The Florida News Services announces: LAWMAKER PROPOSES ELECTED EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
Once again, a legislature wants to change the Florida constitution. It will not be easy. It takes 60% of the electorate to approve once it is on the ballot.
Category Archives: Florida House
Constitutional Amendment Filed For State Charter School Authorizer
According to the News Service of Florida, Representative Manny Diaz has filed a constitutional amendment that could change how charter schools are approved in Florida.
Legislators Propose Recreating School Districts
Halloween is past, but scary things are still happening. Sen. Jeff Brandes, St. Petersburg, and Matt Caldwell, Ft. Myers, filed resolutions to change the Florida constitution to remake school districts.
LWVF Press Release: School Accountability System Broken
The Florida League of Women Voters released a statement today detailing the constant revisions to the school accountability system from 2011-2015. Over and over, the legislature and the Department of Education have tried and failed to get it right. It is more than a problem with a test. School grades, teacher evaluations, scoring of exams, and student passing rates all are constantly changed. It reminds me of the expression: ‘You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. It is time to change direction if we want to improve our educational system.
Read the statement. It is Time to Focus on Teaching, Not Testing. Send it everywhere.
Call Timeout on Testing
Paula Dockery makes the case that it is time to learn from out mistakes. Dockery is a syndicated columnist who served sixteen years as a Republican legislator from Lakeland. She joined the Board of Directors of the Florida League of Women Voters in 2014.
In her step by step recital of how Florida got into the crisis over testing and accountability, it is clear that the Florida legislature and the Department of Education need to stop and reconsider. Read Paula Dockery’s piece here. Make your voices heard in the legislature even if Senate and House Education Chairs wish you would not.
To Tax or Not To Tax, That is the Question? No, How to Tax
Governor Scott’s proposed education budget would increase spending for K-12 education by $476 million. Sounds good, right? It amounts to $104 per student and might help Florida keep its ranking of 42nd in per pupil funding in the nation. All but $50 million of the increase comes from local property taxes.
How to we respond?
Who are Florida Teacher Bonuses Really For?
Why would the Florida legislature appropriate over $44 million to give $10,000 bonuses to teachers who had high ACT/SAT test scores when they were in high school? Some teachers took the tests years ago, and verifying their scores is next to impossible.
Encouraging young, bright people to seek careers in education is a good thing. Awarding a bonus might tempt some to teach for a year or two, but teacher turnover is high. A one time bonus would not help much. There may be another reason.
Florida LWV Legislative Priorities Due
The Florida LWV legislative priorities are coming due. Please make your voices heard within your local leagues. In order to be able to advocate for our Education Team issues, we have to make it into the top priorities statewide.
Make education tops for your local league. Here is a list of topics we expect to come up in the legislative session. Remember that committee meetings start in September.
Florida Leads the Nation in Corrupt Officials
Some people like rules. They keep life simple. Others think rules just get in the way of getting things done. Floridians have a reputation for avoiding as many rules as possible except for their traditional public schools. They are rule bound, and some parents rebel. There is an escape clause called ‘school choice’. For charters and private schools the rules are bent or removed.
Charters are supposed to save money, and theyprovide a way for private businesses to make money, lots of it. The money comes from the state or from corporate tax rebates. It is big money, about half of the State’s general fund.
One wonders if controls on ethics and conflict of interest are sufficiently strong to protect the public interest in education? The buzz about Florida is that there is more self-interest than public interest than in any other state. Are such allegations warranted?
Special Session Bills: No Education
The proclamation for the special session has been issued. The session will last twenty days. No education bills will be considered. What will be covered is…..Continue reading