LWVeducation
The Washington State Superintendent of Schools argues that it may be necessary to close public schools to force the state to comply with the court ruling on funding education. Could this happen in Florida? It may be up to the voters even if the Southern Legal Counsel (SLC) wins the Citizens for Strong Schools lawsuit.
The coup against the Turkish president this week has raised the profile of U.S. charter schools. What? Really?
Duval County has 35 charter schools serving nearly 20,000 students. Superintendent Vitti said charters bring down district average scores on state assessments. In the Florida Times Union article, Vitti said “I do want to raise a concern about charter school performance”.
There is more to this story.
Florida’s Best and Brightest teacher bonus program is under review by a federal agency. The Florida Education Association filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last December. In the complaint, the FEA argued that the program discriminated against teachers whose ACT or SAT tests, on which the bonuses are based, are unfairly excluded. Teachers who sat the SAT or ACT before 1973 have no qualified scores. These teachers are referred to DOE guidelines which seem to be strangely absent on the FDOE website. According to the Naples News article today, a decision by the EEOC has not been reached, but the complaint is still under review. If the EEOC finds reason to proceed with the complaint, the FEA will file a lawsuit.
For some reason, not published, the State Board of Education will not review the proposed rules for allocating capital outlay money to charter schools, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The rule was to be considered at the June 22nd meeting at Palm Beach State College.
Provisions included in the proposed rule were:
Is there hope for a rational testing system? Senator Don Gaetz has been a moderating voice on Florida’s overwrought testing and accountability system. He called for the reduction of the weight from 50% to 30% of the student gain scores that are counted in teacher evaluations. Then, in the 2015 session, he proposed substituting national tests like the SAT and ACT for the FSA. Since college bound students must take these tests anyway, it is redundant to have them sit for state assessments as well.
Criminal charges of grand theft, money laundering, fraud and aggravated white collar crime hit four Escambia and Pinellas charter schools. Now even more are involved in Duval. Why?
It is a marathon in the Citizens for Strong Schools case.Yes, more fraud, waste and abuse that Florida must address. The Pinellas School Board voted to shut down three NewPoint charter schools today. Windsor Prep, East Windsor and NewPoint Pinellas are all involved in an indictment for fraud. Read the Tampa Bay Times editorial. The editor calls for an investigation of two other NewPoint related schools which also appear to be involved in self dealing with tax payer money.
The same charter management company is indicted in Pensacola for grand theft, money laundering and white collar crimes.
Oral arguments were heard in the Joanne McCall vs. Governor Scott lawsuit yesterday. The Florida Education Association, Florida League of Women Voters and the NAACP support the suit. It is not clear that the judges in the First District Court of Appeals agree. They must now decide whether the trial will go forward. A video of the hearing will be available on the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal soon.
The issue is whether tax credit vouchers to send students to private, mostly religious schools is constitutional.