would have to take four math courses, but the only required course is Algebra I and its end-of-course exam. College and career track students must add Geometry. And instead of requiring students pass the Geometry end-of-course exam, the bill would make the test 30 percent of the final grade.
The scholar track adds a requirement for Algebra II and Statistics, or an equally rigorous course.
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.
Resolutions issued by the NAACP and LULAC Florida refer to parent trigger bills as controversial and experimental.
Two civil right groups have teamed up to write resolutions against the proposed Parent Empowerment in Education bill in Florida.
The bill — best known as the “parent trigger” — passed the Florida House last year but failed on a tie vote in the Senate on the final day of the legislative session.
The bill adds more restrictions to closed charter schools and requires charter schools to post their board, management firm and some spending online.
The bill also requires school districts to turn over empty buildings formerly used for K-12 education to charter schools at no cost. Charter schools must pay for maintenance or reimburse the school district for the cost.
Thursday's Florida Supreme Court decision could be cited in another legal challenge pushed by teachers.
In 2011 lawmakers approved a law requiring public employees — including teachers — pay 3 percent of their salary into their retirement account.
Public employee unions challenged the law, arguing it unconstitutionally changes a contract with workers and violates workers’ right to collectively bargain pay and benefits.
A circuit court overturned the law, but Thursday the Florida Supreme Court upheld the law in a 4-3 decision.
The decision is likely to set a precedent when a lower court issues its decision on another teacher-related lawsuit (A decision which is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court).
That suit challenges a 2011 law, the Student Success Act, requiring teachers to be evaluated, in part, based on student standardized test scores, requiring district to design merit pay programs to pay better performing teachers more money, and ending long-term contracts for new hires.
Students are required to take remedial courses because of their scores on PERT — the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test. The test is given to high school students to determine if they need remedial help.
PERT is three-section computerized test, with 30 questions in each section, used to determine if students are ready for college-level courses.
The student’s answers on 25 questions determine their placement, while the remaining five questions are used for field testing in order to maintain a bank of questions for use on the test. Students do not know which questions count and which do not.
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
