Sen. Bill Montford wants to see more parents involved in their children's schools. He says the parent trigger bill isn't needed because they are already empowered.
Sen. Bill Montford, a Democrat from North Florida, doesn’t like the Parent Empowerment in Education bill. It’s much better known as the parent trigger bill.
“We know overall that the majority of students that are successful have parents that are involved,” Montford said. “It’s critical to have parent support and involvement in the schools.”
“The issue with the (parent) trigger bill is it’s not a question of parent involvement,” Montford told StateImpact Florida. “The trigger bill centers on parent empowerment. In other words, they will have the power — if 50% plus 1 vote to go a certain way.”
Montford says parents already have lots of options for being involved in schools.
Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
A bill approved by the Florida Senate might make remedial college courses less daunting for students like Shakira Lockett.
Shakira Lockett always got pretty good grades in school. That’s why she was surprised to find out she had failed her college placement exam at Miami Dade College.
Lockett spent a year a half taking remedial classes in reading, writing and math before she could start earning credits toward a degree. She finished her studies — but Lockett’s a rare case for students who end up in remedial courses.
National statistics show just 1 in 10 community college students forced to take a remedial course finish their studies within three years.
The Florida Senate is trying to address that problem, approving a bill that ends requiring students to take remedial classes for no credit. Instead, students would take “co-requisite classes” — taking regular college work while receiving basic instruction at the same time. Those co-requisite courses might span two semesters or require lab work.
The bill, SB 1720, also asks the State Board of Education and the State University System Board of Governors to group majors by shared skills or knowledge, and then identify which courses should be required as a foundation for those majors.
Two private membership groups, the National Governor’s Association and The Council of Chief State School Officers, led the efforts to create the standards. Those groups took money from outside groups to advocate for the standards.
The standards have never been tested.
With the promise of federal money, the federal government encouraged states to adopt the standards before they could review them.
Common standards will make it easier to collect more student data.
And, past Republican Party positions have opposed “one size fits all” education policies. Common Core standards remove choice and competition.
Florida Readiness Gauge / Florida Department of Education
This map shows how school districts are reporting broadband Internet access. Green districts mean at least 75 percent of schools meet standards. Red districts mean less than 25 percent of schools meet standards.
The State Board of Education will get an update next week on Florida’s next education standards, the Common Core State Standards.
The meeting will include information about the technology needed to implement the new assessments that are scheduled to begin in early 2015.
Florida is among a group of states developing the PARCC assessments, or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
The PARCC tests will be given online.
The main concern is technology and whether the proper equipment will be in place for testing in all 67 districts when the 2014-15 school year begins.
The Florida Department of Education has come up with a readiness gauge to measure each district’s progress toward meeting Common Core and digital learning deadlines.
A map of Florida gives each district a color based on readiness.
The Florida House and Senate are working on bills that would allow students to choose from more online course providers. However, much of the debate has focused on money.
A Senate committee is attempting to defuse a funding dispute between the state-sponsored Florida Virtual School and private online providers.
Tuesday, the Rules Committee added an amendment to an online education bill asking the Florida Department of Education to study funding for online courses and to recommend changes by the end of the year.
Education Commissioner Tony Bennett says Common Core is about local control, not federal intervention.
Education Commissioner Tony Bennett says he will have more information next week about plans for implementing new education standards known as Common Core.
“We have rolled out a very aggressive implementation plan,” Bennett said. “We know that we have to be fully implemented and prepared to teach and assess these standards in 2014-15.”
Florida and 45 other states are transitioning to Common Core.
A Florida lawmaker has filed a bill that would exempt teacher evaluation data from open record laws.
A Florida lawmaker has filed a bill which would keep teacher evaluation data private, according to theFlorida Times-Union.
The bill, filed by Fernandina Beach Republican Janet Adkins, is in response to a Florida Times-Union lawsuit seeking the data under state public records laws.
Evaluations consist of three years of data and are exempt from public scrutiny until a year after release. That means teacher evaluation data would be at least four years old before becoming public.
The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, supports the bill. Adkins says the Florida Department of Education asked her to introduce the bill.
Levesque is a divisive figure, drawing criticism from parent groups that charge she and Bush are out to boost the bottom line of private corporations at the expense of students.
We sat down with Levesque to discuss her mission and hear what she has to say to her detractors.
Q: You served as an education adviser to former Gov. Jeb Bush, and now you run two education policy organizations with him. One is Florida-focused, the other is national. What are you working to accomplish?
It gives parents a say in what changes should be made to a chronically failing school.
Turnaround options include closing the school, turning the school into a charter, and replacing the principal or the entire staff. The ultimate decision rests with the local school board.
Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Opa-locka, doesn’t see a need for the law. “Not only do parents have a voice, they have a seat at the table” already, she said.
Democrats have repeatedly argued against the bill, saying it’s designed to privatize education and turn public dollars over to for-profit charter school companies.
Kathleen Oropeza, Christine Bramuchi and Linda Kobert former Fund Education Now in Orlando. They're joining an effort to organize state education activists toward common goals.
A loose-knit network of education activists generally opposed to the direction Florida has been taking its schools recently is attempting to organize into a more potent political force.
The groups include parents, people who want more state funding for schools, and others who are fed up with the brand of testing-based school accountability that Florida has become famous for. Under the umbrella of the Alliance for Public Schools, they are hoping to bolster their fundraising capacity and step up their efforts to influence legislation at the statehouse.
Melissa Erickson, a past president of the Hillsborough County PTA who is leading the effort, said the goal is to create “education voters” – regular people who will become knowledgeable about education issues and vote for state and local politicians based on their views on education. “We want to make sure we have a presence up there (in Tallahassee.)
The new group, Erickson said, is a way to work with parents, school districts and teachers and get ahead of the debate.
“Most of what we’ve done, it’s been reactionary,” she said. “Most people are incredibly happy with their public schools and think none of this matters to them.”
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