The big story: When Florida Connections Academy, a virtual charter school, presented its improvement plans this week, Hillsborough County School Board members had questions.
As required by state law, any charter school receiving a D or F grade must present before the school board. Last year, the school which serves around 6,000, received a D. Its leaders spoke of their efforts to serve a high percentage of special needs, English Language Learner, Black/African American and economically disadvantaged students.
But board members wanted more information about the finances of school, which is run by the $9.6 billion Pearson education and publishing company.
Board member Jessica Vaughn asked why, with no physical building, was the school dipping into its reserves?
“It looks like you’re spending last year more than you brought in, and using your fund balance as we all do,” she said. “That’s what a fund balance is for. Can you give me an idea with a virtual school what your expenditures are that would kind of put you in the area where you’re needing to dip into your fund balance?”
School officials said their funding model is different and the school receives less than 90% of state per-student funds for the actual number they have.
Board member Nadia Combs noted that $15 million in taxpayer dollars went to the charter school company.
“To me, it’s the students that I’m worried about, but I’m sure the taxpayers are worried about to make sure that their money is going to the right place,” she said. “When I look at your budget of $31 million, you spent $75,000 on instructional learning. … My concern is: is this about children or is it about money? And if it’s about children, then why are you not implementing more to show that?”
Marcie Trombino, executive director of the school, said she couldn’t speak for the management company.
“I can say that we have a fabulous director of academic outcomes who works with us and is working very closely with our teachers to help identify some of the instructional activities that we’re having with those priority standards, doing walkthroughs with us, helping us create outlines and templates, and based on our actual data,” she said.
Hot topics
Science lessons: Florida Department of Education officials visited Tampa to take public comment on the state’s first science standards revisions since 2008, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Experts say the proposed new standards are worse than the existing ones, the Orlando Sentinel reports. One concern is that the term “evolution” is missing from the document, WUSF reports.
Sarasota teacher investigation: The Sarasota County school district told the state Attorney General’s Office how it has been dealing with a teacher who Attorney General James Uthmeier said should be fired if allegations that she bullied a student are true, WUSF reports.
Required vaccines: The DeSantis administration dropped language to make it easier for families to opt their children out of school vaccines from its proposal aimed at ending four of the mandated inoculations, Florida Phoenix reports. The underlying idea of eliminating the four shot requirements remained intact.
Guns on campus: The Duval County school board will discuss whether to drop its restrictions on employees and visitors having guns in vehicles parked on district property, Jacksonville Today reports. The proposed rule change would not apply to students.
Enrollment declines: The Duval County school district has dropped below 100,000 students for the first time in its modern history, WJAX reports.
Early learning: A Head Start center in Immokalee explores how it would implement proposed federal requirements that its instruction take place in English only, Associated Press reports.
Contract talks: The Alachua County school board ratified contracts providing raises for teachers and support staff, MainStreet Daily News reports.
College leadership: The Board of Governors approved Michael Shannon as the next president of the University of North Florida, Florida Politics reports. • Florida State University rejected all three finalists for its law dean position, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Classroom technology: The Broward County school district’s inspector general found that staff mismanaged the procurement of new laptops and misled the school board, WLRN reports.
Budget cuts: With enrollment down by 6,000, Palm Beach County schools have recommended a salary freeze for the year, WLRN reports. The proposal comes after a hiring freeze, layoffs and job cuts.
From the police blotter … Police officers and fire rescue crews evaluated several students at a Broward County middle school after one student released pepper spray into a classroom, WTVJ reports.
Hot takes
“Political sociologists have a word for this: authoritarianism. This is not simply a disagreement over a curriculum. It is about (former commissioner Anastasios) Kamoutsas’ attempt to subordinate independent intellectual inquiry to the political priorities of the state, using institutional power to punish dissent and enforce ideological conformity.” — Zachary Levenson, FIU professor, and Jordan Scott, FSU PhD candidate, on Florida’s treatment of sociology instruction (Tallahassee Democrat)
“Showing the arbitrariness of the rule, there are no studies or projections from Ladapo to justify the proposed changes, which will result in fewer children getting vaccinated and more children needlessly sickened with serious illnesses. Yet, what is not arbitrary is the indisputable evidence that vaccines save children’s lives, keep children in school, and lower healthcare costs.” — Scott Rivkees, former Florida surgeon general, on proposed changes to school vaccine rules (Sun-Sentinel)
“The question therefore is NOT simply: Can public schools get some of it? The larger question is: What kind of education system are we building with it?” — Sue Woltanski, Monroe County school board member, on federal tax credit scholarships (Accountabaloney)
Quick quiz
The U.S. Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter on Wednesday, urging states to follow the lead of Florida and a handful of others in updating their lessons on which subject area?
a) Climate change
b) History of communism
c) Sociology
Find the answer in the department’s letter.
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