In addition to HB 7069, the sweeping 278 page education bill, a few other education related bills were passed this session. According to the National Center for Science Education, HB 989 has the potential to greatly impact science education in the state. Florida’s House Bill 989, aimed at empowering Floridians to object to the use of…
Kids Count 2017, the annual study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, found that Florida’s children experienced an overall decline in economic well-being. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida children are falling behind in economic well-being, but enjoyed gains in health, maintaining the state’s rank of 40th out of the 50 states in the latest…
The 2018 election season is already shaping up to be a momentous one for Florida’s public schools. The governor’s office and cabinet positions will be on the ballot along with other seats including the U.S. Senate, House and a slew of State House and Senate races. Every 20 years the Constitution Revision Commission meets and…
Governor Scott signed HB 7069 into law at a private, voucher school in Orlando. It was a fitting setting for a bill that funnels billions of taxpayer dollars into private voucher and charter entities with little to no public oversight. This bill was created by jamming 55 different education bills into one unwieldy, 278 page…
The Florida Department of Education released school grades this week. Across the state, districts saw their grades rise with the number of schools earning A’s and B’s increasing by 20 percent. 79 percent of schools that were an F a year ago saw an increase of at least one letter grade, including Melrose Elementary in…
Grad Day for Tampa Bay 2017 was a huge success! Held Thursday, March 2nd in the Hilton Tampa Downtown, students and community members from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties came together to raise graduation rates for the entire region by focusing on building youth-adult partnerships. The students were the stars of Grad Day. Over 200 youth from…
Pinellas and Hillsborough Student Alliance for Public Schools members presented their research and ideas on closing achievement gaps and raising graduation rates at our second annual GradNation Community Summit on Wednesday. The summit, held in St. Petersburg with partners America’s Promise Alliance and UnitedWay Suncoast, was attended by superintendents, school leaders, community members and business…
In an eleventh hour move, Senator Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) added over a hundred pages of policy changes to two unrelated bills. The amendments attach numerous bills together in what is commonly referred to as a “train.” Some bills, thought to be long dead, now comprise two runaway “trains” moving through the Florida Senate. The controversial…
The 2016 Florida Legislative Session begins Tuesday. What should public education supporters expect? Well, not much according to policy leaders in Tallahassee. Congress passed a sweeping overhaul to No Child Left Behind at the end of 2015, keeping annual testing but providing a great deal of flexibility to states on how to use the results.…
We had so much fun on Saturday! We helped give away over 40,000 books to children in a one day event called “Home Library for the Holidays.” The event was presented by First Book and sponsored by Molina Healthcare, American Federation of Teachers, Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, United Way Suncoast. and us! People starting lining…