Department of Education

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News Clips:

(news clips have not been kept updated - check archives)

This test does not meet the test
WASHINGTON — In its revised edition of the dreaded SATs, the Educational Testing Service might consider a new section that deals with high finance and how to turn a handsome profit out of what is supposed to be a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation. 11/26/02

FCAT failures could snag schools
A new state law requiring holding back third-graders who fail could cut school money and crowd classrooms. 10/8/02

Principals group faults focus on tests
The push for higher test scores detracts from school efforts to improve nutrition and fitness, it says. 10/8/02

Trouble with FCAT
By choosing to fight a court ruling making students' FCAT score sheets available to parents, Gov. Bush raises further questions about his education priorities. 10/7/02

After a decade, charter schools not measuring up - ...Now comes a study by the Brown Center for Education at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Its research on charter schools' academic performance shows that they are not necessarily doing better than traditional public schools and in some cases, they are doing worse. 10/7/02

Judge: Parents can see graded FCATs
TALLAHASSEE - Parents should be able to see graded FCAT test booklets and answer sheets, a judge has ruled. But the state said Thursday it would... 10/4/02

Raise teacher pay, secretary says
Education Secretary Jim Horne focuses on matching the national salary average, not on smaller classes. 9/22/02

A charter to profit
The explosive growth of for-profit charter schools in Florida is diverting hundreds of millions of public dollars to businesses that pervert the program's intent. 9/22/02

Racial learning gap not closing
In Martin and St. Lucie counties, minorities are behind the state in high school or college graduates. 9/22/02

For-profit education: Bottom line allure in charter schools, vouchers
While public schools are struggling for money, education-for-profit is claiming an increasing share of state and local dollars in Florida. 9/20/02

School spending study puts Florida at the low end--  ...But while Florida's students are treated more equally, the money spent on their education remains low compared with other states, the study shows. Districts elsewhere that spend the least per student outpace those in Florida that spend the most.... 9/16/02

Public School Inc.
Charter schools are evolving into something radically different from what lawmakers intended -- and they are wildly popular. Does it matter that educating Florida's children is falling to private corporations? ... 9/15

FCAT Requirement May Hold Back Some Learning- Disabled Students
TAMPA - Actor Tom Cruise and businessman Charles Schwab have the same type of learning disabilities that may keep some Florida students from earning high school diplomas this year. ...9/15

Illusion of merit pay for teachers
Teachers who work extra hard ought to get extra money, but Florida's new merit pay plan is little more than an illusion. 9/13

Bush: Help older students read
Acknowledging that Florida's struggling schools will be a key issue in this year's gubernatorial race, Gov. Jeb Bush Thursday vowed to greatly expand reading programs for high school and middle school students. 9/13

Corporate scholarships skyrocket
Florida's business-backed scholarship program is expected to multiply tenfold this school year. Supporters say it's a victory for parents who want a choice for their children's education. Critics say the scholarships deprive state coffers of revenue and cause planning problems in public schools. 9/7/02

FCAT challenges include poverty, language barrier-- 
There are two groups of Collier County students who routinely score low on statewide testing: those who speak little English and those from poor families. School officials say these are the facts, not supposition. They don't want to make excuses but they do want to highlight the reality behind the FCAT — especially in reading. 8/4/02

90 students now have no school - SANFORD -- A Seminole County charter school abruptly announced Tuesday it won't open this school year, leaving district officials scrambling to find alternative placements for its emotionally disturbed students before classes begin next week. 7/31/02

Up to 500 FCATs missing, some students may have to retake exams - TAMPA, Fla. - Between 100 and 500 of the state's student assessment tests are missing, according to the Florida Department of Education. -- The missing Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests, among the 3.5 million graded this year, could be misplaced, said department spokeswoman JoAnn Carrin. -- "They could be packed away in a closet or in a wrong box," Carrin said. "We're finding tests every day, and I'm confident we'll find these tests." 7/30/02

Amid these attractions, can balance be retained?
Consider the nifty ways that some public schools in Pinellas County will compete to attract parents under the new "controlled choice" program: 7/26/02

Adapt FCAT for disabled students
In response to Monday's article, "FCAT rule hurts disabled students," let me share my daughter's struggle to succeed in school. 7/26/02

FCAT questions are hard; a lot is expected from kids
It's been a long time since I've chewed on a No. 2 pencil and had sweaty palms. 7/25/02

Unfair practices -  Florida is not being fair to disabled students in its FCAT testing.
Ahivng rtuolbe eradign?
Having trouble reading that? Imagine a whole page full of test questions that look like alphabet stew. That's how the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test appears to students whose dyslexia makes them see jumbled letters and words. Yet those students may have a strong grasp of vocabulary, grammar, syntax and the use of the English language. They may easily comprehend complex material.
Denying those bright students reasonable ways to earn a regular Florida diploma makes no more sense than depriving blind students of a diploma because they can't see letters on a page. 7/24/02

FCAT rule hurts disabled students
The Port Orange student fears he won't graduate unless the test is read to him. 7/22/02

Confusing school grades
An administrative blunder points out, once again, the basic problems with the governor's school-grading system. 7/21/02

Better schools or marketing tools?
The St. Joe Co. wants to build charter schools, tax-free, in its communities.-- The St. Joe Co. of Jacksonville, the largest private landowner in the state, and its Arvida subsidiary are forging new alliances with state education officials at a time when the company is beginning to develop 1 million lush acres of Florida Panhandle.-- A proposed public-private partnership between Florida State University and St. Joe would have used the school's tax-exempt status to secure low-interest government loans for charter school construction.-- ..."Forget vouchers, they found a way to get taxpayers to pay for their whole school," said Tony Welch, a spokesman for the state teachers union. 7/14/02

How is a parent to choose?
It's like taking a multiple-choice test where all the answer choices are "A'. In their choice brochures, many schools sound alike. 7/14/02

'F' means first for help, funds
This week's summit on education is designed to provide aid to schools that are struggling with failing grades. 7/12/02

Vouchers head to court again
Plaintiffs want a circuit judge to find that Florida school vouchers conflict with the state's Constitution. 7/10/02

Judge hears school voucher arguments
Lawyers debate whether the U.S. Supreme Court ruling trumps the Florida Constitution. 7/10/02

Here's the price tag for vouchers
Universal plan would cost the state billions. 7/9/02

Vouchers: solution or snake oil?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling to permit funneling tax dollars through parents to private and religious schools does not mean that vouchers are the "law of the land." 7/9/02

Performance pay for teachers - No easy path on mandated road-
Some call it the last frontier of school reform: performance pay for teachers. Teachers' groups oppose it like students protest a pop quiz, but state legislators have mandated Florida's 67 school districts to have a plan in place this year. It's no easy task for Collier and Lee counties' school officials since any performance pay plan has to be approved by local teacher unions. "The state put us in an awkward position because the unions are against performance pay," said Allun Hamblett, Collier's human resources director. "I'm very optimistic but is it going to be Nirvana? By no means." 7/8/02

Cheerleading scandal goes to state- KISSIMMEE -- Fallout from a cheerleading cheating scandal that cost Osceola High School a national title continues to be felt from Florida to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 7/7/02

Top teachers must strain for bonuses - A lot of top teachers in Volusia County won't be eligible for the new 5 percent bonus, local educators say. That's because district officials, who say they can't come up with the cash, are intentionally making the application process tough. 7/7/02

The SAT tries to cram
Revisions won't head off irrelevance. 7/5/02

Cyber High staff stuck without paychecks
Walter McNeal is crushed. The special-education teacher never got paid $1,375 for his last month on the job at the now-defunct Cyber High Charter School. 7/3/02

Report cards tell just part of the story
Florida's School Report Cards released by the Department of Education recently give parents and others a sterile and limited look at what's going on in public school classrooms today.7/3/02

Backers finish Florida class size tour with extra signatures
MIAMI — The NAACP has wrapped up a statewide bus tour rousing support and collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to reduce class size in Florida public schools. An estimated 550,000 signatures were collected and submitted to county election departments throughout the state to be verified. 7/2/02

Tax vouchers' quick start should not impede need for scrutiny
A lot of attention has been paid to Florida's school voucher program that moves kids out of "failing" public schools, and also to the "McKay Scholarship" program that pays for disabled kids to attend private school. 7/1/02

More than 300 Florida school children signed up for vouchers
The parents of 338 students had notified the Florida Department of Education by Monday's deadline that they intended to use vouchers when school starts. 7/1/02

Vouching for vouchers, not for schools- 
Great. Just what Florida needs. More distraction from real education reform.-- 
The state has about 2.5 million public school students. From what you hear out of Tallahassee, however, the ones who matter most are the 9,000 who became eligible this year for vouchers. Not all will be able to use the vouchers; private schools don't have room, or alternatives aren't close enough. But because Gov. Bush has made vouchers such a key part of his education program -- after saying in his 1998 campaign that they weren't -- the state finds itself concentrating on a gimmick that involves relatively few students and contradicting its own wider policy for all the other students.-- 
The governor and other members of the anti-public school political Establishment say vouchers offer students at "failing" schools a better alternative. But while the state determines voucher schools solely on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, private schools that voucher students attend don't have to release FCAT results. They don't have to go by any of the accountability rules that the state requires for public schools, even though private schools will be getting public money. So there's no way to tell whether the voucher has offered the student a better alternative.6/30/02

Despite Supreme Court, Florida voucher challenge to continue
TALLAHASSEE — Critics of Florida's voucher law said Thursday they won't abandon their legal fight despite the 5-4 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a similar Ohio law. A Tallahassee judge put Florida's voucher lawsuit on hold in February because of the Ohio case in the nation's high court. A hearing before Circuit Judge Kevin Davey is scheduled for next month. 6/28/02

Making vouchers legal doesn't make them good
Florida's plan still flunks under state law. 6/28/02

Drug tests OK'd for many high school students
The Supreme Court put public high school students on notice Thursday: Drug tests may be required for playing chess or joining the cheerleader squad. 6/28/02

NAACP pushes state amendment to limit class sizes-- The NAACP wants to see some changes in Florida's school system, and the organization sent some of its highest ranking officers on a two-week tour of the state to try to bring those changes to pass.-- 
The civil rights organization is collecting signatures to get a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would limit class sizes from kindergarten through high school, said Bill McCormick, Fort Lauderdale president for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Amendments need 500,000 signatures to get on the November ballot. 6/28/02

Class size amendments carry hefty price tag
Thanks to a new law, for the first time, economists are calculating the costs of proposed citizen initiatives. Some say it's politics as usual. 6/28/02

Under Horne, Handy classes are politi-sized
Playing with numbers to defeat class-size amendment.6/27/02

Teacher's union gives state education system an 'F'
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's public education system got a failing grade from the teacher's union Tuesday just two weeks after state government said 9 out of 10 schools earned a grade of C or above. The Florida Education Association, a longtime critic of Gov. Jeb Bush, graded the state's K-12 school system in eight "subjects," ranging from how much is spent on schools to graduation rates and SAT scores.  6/26/02

Teachers union flunks state's education system - TALLAHASSEE - Florida's teachers union, citing data from the U.S. Department of Education, said Tuesday the state public school system deserves a failing grade for poor funding, lackadaisical student achievement and overcrowded schools.  6/26/02

Union Calls Schools Rock Bottom - ``We want to be part of a Florida public school system that isn't rock bottom and getting worse,'' said Maureen Dinnen, president of the 122,000-member Florida Education Association.  6/26/02

Florida gets $45.6 million in federal reading money
TALLAHASSEE — Florida will get $45.6 million in federal funds for reading programs this year, the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday. The grant was one of the first made under the $900 million federal Reading First initiative; Alabama also got a grant of $15.5 million and Colorado got a one-year grant of $9 million.  6/26/02

Strict rules limit bonuses for teachers-- Volusia County School District's rules for its new merit-pay program are so tough only a fraction of its teachers could receive the bonuses officials are required to offer this coming school year. 6/26/02

Handy's 'facts' on class size flunk smell test
There are lies, damn lies and whatever it is that's been coming out of Phil Handy's mouth about class size. 6/25/02

FCAT is undermining good students and good schools
Nancy Cook Lauer was right in her June 7 column ("Real people, hard choices for Gov. Bush"), suggesting that Gov. Jeb Bush would do well to spend a few days in the shoes of those he purports to represent. He might understand why many see his educational policies as a destructive plot against Florida's children and its educational system. 6/24/02

Education debate needs more ideas and less politics
Whatever you think about Gov. Jeb Bush's education reforms, he deserves credit for igniting a long overdue debate on how to improve Florida's public schools. It's too bad so much of the debate is framed by opposing ideologies. Bush's A+ Plan is harshly denounced by Democrats who have little to offer other than calls for more spending without reform. The Republicans, meanwhile, seem to think the only way to turn around failing public schools is to offer parents vouchers to send their children to private schools that are unaccountable to the state for student achievement. 6/23/02

Poorest schools get most F's
Analysis rebutted state leaders' claims and showed race, wealth, grades linked. 6/23/02

Arrogance in education
The state has organized its educational policy around the results of one standardized test, and then has set itself up as the only gauge of public school performance. 6/15/02

Poverty's no excuse-- Struggling schools need a grading system that's more than a guessing game.6/15/02

Law: All FCAT scores to count - Some Florida schools could have a tougher time earning good grades from the state in coming years because of a federal law that says all tested students' scores must count.6/15/02

Poll: About half of state voters doubt Bush's education plan - MIAMI — Almost half of Florida's voters don't think Gov. Jeb Bush's education plan has improved the state's public schools, according to a new poll.6/15/02

State offers schools advice , little cash
Struggling schools appreciate the help, but would like more money to hire teachers.6/15/02

Voters cool to Bush's A+ Plan, poll says
Nearly half of the state's voters have doubts about Gov. Jeb Bush's A+ Plan for Education, the program that grades public schools on the basis of students' FCAT scores and allows children at failing public schools to attend private schools using taxpayer money, a statewide poll released Thursday shows. 6/14/02

More schools earn failing grade
A voucher program giving students the option to enroll in private schools will grow as a result of the low marks.6/13

Voucher program must be subject to accountability
Gov. Jeb Bush's controversial school voucher program made headlines again this week, but not the way proponents would have liked. Pensacola mother Tracy Richardson - a choice advocate who became nationally known as the "voucher mom" - was quoted in news stories as being critical of the plan.6/13

'Voucher Mom' has not changed her mind about choice
Bad news travels fast, but I'm finding that wrong news travels even faster. The Associated Press circulated an interview with me that ran in newspapers statewide under headlines like "Voucher Mom Changes Her Mind" (News story, June 11).6/13

Using vouchers might be tough
No local private schools have state approval and those that are have limited openings. That's for starters.6/13

School Grades: State releases school grades; 10 now eligible for vouchers
TALLAHASSEE — Ten Florida public schools failed their second state evaluation in four years, meaning their 8,900 students will be eligible for private school vouchers this fall, the state announced Wednesday. Five of the voucher-eligible schools are in Miami-Dade County, three in Palm Beach County and one each in Orange and Escambia counties. Overall, 68 of the state's 2,515 schools received an 'F' on this year's evaluation. About 60,000 students attend the failing schools, which are in 19 counties. Four of the state's biggest districts — Miami-Dade, Duval, Orange and Palm Beach — account for 44 of the 68.6/13

State flunks 68 schools
Orange County's school grades were among the worst in the state, with 11 schools earning F's.6/13/02

Florida's failing schools multiply
More than 60 percent of Leon County schools received an A or B when state officials released the 2002 school grades Wednesday. But the county also received its first failing score as Leonard Wesson Elementary came up short under beefed-up grading criteria.6/13/02

New director hired for voucher office
Just before Florida announced expansion of its school voucher program, Education Commissioner Charlie Crist quietly shuffled key staffers.6/14/02

Students at 5 Dade schools, 3 in Palm Beach County eligible for vouchers
TALLAHASSEE -- Students from 10 schools will be eligible for state vouchers to attend private schools, officials said Wednesday as they released school grades for the recently completed school year.6/12/02

The FCAT breakdown (from Florida times-Union):
  - School Grades Distribution (.pdf file)
  - Three Main Activities of Assistance Plus (.pdf file)
  - List of F Schools (.pdf file)

Schools brace for release of grades today
Stress levels and the stakes are high: cash for A's, shame for F's. And there will be some F's.6/12

School grades today may spell vouchers
 On the surface, Tracy Richardson and Chris Suma have virtually nothing in common.6/12

Supporters: Class-size initiative has enough signatures
MIAMI — Petitioners pushing a constitutional amendment to reduce class size in Florida schools said Tuesday they have enough signatures to reach the ballot this fall. State Sen. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat and the minority leader, said the Coalition to Reduce Class Size has collected more than 500,000 signatures to send to state officials for certification.6/12

Petition on class size is gaining
Supporters of a proposal to cap the size of public school classes said Tuesday they've gathered signatures from more than half a million Floridians -- enough to put the measure on the ballot in November.6/12

Pensacola voucher mom now disappointed in Florida program
PENSACOLA — Tracy Richardson stood beside Gov. Jeb Bush when he signed the state's school voucher law and President Bush invited her to Washington to tout the concept, but now she says it has been a disappointment. Richardson, who went from unknown hotel clerk to Florida's nationally known "voucher mom," says her daughter, Khaliah Clanton, 11, is still struggling after going to a private school for three years at public expense.6/11/02

Scholars skipping summer school
Though required to attend, the students can't use their Bright Future scholarships this summer.6/11/02

The politics is no secret
Handy abusing role on Board of Education.6/11/02

State Universities And Sunshine Law -- P hil Handy, chairman of the state Board of Education, finally came to his senses and admitted he was wrong to hold private meetings with the chairmen of the state universities.--Inevitably, elected and appointed officials seem to believe they can operate more efficiently behind closed doors. They assert that if they are not subject to scrutiny, they will speak more frankly.--But that argument is unconvincing and lost out long ago to a policy of open government in Florida.--Indeed, a university chairman who is unwilling to operate in the open has no business in that position.6/10/02

High school classes crowded as Board cuts 'core' jobs
Volusia County high school students can expect to find larger classes when they return Aug. 12 from summer vacation.6/10/02

Education in Florida requires better leadership
Anyone who has built a home or a business knows that sacrifice is required. On a broader scale, that concept prompted President John F. Kennedy to challenge the American people with his famous saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you! Ask what you can do for your country!" 6/8/02

Grades renew voucher debate
With students at 10 schools now eligible for vouchers, Democrats ratchet up criticism of the program

Florida schools discriminate, NAACP says - The public-school systems in Florida and two other states have been targeted for legal action because of their discrimination against minority groups, NAACP leaders said Thursday.
Racial disparities in public education are so pronounced in Florida, Louisiana and Ohio that legal remedies are necessary, leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said at an education summit in Atlanta. 5/17/02

FCAT scores still lacking
TALLAHASSEE — Most students did better on this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, with scores generally inching up in math and among younger children in reading, data released Wednesday shows. Black and Hispanic students also did better, said Education Commissioner Charlie Crist and Education Secretary Jim Horne. But Florida students still don't score well compared with students nationally and thousands of students in fourth and 10th grades failed the test, which could keep them from being promoted to the fifth grade or earning a diploma. Tenth-graders, however, can take the FCAT several more times before the end of the 12th grade.5/16/02

Private schools: Debt just tip of woes at Cyber High -- Cyber High Charter School's Orange County campus cannot pay its bills, account for equipment purchased with taxpayer money or detail teacher qualifications or student grades, according to an audit released Tuesday.... 
But despite its shaky finances, Cyber High continued to pay consulting and other fees to the brother-in-law of the school's director, auditors found. 5/9/02

FCAT has sent our schools into test-driven lunacy
As I prepare my students for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, I think of all those legislators and our governor who daily espouse their compassion for kids, when what I see in front of me is test-driven lunacy. Simply put, policymakers are dead wrong to think FCAT is good for our kids or their education.

Publishers Agree To Train Teachers On Phonic Method
TALLAHASSEE - There's nothing on paper. Just a verbal agreement with four of the nation's largest textbook publishers who stand to profit handsomely from the $200 million or more Florida spends each year on instructional materials. ...  ...Representatives of the companies are meeting Monday with state education officials in Tallahassee to sort out how the training will be delivered. The companies are Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson Education and Houghton Mifflin.

Bush, Crist Close Book On Phonics Dispute
TALLAHASSEE - Lawmakers hoping to debate Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to teach all Florida children to read through phonics can hold their tongues. ... (see Reading Between the Lines)

Patriotism, religion and schools don't mix
Patriotism is back. Signs and flags proclaiming "United We Stand" and "God Bless America" have been visible in every town and city across Florida since the tragic events of Sept. 11. Expressing our new sense of patriotism in a secular or a religious manner, particularly in the schools, is one of the hottest topics for public education at the state capital.

Bush's reading plan: retrain teachers
The governor wants to spend millions retraining teachers in new methods of reading instruction.

Feisty politico forges enemies as he tackles the issues
Now Phil Handy finds himself unable to attain a routine confirmation as chairman of the new state Board of Education.

A Handy distraction
Phil Handy is a headstrong Winter Park financier and political operative with so few education credentials and such hostility to government that his appointment as chairman of the new Florida Board of Education is, at best, incongruous. But don't mistake the gamesmanship in the Senate Education Committee, which is delaying his confirmation vote, for high-minded principle.

Editorial: Confirm for Floridians what Handy is planning - Phil Handy didn't deserve an easy confirmation hearing on his appointment to be chairman of the state Board of Education. But the Winter Park businessman, who managed Gov. Bush's 1994 and '98 campaigns, and the governor predictably were stunned Monday when Senate Democrats blocked the confirmation.--- "I find it hard to believe they wouldn't want to confirm him," Gov. Bush told The St. Petersburg Times. The governor reacted that way because he and Mr. Handy don't believe in asking questions before they make policy. That attitude has given Florida an education system based on misuse of a standardized test as a means to assess school performance. Back in Reality, Florida, "this guy is unqualified to be chairman of the Board of Education," Senate Minority Leader Tom Rossin, D-Royal Palm Beach, told The Times. "You can tell a lot of the Republicans are uncomfortable voting for him."

Board moves closer to demise
A Senate committee Monday made quick work of a bill that would abolish a troubled public-private partnership charged with helping disabled Floridians find jobs. ... SB 2206 / HB 1825

Report: Many graduates not ready for college work
The report says 40 percent of high school grads need remedial classes before doing college work.

Bill ties superintendent pay, pupil performance
The school officials would feel it in their wallets if third-graders are promoted without being able to read.

Future in Florida grim if justices pass vouchers
Public school foes plan their backup strategy.

A voucher ploy-- The latest stab at vouchers in Florida is extreme even for voucher supporters.

Minority contracts in question
As doubts arise over minority ownership, some ask if the School Board should scrutinize more.

Florida has little hope for national reading test
Florida students are expected to score poorly on a national reading test. 

No 'F' schools not same as no failing schools
An opportunity to significantly upgrade our schools instead went for tax cuts for the rich.

Reading Between the Lines
by Stephen Metcalf - While many have noted Bush's intimacy with the oil and gas industry, few have pointed out his cozy relationship with McGraw-Hill.

Schools to try for freedom
Orange County schools soon will ask the governor and Cabinet for freedom from all the rules and laws that might interfere with students getting the best education.

Rehabilitation commission misused its funds, state says-- The agency overseeing the shift to privatization of a state program that puts disabled people in jobs is paying $343,000 in rent for a building it does not use and paid $830,000 last year for services it could not show were ``reasonable or necessary.''

Bill would encourage districts to privatize school services
TALLAHASSEE -- School districts may soon be required by the state to solicit bids from private companies to drive students to school, cook them lunch and clean up after them in classrooms.

Bush seeks teacher certification limit
Incentives have made the program popular -- and costly. Jeb Bush wants no more than 500 this year.

Graham: Politics infecting schools
MELBOURNE - An "anthrax-like infection" of politics has entered Florida's education arena since changes passed last year created a seamless system between kindergarten and universities, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said Tuesday.

'In God We Trust' plaques pushed for public schools
Fred Galloway says he wants to put God into Florida's public schools.

Off to a slow start
As if recent news about education funding in Florida isn't bad enough, a still-unpublished report by the Legislature's own watchdog agency says that the state has been slow to implement improvements mandated by the 1999 School Readiness Act.

State to rehire tardy FCAT grader-- State Education Commissioner Charlie Crist is poised to rehire the grading company that has been late returning FCAT scores two years in a row -- with a 50 percent price increase.--
Crist agreed to extend NCS Pearson's current $69 million deal through 2005 for $105 million, spokesman Adam Shores acknowledged Thursday.

Officials fight plan to reduce class size
TALLAHASSEE -- It seems like something parents and teachers could love as much as apple pie: a constitutional amendment limiting the number of students in each class.

State's commitment to education gets no more than lip service
TALLAHASSEE -- Throughout the go-go 1990s, Florida education instead went-went in the opposite direction, compared with the rest of the nation. -- Florida's per-pupil spending, a recent study found, went from 21st in the country in 1990 to 38th in 2000. Our ranking regarding high school graduates who go on to college fell from 35th to 43rd. We are now dead last among the 50 states in the percentage of scientists and engineers with doctorates in our population.

Parents upset over diminishing aid for special needs students
Although Brevard County's population of special needs students has grown by 12 percent in the past five years and Florida has seen a 21 percent increase overall, Congress again this year has refused to pay its full share of the cost of educating them.

What does the FCAT measure?
A Post study finds school ranking based on the test reflect students' wealth.

Budget cuts pass the buck to local schools
Local districts are pawing through programs, looking for nickels and dimes as they trim for leaner days.

Editorial: Bush uses bad math; schools got bad deal
The Palm Beach Post
Gov. Bush and his lawmaker friends must believe that anyone who is not dead is healthy, anyone who is not broke is wealthy, and anyone who can speak is wise. Otherwise, there's no accounting for their good cheer...

Schools face tough times
State's cuts force reserve spending School districts say they will survive the state's plan to cut $309 million from their budgets but contend it won't be easy. Most will have to spend their reserve funds. Many already have canceled summer school. And several are looking at cuts for next year amid worries that state funding will be rolled back to 1999-2000 levels.

Senate aims to make deeper education cuts
New special session begins today; K-12 classrooms take biggest hit -- State educators knew they were getting off lightly when the Legislature took its first swipe at balancing the state budget last month. On Monday, Senate budget leaders unveiled a new round of figures, carving $591 million out of education - $204 million more than was cut in the first special session. Almost all the new cuts - $250 million - would come from money going directly to K-12 classrooms.  

Public schools to take brunt of proposed state budget cuts - TALLAHASSEE -- Hope that public schools would escape the state's budget crisis without significant cuts officially ended Monday as a Senate panel agreed to shave a total of $591 million from the state's education budget.-- The decision -- over $200 million more than the Legislature agreed to cut a month ago -- all but guarantees many school districts will end up laying off teachers or other staff in coming months, education advocates say. 

Enrollment soars at cash-strapped schools - ...Public schools have swelled with 16,649 more students than expected, the state Department of Education reported Monday. The unexpected students will cost districts an additional $75. million, which officials thought they could spend elsewhere.

Florida's fourth grade
The Department of Education is rushing its new grade plan, the fourth in four years, into place that feebly measures the learning gains of students.

State's failings blamed on education system - Leaders at an education summit link Florida's lack of high-paid jobs to problems in the schools.

Voucher plan for disabled grows
Florida's voucher program for disabled students continues to grow, even as the fledgling effort experiences growing pains and as the state looks into tightening controls.

Mother will sue for FCAT materials
The Largo woman's son failed the test. Her suit could open test materials for parents statewide.

Schools escape budget cleaver - A freeze on hiring and limits on travel are likely, but overall many educators are satisfied with the cuts.

Aid for scholars targeted for trims - TALLAHASSEE -- Amid the late-week wrangling over the state budget, Florida's senators served notice for the first time that the state's hugely popular Bright Futures Scholarships program -- which has provided tens of thousands of students with a free college education -- may no longer be untouchable

Senate passes measure to cap Bright Futures
No student would get more than $3,200 a year in scholarship aid under the legislation, which lacks support in the House.

Horne against laws on patriotism education
Florida students need to learn how government works, but patriotism education should be left up to parents, principals and school boards, Education Secretary Jim Horne said Wednesday.

Threats won't keep advocates from speaking for students
If Gov. Jeb Bush wants to run government like a business, maybe his administration needs a refresher course in management - because if public education was a corporation, its CEO would be fired and the business would be in danger of going belly up.

46,000 must retake FCAT test
The students failed to meet the minimum score for graduation, set Tuesday by the governor and Cabinet.8/15

SATs, grades the best predictor of success in college - Political leaders such as Woodrow Wilson and Dwight Eisenhower once came from academia, but Florida's university presidents last week showed why those days are long gone. - The presidents put academia's out-of-touch nature in focus by saying, in effect, that they don't want to use the best available tools to make admissions decisions. You see, they don't like the results.8/15

Bush, Gallagher tussle over FCAT score for graduation
— High school students will have to work a little harder to get a diploma under standards Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet approved Tuesday after a testy debate. Secretary of State Katherine Harris questioned whether the test scores proposed by the state Department of Education were high enough and Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher argued they were too low.

Board considers another tuition hike
Fall classes haven't started at state universities, but the Florida Board of Education already is making plans to increase tuition again next year. 

Crist facing questions over contributions
Early campaign finance reports show Charlie Crist has a huge fund-raising edge in the attorney general's race, but one of his opponents is questioning when Crist began collecting the money. State Sen. Locke Burt, who is running against Crist for the Republican nomination, is questioning whether Crist may have solicited campaign contributions before officially opening an account.

As pressure increases, Florida schools opening earlier and earlier
For a growing number of students in Florida and across the country, school starts in August -- early August, even -- instead of the after-Labor Day start of years past.

Jury Still Out On Talented 20
It's too early to pronounce Gov. Jeb Bush's Talented 20 program a failure, as state Sen. Kendrick Meek and former state Rep. Tony Hill would have it. It's also too early to pronounce it a success, as the governor and his supporters would have it.

Education contract goes to aide's ex-firm
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- One of Education Commissioner Charlie Crist's top lieutenants was on the payroll of a Jacksonville computer company only months before the department awarded it...

Editorial: Set the schools free
Charter schools in Florida are free to throw off state bureaucratic constraints. If flexibility is good for charter schools, however, why isn't it good for...

Black freshman enrollment drops by nearly half at UF - -- Black freshman enrollment at the University of Florida is expected to be down by nearly half this year under Gov. Jeb Bush's ban on racial preference in public university admissions. Blacks represented nearly 12 percent of the freshman class last year, but the class starting this month will be only 6 percent to 7 percent black, officials at the state's most elite public university estimate. 8/13

Black UF freshmen numbers plummet
Only 6 to 7 percent of the first class to enter the university under Gov. Jeb Bush's new admission criteria will be African-American.8/12

Crist may have broken state elections law - 
Education Commissioner and attorney general candidate Charlie Crist might have broken state elections law by soliciting and accepting money prior to opening a campaign account, then filing an erroneous amended report about it.

Crist refiles campaign report to clarify receipt of contributions - -- After listing $3,500 in campaign funds before opening his campaign account, attorney general candidate Charlie Crist has submitted a revised report that shows the checks arrived after his account was open, according to law 8/11

DOE contract again falls under scrutiny
The company that received a controversial $897,000 contract from the Florida Department of Education had a closer tie to Education Commissioner Charlie Crist's chief of staff than just her lobbyist husband. 

School may get McKay voucher
Hope School serves disabled students
The Florida Department of Education has said a Tallahassee private school is eligible to participate in a voucher program that could allow its director to receive thousands of dollars in state money to educate disabled children - all of whom are related to her - in her own home.8/6

Disconnect is real over school money
Depends on who you ask if this year's public school funding from the state is more generous than ever or whether public schools are more desperate than since the 1991-92 recession.  8/5

Crist under fire for giving bid to a campaign donor
Education Commissioner Charlie Crist awarded an $897,000 computer contract to a campaign contributor with ties to his chief of staff, prompting a formal bid protest from another bidder.8/4

UF summer classes may be cut -- GAINESVILLE - University of Florida summer classes may have to be curtailed to deal with budget cuts, University of Florida President Charles Young told the school's new trustees Friday in a briefing on finances for the coming school year. 8/4

Judge in school voucher suit says he's staying put -- The judge overseeing the legal challenge of the state's school voucher law is again fending off demands that he leave the case because of family connections to the plaintiffs.8/3

Bill Maxwell - Too much importance placed on FCAT
During my nearly 20 years as a college English and journalism teacher, I had a reputation for being tough, even mean.  8/1

Horne's new paycheck - Jim Horne's huge salary and incentives were approved last week by the new Florida Board of Education, appointed by Gov. Bush under the Republican-led educational restructuring act rammed through the Legislature.... It's not as if Horne was a much sought-after educator being pursued by potential employers across the country. No bidding war was under way for his services. Horne, in fact, isn't a professional educator at all. He's not even a professional administrator. By profession, he's an accountant from Jacksonville.

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