Tampa Bay Times| July 21, 2015 By: Michael Auslen Conservative legislators from around the country are flocking to San Diego this week for an annual gathering focused on states’ rights, shrinking government and free-market policies. Among the attendees at the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, more commonly called ALEC, are seven members…
DetailsTampa Bay Times| July 25, 2015 by: Caitlin Johnston| Photo: Douglas R. Clifford/Times Nearly 1 million Florida children were living in poverty in 2013. Ashley Corbett is a single mother raising one of those kids, Jayden, 3. Soon she will have two. The 29-year-old is seven months pregnant with her second child. When things get…
DetailsMIAMI HERALD | by Christina Veiga July 24, 2015 Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho likes to say the county doesn’t lay off teachers to balance its budget. But that doesn’t mean the teaching ranks haven’t thinned in Miami-Dade’s public schools. The district estimates it will hire 425 less instructional staff next year, according to its…
DetailsOrlando Sentinel |Opinion printed July 19, 2015 It’s a solution that would have pleased Henry David Thoreau, who urged, “Simplify, simplify.” Seminole County Public Schools had fits this spring administering Florida’s new standardized test. So Superintendent Walt Griffin wrote state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart on Monday to request her support for a simple, economical alternative…
DetailsJuly 15, 2015 This is the season when the Foundation for Florida’s Future, the Florida Chamber and Associated Industries of Florida release their 2015 Legislative Report Cards. In particular, the Foundation assigns grades to legislators’ based on their willingness to pass the Jeb Bush/ALEC-driveneducation reform/privatization policy agenda. These grades are a road map for voters.…
DetailsThe Florida House and Senate finally agreed on an Education budget early Tuesday, June 16th at 12:30 am. The budget is expected to pass this Friday, June 19th following the required 72 hour cooling off period. Despite promises of an historic funding increase, lawmakers fell short of making public education their “paramount duty” as required…
DetailsOrange County Public Schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins reacted to yesterday’s decision by the Florida Department of Education to suspend the consequences of Algebra I, II and Geometry, by holding all students harmless from the numerous “common finals” (district developed end of course exams) mandated by the state to determine teacher effectiveness. Orange County is the…
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School choice in the form of charter schools offers parents good options for their children’s education. But corporate welfare in the form of taxpayer-funded construction of private facilities is another matter entirely. Once again, the Legislature is on track to favor charters over public schools, with the House considering diverting tens of millions of dollars…
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Private schools in Florida are becoming vastly more dependent on state voucher programs that pay all or part of tuition for students with disabilities or from low-income families, an Orlando Sentinel analysis has found. The families of nearly 100,000 Florida students received vouchers worth about $544 million this year as the Legislature has steadily…
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They are so gosh darned good to us, I don’t know how we stand it. From the moment they arrive in Tallahassee, our state legislators insist on sending back unnecessary gifts. Fancy-sounding laws we neither asked for, nor need. It’s too much. Really. Please, stop. Take this new schools bill (HB 1145) the House passed…
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