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The Florida Constitution Revision Commission Education Committee voted down the highly unpopular proposal by Erika Donalds to strip school boards of their salaries. Donalds, a sitting school board member in Collier County who was appointed to the CRC by Speaker Richard Corcoran, has distinguished herself as being opposed to the constitutional structure of elected school…
DetailsLast session, under extreme secrecy, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran engineered the passage of HB 7069 which significantly, and perhaps illegally, expanded the scope and influence of private charter school corporations. Thirteen Florida school districts filed a lawsuit to stop the consequences of 7069. The law forces districts to share locally levied tax revenues –…
DetailsTomorrow the Florida Constitution Review Commission meets to vote on several public education issues. The commission, which meets every twenty years, is comprised of GOP political appointees who have the power to propose and place changes to the constitution on the ballot. Florida is the only state that uses a non-elected committee to change its…
DetailsPay attention folks. It’s rare that a sitting school board member is also a serious writer and a former Florida education reporter. Re-blogged with permission from the author, this post is worthy of your time. Townsend raises crucial questions about how we can do better by Florida’s 2.75 million public school students. Enjoy. Dear Lakeland…
DetailsFlorida HB 7069, the sweeping backroom deal brokered by Speaker Richard Corcoran, Senate President Joe Negron and Governor Rick Scott strips districts of credit for those students who graduate using alternate options such as online learning. Last year at least 1,000 at risk public school students earned diplomas from district-contracted private alternative school Smart Horizons…
DetailsThis week the First District Court of Appeal released its ruling against the Citizens for Strong Schools case claiming that it is powerless to protect regular folks when legislation does not line up with language in the state constitution. In other words, everyone is on their own. Fund Education Now is among several plaintiffs in the…
Detailsby Beth Kassab | Orlando Sentinel | 12.6.17 The number of children using a state scholarship to attend religious or other private schools in Florida soared by 21 percent last year to about 140,000 — the largest increase since the voucher programs started more than 15 years ago. No one has been more central to that…
DetailsThere’s no time like the present to study the public education policy process. The Florida School Boards Association, comprised of the 67 school boards across the state, recently posted their proposed 2018 Legislative Platform items for consideration by their Legislative Committee this Thursday, October 26, 2018 in Gainesville. As in 2017, three or four items will be…
DetailsThe Florida legislature set a dangerous precedent this year. One that will no doubt be repeated in GOP-controlled states across the nation. Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron under scrutiny from Gov. Scott negotiated every major public education policy into HB 7069 and designed the K-12 budget under a transactional cloak of darkness…
Detailsby: Andrew Ujifusa & Alyson Klein | EdWeek | May 17, 2017 President Donald Trump’s full education budget proposal for fiscal 2018 would make notable cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, and leverage existing programs for disadvantaged students and K-12 innovation to promote school choice, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Trump’s full education funding blueprint…
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