Category Archives: Funding

Making Your Voices Heard

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southern legal counsel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many ways to be heard.  Responding to the DOE webinar and survey is one.  Writing your legislators both at the state and national levels is another.  Showing up  at school board meetings can help.  In the end, we will also need the courts.

There is a lawsuit:  Citizens for Strong Schools that comes to trial in March.  The suit supports public schools based on Florida’s constitutional requirement for a unified, strong, efficient, high quality system.  Note the word ‘unified’.  The school reform movement advocates privatizing our schools by creating charters and tax credit scholarships to private schools.

Testing is the accountability strategy for school reform.

Southern Legal Counsel is the firm that has filed the Citizen’s for Strong Schools lawsuit.  They are operating pro bono.  If you can help them raise money to cover expenses, then go to their website.  You can donate there.  Just click the DONATE button.  Any amount can help.

 

The Competition Next Door

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By Margery Marcus, LWV Broward County

ft lauderdaleThe local Broward League interviewed the principal of Pinewood School.  Their story is one most districts must consider.  How do you balance student needs, financial support, and school choice in a diverse district.  School grades reflect the socio-economic backgrounds of students.  Remove a large group of higher income families, and a school’s grade goes down.  Create a magnet program in a low income school, the grade goes up.  Perhaps even more important, maintaining a reasonable balance of students from different backgrounds allows a culture of possibility and achievement to flourish.  Without a view into a larger world, schools get mired in defeat.

The League will continue to watch Pinewood in the hope that the district will not abandon it.  There is support coming for the school.

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Testing, When is Enough, Enough?

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dmbtestI wrote this piece as a lead in to the testing forum sponsored by the Gainesville Sun on September 16th.  The issues are there.  So are some ways to think a little differently about current tests and testing alternatives.  The article was published today.  It starts like this:  “Florida has been using tests to drive instruction for years”.  It ends with putting Florida’s legislature to the test.   In between are  some ways to think about improving our schools.  See the article here.

Nathan Crabbe, the Gainesville Sun’s editor, announced a forum on testing to be held on September 16th at 6 p.m. in Pugh Hall on the University of Florida  campus.  He will moderate a panel that includes Superintendent Owen Roberts, Sue Legg (President Alachua County League of Women Voters, Susan Bowles (Teacher of the Year), and Shan Goff, Foundation for Excellence in Education.

Past State Board of Education Chair Says It is all about Money!

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race-653241_1280Tax credit vouchers are supposed to give poor children an option out of a failing school.  Gary Chartrand, former Chair, Florida State Board of Education, tells it like it really is.

Chartrand makes a case that getting children from poor families out of public schools saves the rest of us money.  There may be another not so hidden agenda that Chartrand forgets to mention.

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New Mexico Struggles Against Inequity

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el-morro-national-monument-140118_1280‘New Mexico’s education department is in court.  So are those in 12 other states, including Florida.  This lawsuit is about money, but not just the amount of money.  In New Mexico, the population is different from many states, and the needs are greater.

Meredith Machen sent information about their state that helps to better understand the challenges they face.   Take heart, some public education advocates are winning in court.

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Broward School Bonds Back in the News

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ft lauderdaleBroward Schools are struggling to make things right.  Sometimes you may try too hard.  This time the district is determined to avoid corruption or even the appearance of it.  The voters have told the district to spend money and improve the schools, and getting that to happen is harder than it seems.   I am interested in how public school districts are trying to meet the challenges they confront.  I hope you are too. Read Margery’s account of a good problem that still makes the news.

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Teacher Shortage: A Blip or a Trend

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teachers wanted board-106588_1280Are teachers leaving in droves?  Some press releases predict the Armageddon in 2020 when the teacher shortage really hits.  The baby boomer teachers will have retired, and student enrollments will peak.  Curiously, we also read that there are twice as many elementary teachers now than we need.  Yet, there are never enough ESE and ELL teachers.  Florida is short on reading and math teachers too.

I went to the Bureau of Labor and the National Center for Education Statistics to see what I could see.  I saw something.  The problem is real just not everywhere.  I tell you where.

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Who are Florida Teacher Bonuses Really For?

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money packs-163497_1280Why 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.

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