Gov. Rick Scott attends a governors' summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in June.
One of every eight state university employees earns at least $100,000, according to a salary database Gov. Rick Scott posted yesterday.
More than half of state university employees earn less than $50,000.
Scott posted the data to a website Monday, though it was already available online. Scott’s spokesman said the public has a right to know what more than 52,000 higher education workers are paid. A union representing professors believes Scott is “hanging people out to roast” by posting the information.
Gov. Rick Scott listens at a Miami business roundtable meeting in August. Scott has been circulating a Texas plan designed to quantify college and faculty performance.
Gov. Rick Scott added higher education salaries to a website he set up to detail contracts, employee pay and other state spending.
Check out the payroll for Florida’s 11 public universities here.
The data was already posted online, which has university professionals wondering if Scott is trying to turn public opinion against academia. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune quotes Tom Auxter, president of the 5,000-member union representing university employees:
“This is hanging people out to roast,” said Tom Auxter, president of the 5,000-member union that represents university faculty. “The governor is just trying to target faculty and make them uncomfortable.”
The White House notes that Orange County schools would receive $169.6 million to repair and modernize schools and another $13.2 million to pay for deferred maintenance.
The bill would send a total of $3 billion to Florida, supporting an estimated 16,600 jobs.
The Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove used to be a shopping mall. But no one was buying space, so the owner of the property founded a charter school and now rents his property to his school. The campus still looks like a shopping mall. There are wrap-around balconies on every floor and the classroom have floor-to-ceiling windows very much like a store front.
Sarah Gonzalez‘ story Wednesday about the business deals of a Miami-area charter school drew strong reader responses.
Intelligentmom came to the school’s defense, arguing students were left without books due to surprising enrollment growth. Academy of Arts and Minds students are prospering:
The Academy of Arts & Minds is an A+ school with a 98 percent graduation rate. Our grads have been accepted to some of the best colleges and universities in the nation. The school’s strong track record of academic success is why we chose to enroll our children at this school and it’s why we stay.
But SickOfLies believes school officials are living off past accomplishments:
The school was a mess until a real principal was hired in 2009 and turned the school around completely. It was because of him that the school earned it’s first-ever “A.” The principal has since left, but the school is still riding on the success of that one “A.” A lot of poor kids were disappointed this year to find that most of the teachers had left
In one case, district officials argued they already offered the online courses proposed by a virtual charter school.
In another, they rejected a plan from a for-profit company to replicate its ‘A’-rated South Florida charter in Seminole County. It’s a direct challenge to a new state law that makes it easier for high-rated charter school to expand.
Schaffner said Seminole County has had to close charter schools in the past and knows how to identify red flags in an application.
“We just felt like the ones that applied did not live up to the expectations of Seminole County,” Schaffner said. “We have to be sure that we improve student learning.”
Florida schools say they are not tracking whether the children of undocumented workers are enrolling.
Our colleagues at WUSF radio have looked into whether Alabama’s anti-illegal immigration laws mean migrant workers are moving to Florida and sending their children to schools:
Are students from Alabama ending up in Florida because of that state’s tough new immigration law? A news service reported that Florida’s educators were trying to answer that question.
But school officials say they’re not keeping count.
There are some anecdotal stories about migrant families from Alabama arriving in Florida’s tomato growing country several weeks early. Many say they’re fleeing the state’s more restrictive immigration law.
More than one-third of Florida school districts did not have a charter school during the 2010-2011 school year. View an interactive map.
In Clay County, high school students can study aerospace, information or agricultural technology at one of twelve specialized academies.
But students in this suburban Jacksonville district can’t attend a charter school. There are none.
More than one-third of Florida’s 67 counties did not have a charter school during the 2010-2011 school year, according to a StateImpact Florida analysis of state data. Most of those counties are clustered between Pensacola and Jacksonville.
While the number of counties seems large, they represent just 5 percent of total state public school enrollment.
This map shows Florida school districts which did not have a charter school during the 2010-2011 schools year. More than one-third of Florida counties do not have a charter school, but those counties make up only 5 percent of statewide public school enrollment. Click on a district for more information about charter school enrollment. Continue reading →
Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, has introduced a bill allowing teachers to donate sick leave to colleagues.
If a cancer-stricken colleague has burned all of his or her sick leave, would you want to donate yours to help them out?
A Florida lawmakers has introduced a bill allowing just that.
Stuart Republican Rep. Gayle Harrell told TCPalm.com that the bill was inspired by Karen Gangi, a Martin County elementary teacher who used all her time off helping her husband recover from a brain injury in North Carolina.
Currently the law only allows teachers who are related and work in the same district to directly donate leave time. Teachers can donate time to “leave banks” but can’t specify which teachers get to use the time.
Harrell’s bill would not require districts to set up the leave program.
What do you think of the idea? Do you know colleagues who could benefit? Should lawmakers approve the bill?
The Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove used to be a shopping mall. But no one was buying space. That's when the owner of the property started up a charter school and now rents the property to his school. The campus still looks like a shopping mall with wrap-around balconies. Classrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, much like a store front.
This story is a collaborative investigation between The Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida. Read the Herald’s story.
People who want to start up their own charter school must go through a rigorous application process. But after that initial hurdle, the school founders get a lot of freedom over how to run their publicly-funded schools and who to hire. And because of loopholes in Florida statues, a lot of taxpayer dollars can end up in the hands of one person.
Progress reports in Miami-Dade county schools have already been issued. But students at the Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove didn’t get a grade in biology, because they haven’t had a biology teacher for the first six weeks of school.
Sarah Gonzalez / StateImpact Florida
Academy of Arts & Minds students Darcy Morenza (10th), Toni Robotham (11th) with her little brother Brandon, and Darlene Valejjo (10th) on Open House night.
And on Open House night, parents want answers.
Parents introduce themselves as Janeysi’s mom and Hannah’s mom.
But Sharon Blate, the new biology teacher, doesn’t know who Janeysi and Hannah are.
“I have no idea who is in my class. I have not even seen the list yet. At a quarter to six was the first time I walked in here,” said Blate.
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