Lawsuit Testimony Can Break Your Heart

justiceFlorida’s educational system is on trial in Tallahassee.  The charge?  One million Florida students cannot read at grade level.  Testimony about the plight of these children can break your heart.  Thousands are homeless.  Most are from poor families.  In some rural counties children are too hungry to learn, and schools provide three meals a day.  These children, the plaintiffs argue need much more than school districts can provide with current funding.  

The Florida League of Women Voters recognizes that the solutions to these problems are complex, but applauds the attention the suit brings to the weaknesses in our educational system.  What are the arguments and what is the defense?  What do the witnesses say? 

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Attacking Tenure: Why?

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What are these anti tenure cases really about?  Are reformers convinced the workforce has more than its share of ineffective teachers?   Or, are they concerned many teachers prefer to work in traditional schools where they can earn higher salaries and benefits?  Thus, charters and private schools struggle to compete for high quality teachers.

There is a general anti union undercurrent, but I am continually surprised how few Floridians seem to know that tenure in Florida is a thing of the past.  Why are other states filing law suits?

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Will Pinellas Failure Factories Turn Around?

FAILED1Pinellas is taking on its failing schools.  This blog reported on the Tampa Bay Times series on south Pinellas schools that had essentially been abandoned when federal desegregation regulations were lifted in 2007.  I remember Judge Reynolds’ statement a week ago in the Citizens for Strong Schools case.  He said he could not believe that the Florida DOE had not intervened when schools received an ‘F’ grade four years in a row.

 

 

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Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

justiceThe defense (Florida) in Citizens for Strong Schools argues that districts have enough money or can get enough through discretionary millage assessment on property taxes.  The problem they assert, is mismanagement and a reordering of priorities.  Do they have a point?   You can check out this claim in your local districts.  We are looking into budget priorities in Alachua County.  We have also looked at the state audits of the district in past years.  The hard choices they suggest are destructive choices.  They can rob the programs that the State brags about to help improve conditions for at risk kids.  Some choices are just bad choices.

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SLC Trial Update: Duval Superintendent Testimony

justiceSuperintendent Vitti’s testimony was a straight forward account of the demographic makeup of the county schools.  The district is 44% African American and 36% white and 11% Hispanic. Nearly half of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch (FRL).  About 56% of FRL students were below grade level, and their graduation rate was 67%.

How the needs of students are met was the subject of his testimony.  Are districts funded adequately to meet these needs?

 

 

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Meeting with the Black Caucus in Tallahassee

five for changeMonday three of us from 5forChange met with the group of legislators known as the Black Caucus.  We had been advised by our local representative, Clovis Watson, that we should talk to the broader black community.  He believed they would be supportive of our message about the need to preserve diversity in our public schools.  They were. We were able to explain the Citizens for Strong Schools lawsuit and why it mattered to each of us.

These are personal, emotional remarks from the heart by parents of children in our public schools.  We represented diversity just by looking at us.

Tarcha Rentz spoke first.  She is a former teacher who grew up in our community and received her Ph.D. in Special Ed. She held everyone’s attention.  Here are her remarks:

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