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LWV Press Release: Florida’s Tax Credit Vouchers in Court February 9th
The Florida League issued a press release today in advance of the scheduled court hearing on Monday, February 9th of McCall et al vs. Scott et al. The League is a plaintiff in this case against the Florida Tax Credit Scholarships to private, mostly religious schools.
A previous lawsuit against the expansion of the FTC scholarships was dismissed by Judge Francis. That suit, Faase vs. Scott, claimed that the procedures used to pass the bill on the last day of the session were illegal. The judge ruled that no significant harm was done by the political maneuvers. We hope the outcome will be different.
READ ON TO SEE THE PRESS RELEASE.
Difference Between U. S. House and Senate Education Bills
The Senate version of the education bill (See: US Senator Lamar Alexandar Bill ) and the House version differ mostly on the requirements for achievement testing.
The House version is a reintroduction of last year’s Student Success Act. Both version emphasize returning control to the states.
A summary of the House version follows. We will track the bills. Check Legislative Updates on the rotating banner for the blog. It is the photo of the green chalkboard.
SB 616 Filed to Reduce Testing Impact
Senate Education Chairman, John Legg, filed SB 616 to limit testing time and reduce the impact of achievement gain scores on teacher evaluations.
There is also a district option for changing how State assessment results are reported for 2014-15.
Will the bill have a meaningful impact on the amount of testing that is required? Given that districts must still do local testing in courses not covered in statewide assessments, it is not clear how the number of tests will be reduced.
Testing and learning have always been intertwined. The question at hand is how much testing and for which purposes should tests be used? The legislators are listening. Send them your thoughts.
LWV Hot Topic on Testing
by Marilyn Wills
This must have been a highly anticipated Hot Topics event in Tallahassee. On one side was Patricia Levesque, the Executive Director for his foundation, Foundation for Excellence, founded by Jeb Bush. On the other side 
was Rosanne Wood, former principal of one of the nation’s top 6 innovative high schools. Ms. Levesque touts Florida’s education gains. Ms. Wood wonders about shifting denominators in statistics and the impact of testing on students and teachers.
Why we should test and why we should reconsider how tests are used was the focus of the meeting. There was some agreement, but the perspectives on testing were very different. These are the talking points. We need to know them inside and out. Read the report from the Leon County League.Continue reading
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- League Members visit the office of Senator Marco Rubio
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- League Members wait to see Senator Bill Nelson
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- Education Team at the Department of Education
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