The legal and public relations battle over Florida’s private school scholarship programs continues, with the statewide teacher’s union revising its lawsuit and a school choice group producing a new television ad supporting the programs. Wednesday, the Florida Education Association amended its complaint challenging a new school choice law. The new complaint adds South Florida parents […]
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed federal complaints against school districts in Broward, Hernando, Hillsborough and Volusia counties over the use of all-girls or all-boys classes. The ACLU wants the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to investigate the programs. StateImpact Florida’s Gina Jordan spoke with Galen Sherwin, a senior staff attorney […]
The Florida Education Association’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s test-based teacher evaluations — if successful — could become a model for teacher’s union across the country, Governing magazine reports. And over at the Quick and the Ed, labor attorney Danny Rosenthal argues the FEA normally would have a difficult time proving the government […]
Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett says state leaders and lawmakers are listening to teacher concerns about evaluations. The Florida Education Association is suing Bennett, the Department of Education, and a few school districts over teacher evaluations. The union believes a 2011 law requiring teacher evaluations violates the equal protection and due process rights of school […]
The Florida Education Association and National Education Association filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s teacher evaluation system. The system was created under a law passed in 2011 known as Senate Bill 736. State law requires school districts base at least 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student Florida Comprehensive Assessment […]
A circuit court judge has ruled that teacher evaluation data is exempt from public records laws for a year, denying the Florida Times-Union’s request seeking the information. The paper was seeking three years of the component data used to calculate teacher evaluations gathered by the state. The Florida Department of Education initially said in January […]
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 […]
Teacher’s unions and critics of Florida’s various private school scholarship programs have long argued that students who received those scholarships should have to face the same scrutiny as public school students. That means taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test — or its upcoming successor — in order to make apples-to-apples comparisons between school performance. But […]
A group of parents is asking for the resignation of Hillsborough schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia and school board member Candy Olson following the deaths of two special needs students. A protest is planned for 4 p.m. today at the school board meeting. School board members are also questioning the district’s policies, the Tampa Bay Times […]
The State Board of Education will not appeal a court ruling regarding in-state tuition for students whose parents are undocumented. Students previously had to prove their parents were in the country legally in order to qualify for Florida residency status. Five students sued the state, and a judge struck down the rule in October. Without […]
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