When Florida voters implemented the class size amendment in 2002, they mandated that public schools limit the number of students in core classes like math and science. The limit varies depending on the grade level. Schools were given until the 2010-2011 school year to be in full compliance.
Since 2002, districts have been striving to hit the magic numbers: no more than 18 students per core class through grade 3, 22 students in grades 4 through 8, and 25 students in grades 9 through 12. Districts were given gradual caps to follow on their way to full compliance. But as the recession pulled money away from education funding, it became easier for districts to pay fines for violating the amendment rather than pay what it costs to follow the rules.
Here's six bills to watch in the upcoming legislative session.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is something of a slow news week for education reporters.
But lawmakers return to Tallahassee next month, so we’ll spend a few days getting you up to speed on what to expect this legislative session and who the key players are.
Here’s six bills that could set the tone on education for the Legislative session.
Zabala said she’s most concerned that portions of federal disability law intended to provide access to students with disabilities are instead being used to keep those students out of the school of their choice.
It’s worth reading her comments in full, so here they are after the jump:
Most facilities at UCP’s Bailes campus are designed to be accessible for students with disabilities, including this playground.Charter schools are supposed to give students an alternative to their neighborhood schools.
As our investigation found earlier this month, most charter schools in Florida serve no severely-disabled students.
But during our research, we found one county where charter schools were serving LOTS of kids with disabilities: Orange County in the Orlando area.
UCP (formerly United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida) runs several schools where the philosophy is students with and without disabilities learn more together.
How do they do it when other charter schools say they can’t afford to serve kids with severe disabilities?
You can hear more from the parents, teachers and other supporters of UCP in the audio story below.
To read the full online version of this story, click here.
Isabella, 8, was forced to leave Miami Children's Museum Charter School after her mom, Miami School board member Raquel Regalado, learned Isabella has autism. Now, Isabella is at a traditional public school in Miami with a program for kids with hearing impairments.
Earlier this month, an investigation by StateImpact Florida and the Miami Herald revealed that most Florida charter schools are not enrolling students with severe disabilities, like autism or cerebral palsy.
The findings caused Miami-Dade School Board member Raquel Regalado to share her own story of how her daughter with autism was forced to leave a Miami charter school.
“People think that parents choose not to apply to charter schools, and that’s not true,” said Regalado.
“And within the special needs community, parents know, why even apply? Because legally they have the ability to deny you access. That’s why I wanted to tell people that it happened to me.”
UCP's Bailes campus in East Orlando serves students as young as six weeks up through 3rd grade. About half of the school's students have a disability.
When her three-year-old granddaughter moved to Orlando, the dean of education at the University of Central Florida knew exactly where she should go — a school founded for children with disabilities.
“She would have the opportunities to work with these very skilled teachers,” Robinson said, “but also in such a diverse classroom so that from her very early years Ellie would understand differences in people.”
It’s one of seven charter schools run by the non-profit UCP, affiliated with the central Florida chapter of United Cerebral Palsy. And it’s unique in several ways.
Tonya Whitlock and her son Tres, 17, say they have not been able to get Tres into Pivot Charter School near Tampa. Tres has cerebral palsy, and the family said the charter school is concerned they cannot provide all the services Tres needs.
This month, an investigation by StateImpact Florida revealed that more than 86% of Florida charter schools don’t serve a single student with a severe disability, compared to half of traditional public schools.
State education officials say no school is required to take every student with every disability. But lawyers are divided on whether charter schools can legally turn kids away.
Julie Causton-Theoharis has researched the effects of inclusion on students with disabilities and those without. Research shows both benefit from being in the classroom toghether, she said.
More than 86 percent of charter schools do not enroll a single student with severe disabilities, according to a StateImpact Florida investigation.
School district data shows that students with disabilities are often clustered into a small number of specialty charter schools. Meanwhile, most charter schools enroll very few students with profound disabilities — if any at all.
Charter school advocates note that schools specializing in disabilities are opening across the state. Many readers responded with a shrug: “So what?,” they asked.
Researchers say those enrollment patterns matter because evidence shows both students with disabilities and students without disabilities learn more when placed in the classroom together.
Miami-Dade school board member Raquel Regalado wrote that she was inspired to run for school board after trying to find a school for her daughter with autism.
Our recent story on the difficulties students with severe disabilities have found trying to enroll in charter schools has drawn plenty of reaction from parents in similar situations.
Just 14 percent of Florida charter schools enroll students with profound disabilities. More than half of district schools enroll similar students.
We heard from parents, such as “Randy” in Pasco County, who called in to a special one-hour live radio show last Thursday.
We’ve also heard privately from parents in e-mails.
The FAMU Marching 100 drum major who died last month in Orlando was a homicide victim, according to the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner‘s Office. The information was released Friday after a meeting between Governor Rick Scott and Florida A&M University President James Ammons. It also came shortly after we learned of a reported molestation at FAMU’s K-12 school last May.
Governor Scott announced Thursday that he wanted Ammons suspended immediately and indefinitely. The governor said the decision is based on information from FDLE agents investigating 26-year-old Robert Champion’s death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been on the case since shortly after Champion died last month in Orlando. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating the death, which is believed to have involved hazing by members of FAMU’s Marching 100 band.
Scott was briefed on the investigation as he traveled home from a trade mission overseas. He told reporters at the airport in Tallahassee Thursday that FDLE is expanding the investigation because of financial irregularities at FAMU.
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