Scathing Purple Musings
Color me purple in Florida ALL Week
Teach for America Bringing Illegal Immigrants to Teach in Denver Classrooms
From KUSA NBC reporter Nelson Garcia: DPS is working with Teach for America to bring in people with an official status of “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” as determined by the federal government. Part of the requirements for DACA status is that a person must have been brought to the United States under the age of 16 and have a clean criminal record. Even with DACA status, they are still no
Step Up for Students’ Cynical Last-Minute Voucher Push
Even with today’s likely passage of voucher expansion in the Florida House – whose republican leadership doesn’t want anyone to know that Floridians really oppose them – the administrative agent of the state’s voucher plan, Step Up for Students, is going scorched Earth. While staffers were reportedly directing a bombardment of African-American and Jewish Democrat legislators with a shame campaign,
BREAKING: Poll Shows Floridians Oppose Vouchers
From Allison Nielson for Sunshine State News: Vouchers continue to be a controversial issue in the Sunshine State, with a new poll showing more than half of voters are opposed to providing scholarships to low-income students to attend nonpublic or private schools. The Voter Survey Service, commissioned by Sunshine State News, found 55 percent of voters said they oppose vouchers, while a smaller nu
APR 10
Is Charter Schools USA Using Uncertified Teachers at Failing Tampa School?
Marlene Skokol reports in the Tampa Bay Tribune: TAMPA — As if Woodmont Charter School did not have enough problems, a former teacher has lodged a discrimination complaint and says the F-rated school uses teachers who are not properly certified. Tammy Gilmore, a community activist who now lives in Atlanta, has written to Hillsborough County Schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia and charter schools
APR 09
Gutting of Florida’s Bright Futures Hurts Minority Students; A Sop to Testing Industry
Fresh off the story that Florida will have to pay Utah $5.4 million for piloting the state’s new tests comes news that Florida’s tremendously successful Bright Futures scholarship program will be gutted $126 million by 2017. Scott Travis provides this justification from a republican legislator in the Sun Sentinel: In 2008, one in three qualified; now it’s one in eight, according to the Florida Col
APR 08
Florida PTA: The Boogeyman Who Torments Step Up for Students
During last year’s run-up to another failed parent trigger bid, House sponsor Rep. Carlos Trujillo attempted to marginalize PTA opponents of his bill as “there to bake cookies.” Trujillo’s problem – and that of shaky voucher administrator Step Up for Students – is that members of the Florida PTA show up at hearings to oppose their legislation. The image of actual parents standing up against them o
APR 07
Florida to Pay Utah $5.4 Million for Field Test
There’s more fall-out from those new state tests which are being field-tested in Utah. Kristen Moulton in the Salt Lake City Tribune reports: Utah is about to reap an unexpected windfall from the questions it wrote for the new SAGE tests being launched this month in Utah schools. Florida agreed late last month to pay rental fees that could amount to $5.4 million for test questions that Utah Office
APR 06
Florida Republicans, Chamber of Commerce Can’t Recocile Conflicts Between Vouchers and STEM Advocacy
Writing in the Lakeland Ledger, Floridian Citizens for Science president Jonathan Smith points to some alarming numbers about private schools which receive voucher money: How well are the millions of taxpayers’ dollars being put to use? We at Florida Citizens for Science are concerned with the results of recent research, which has shown that at least 164 voucher-accepting schools in our state teac
APR 05
About Those Numbers, Jeb
Jeb Bush’s new website is all over the place and telling anyone who will listen about Florida’s education miracle, the magnificence of Common Core and so on. Looks like the editors of the Tampa Bay Times aren’t having any of it: 1 Florida’s graduation rates reached an all-time high of 75 percent in 2012-2013. BUT the graduation rate was 58.9 percent for African-American males and 80.5 percent for
The Thin Line Between Charter Schools USA and Florida Law
This week’s hilarious story that Charter Schools USA CEO Jonathan Hage owns a yacht called Fishin’ 4 Schools overshadows what may be some major wrongdoing on the part of Hage. In a column that appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Hillsborough League of Women Voters president, Shirley Arcuri revealed this little tidbit: Another area where the distinction between public and private is blurred for the b