Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford isn’t shy about pushing his non-traditional agenda for public education. It’s based on his own life experience. He’s in favor of options that are growing in popularity, like virtual classes and charter schools. StateImpact reporter Gina Jordan sat down with Weatherford in his office to talk about his educational roots. […]
House Speaker Will Weatherford met with reporters at the Capitol late Thursday. He answered a variety of questions, including one that has been plaguing him about proposed teacher raises. Weatherford told reporters Thursday that most of the billion or so dollars being added to the House education budget next year will go toward teacher salaries. […]
A Quinnipiac University poll released today finds Florida voters approve of one of Gov. Rick Scott’s top budget priorities. Nearly three-quarters of respondents like his proposal to give $2,500 raises to the state’s public school teachers. Legislative leaders like the idea of more money for teachers — but not necessarily across-the-board raises. The Senate Appropriations […]
Florida House and Senate leaders have set aside less money for education in their initial budget outlines than did Gov. Rick Scott. Both House and Senate leaders have expressed doubts about Scott’s $480 million plan to give teachers a $2,500 across-the-board raise. Scott’s budget would have spent $14.3 billion on education. House Appropriations education committee […]
A year ago, Gov. Rick Scott drew a line in the sand for lawmakers listening to his State of the State speech. Scott wanted $1 billion added to the K-12 education budget. Nothing less. “And I ask you to please consider that recommendation very carefully,” Scott said, according to the prepared speech. “On this point, […]
Gov. Rick Scott delivered his State of the State speech this morning before the Florida Legislature. After thanking lawmakers and family members, education was first on Scott’s agenda. He said he has two priorities for growing the economy: remove the sales tax on manufacturing equipment, and invest in teachers by providing them “a well-deserved pay […]
Sarah Gonzalez / StateImpact Florida 5th grade teacher Beverley Dowell says she hopes the Governor “isn’t trying to buy teacher votes” when he suggested every full-time teacher in the state get a pay raise before their evaluation results come in. Most districts won’t start identifying, and potentially removing, low-performing teachers from their schools until next […]
Gov. Rick Scott wants teachers to get a $2,500 raise in next year’s state budget. But Scott’s proposal will cause some problems for state budget writers facing down other big-ticket education requests. Chief among them is the $441.8 million the state Department of Education has requested to upgrade school technology. The upgrades are needed as […]
Two stories today look at how school districts are trying to entice staff to take hard-to-fill jobs. Lee County and Miami-Dade schools are considering the obvious solution: More money. In Lee, the school district has tapped a federal grant to pay teachers earning good reviews more money to work in schools with high turnover rates, […]
Miami-Dade teachers are one step closer to a pay raise. The President of the teachers union, Karen Aronowitz, and her 28 member bargaining team signed off today on a tentative agreement that would provide salary increases while maintaining health care for teachers and education support professionals. “Today we reached a contractual agreement with the district […]
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