Senate kills parent trigger bill

The Florida Senate killed the controversial parent trigger bill Tuesday.

The bill died almost exactly as it did last year: in a 20-20 vote in the final week of the session.

"The second time is just as sweet," said Florida Education Association President Andy Ford, who helped lead the opposition against the bill. "I'm happy that the Legislature stepped up and did what's right for the state of Florida."

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kelli Stargel, would have let parents demand sweeping changes at failing public schools, including having the school transformed into a charter school.It had been watered down by an amendment from Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, that would have allowed school boards to reject parent petitions.

Most observers thought the Simmons amendement would have given Stargel the votes she needed to pass the bill out of the upper chamber. But a handul of Republicans joined the Democratic opposition Tuesday, including: Sens. Nancy Detert, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Rene Garcia, Jack Latvala, Greg Evers and Charlie Dean.

Detert pointed out that parents across the state had opposed the legislation.

"The minute you vote yes, your PTA is going to call you and say, What were you thinking?'" she said. 

The bill was considered a priority for former Gov. Jeb Bush and his education non-profit, the Foundation for Florida's Future.

Senate passes cyber-bullying bill

A bill seeking to prohibit cyber-bullying in Florida's schools is headed to the desk of Gov. Rick Scott.

The proposal gives school administrators new authority to police bullying that takes place electronically or online.

On Monday, it won unanimous support in the Senate.

"As an educator and legislator, I'm pleased to see that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle came together to bring this bill to law," said Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber. "In our digital age and society teachers and administrators need the ability to protect our Florida gems from the unwanted attacks students receive online."

The House passed the bill 118-0 in early April. 

Read our earlier story here.

Senate weakens parent trigger bill; floor vote likely Tuesday

The parent trigger bill hit the Senate floor Monday, and as expected, sparked some lively discussion.

Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, set the tone by immediately withdrawing the eight amendments she had filed.

"My intention is, at this point, to not even attempt to fix this bill, I consider it so hopelessly bad," Detert said.

Senators quashed three other amendments deemed "unfriendly" by Sen. Kelli Stargel, the bill's sponsor. But they approved an addition from Sen. David Simmons that would give local school boards the authority to deny parent requests to make dramatic changes at low-performing schools. 

The language had already been approved by the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The upper chamber needed to add it again because senators took up the House version of the bill on Monday.

Last week, Stargel said she planned to remove the wording because it took too much power away from the parents. But doing so would have likely lost her several key votes, including Sens. Andy Gardiner and Jack Latvala.

"Sometimes with a controversial bill, you take the path of least resistance," Stargel said after Monday's floor session.

The weaker version of the bill will come up for a vote on Tuesday. "I feel confident that we'll be able to pass this bill," Stargel said. 

If approved, it would have to go back to the House.

FEA not exactly thrilled with deal on teacher pay raises

In a press release late Sunday, Gov. Rick Scott said he and Florida Education Association President Andy Ford "applauded the House and the Senate’s agreement to implement $480 million in teacher pay raises."

Ford clarified the union's position early Monday.

In his own press release, Ford thanked the governor for his efforts "to provide an immediate across-the-board pay increase to Florida's classroom teachers."

But Ford said the union was "disappointed that the House and Senate leadership have thwarted those efforts by delaying any salary increases, if they are to be provided at all, until June of next year and by requiring that any raises be based on procedures for performance measurement that don't currently exist."

The union president added: "We are also disappointed that the Legislature, without making additional funds available, has required that the money allocated must be distributed to school administrators in addition to the instructional personnel who actually deliver education to our students." 

Scott, as you may recall, had been pushing for $2,500 across-the-board pay raises for teachers.

Late Sunday, the House and Senate agreed to performance-based pay raises that will be at least $2,500 for teachers deemed "effective" and up to $3,500 for teachers deemed "highly effective."

The vast majority of Florida teachers are considered "effective" or "highly effective," and will thus see a boost to their base salary. But the teachers' union still has problems with the methodology used to evaluate their performance.

House and Senate release details of plan to give raises to teachers

The House and Senate have firmed up the details of the closely watched teacher pay raises.

Under the compromise language, the salary increases will go to more than just classroom teachers. "School district and charter school classroom teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists, librarians, principals and assistant principals" will all be eligible.

The raises must be at least $2,500 for employees evaulated as "effective" and up to $3,500 for employees evaluated as "highly effective." School systems will have the freedom to develop their own plans for evaluating teacher performance based on student achievement. But educators will have to be evaluated based only on students they teach.

The money will be distributed in June 2014.

Gov. Rick Scott, who has been pushing for $2,500 across-the-board pay raises, hailed the deal as a success late Sunday.

In a press release, Scott said he and Florida Education Association President Andy Ford "applauded the House and the Senate’s agreement."

"The language accompanying the funding allows districts the flexibility to develop their own performance plans to award the greatest number of teachers the largest teacher pay raise possible, in coordination with their collective bargaining agreements," Scott wrote. "The $480 million in funding provides enough to give every teacher a minimum of a $2,000 pay raise, while also giving districts the ability to provide teacher raises of $2,500 or even $3,500 -– depending on the plan each of the 67 school districts (plus lab and charter schools) develop."

More questions raised about StudentsFirst petition

In defending the so-called parent trigger bill, Sen. Kelli Stargel has been referencing a petition signed by more than 1,300 Floridians who support the measure. The signatures were collected by StudentsFirst, the education think tank founded by former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee.

But questions began swirling late last week, week three people named on the document told The Herald/Times they had never signed it.

On Sunday, The Herald/Times sent an email to each person who had allegedly signed the online petition. Of the 241 who responded, 212 confirmed their signatures.

"I signed it electronically," wrote Woodie H. Thomas, III, a Palm Beach Gardens attorney. "I'm for any catalyst that brings meaningful change to the public school system."

But 29 people said they had not signed the petition. 

"I did NOT join my name to a petition in support of the so-called Parent Empowerment Act," wrote John Raymaker, of Tallahassee. "Instead, I signed a petition OPPOSING this act. More deceitful, incredibly dishonest tactics!"

Alan Dorfman, of Delray Beach, said he had signed, but felt duped.

"Further information received after signing makes me believe that at best, I didn't get the whole story, or at worst, I was fooled by the signature request," he wrote.

StudentsFirst Regional Press Secretary Calvin Harris said the organization "stands by the authenticity of the signatures."

"Giving parents a way to get their kids out of failing schools by providing educational options is the right thing to do -- we don't need a petition to tell us that," Harris said. "But it is heartening to see that there are hundreds of names of parents, educators, and other concerned citizens making their voices heard and demanding equal access to a quality education.”

Stargel has said she has no reason to doubt the signatures.

The controversial bill hits the Senate floor Monday. It has already passed in the House.

A compromise for parent trigger?

Could a compromise be coming for the parent trigger?

It's anybody's guess what will happen with the controversial proposal, which would let parents demand sweeping changes at failing public schools.

More senators have been on board since Sen. David Simmons added a provision that would let school boards override parent petitions. Among them: Sens. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, and Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.

But earlier this week, Sen. Kelli Stargel, the Lakeland Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said she intended to have Simmons' language stripped. "I want to make sure parent voices are actually heard and not just taken under advisement," she said.

On Thursday, Simmons said he was working on a compromise. The new language would still let school boards reject parent plans. But if the school failed to improve, the school board would have to adopt the parent turnaround proposal the following year.

"We would be keeping local school board control, but also making sure that school boards are accountable to the people they serve," Simmons said.

Simmons believes he can get to 21 votes if the amendment passes.

"A group of senators have made it clear that they will vote for the bill with that amendment," he said, adding that the language may also assuage concerns Gov. Rick Scott and state Education Commissioner Tony Bennett have with the bill.

It won't, however, be enough to win over the teachers' union.

"Nope," said Jeff Wright, the Florida Education Association's director of public policy advocacy. "We would definitely still have issues with the bill."

High school sports bill gets a Hail Mary in the Florida House

The body that oversees high school sports in Florida is preparing its fourth-quarter defense.

On Wednesday, the Florida House passed a proposal that strips power away from the Florida High School Athletic Association. It also eases the rules that prevent students from playing sports at schools they don’t attend.

The bill, HB 1279, appeared to be dead last week. But the proposal got new life Monday, when the Senate Education Committee gave a first nod to its Senate companion. The House bill is now eligible to be heard on the Senate floor.

FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing maintains the proposal would open the door to free agency for high school athletes and transform schools into “recruiting-frenzied sports giants.”

“It’s far fetched and it’s egregious,” Dearing said. “We’re going to keep rallying the troops [in opposition].”

Read more here.

Details of subsidized tutoring deal remain elusive

Florida lawmakers told reporters Tuesday that they will free school districts from requirements to pay for subsidized tutoring programs.

After quietly tackling the issue in budget conferences, House and Senate leaders said they were on the brink of a deal to make the program optional for school districts. The move would give districts control over tens of millions of dollars in federal education funding.

But as of Wednesday evening, the details of the agreement still weren't settled.

A House spokesman said the lower chamber had yet to see the final language being proposed by the Senate.

A Senate spokeswoman said it was "still a work in progress."

Tutoring had been a sticking point in the budget negotiations, Senate Education Budget Chair Bill Galvano said.

The House had been pushing to repeal a law that funnels federal dollars for low-income children into the tutoring programs. The Senate wanted keep some sort of tutoring requirement in place, but create safeguards to ensure the programs were cost efficient effective..

The Senate ultimately "ceded to the House position," said Galvano, R-Bradenton.

Galvano said the two chambers had also agreed to new accountability measures, but he didn't have the exact language.

"We're just working on some verbiage to give directions to school districts so they know there is an opportunity to interact with private providers," he said.

The process is being watched anxiously by schools superintendents and for-profit tutoring providers alike. The former want more control over their budgets. The latter want to hang on to their share of what's now a $50 million industry in Florida.

The debate over subsidized tutoring was sparked by a Tampa Bay Times investigation. Published in February, the stories showed that criminals were earning tax dollars running tutoring companies for poor kids; lax regulators weren't cracking down on companies for overbilling or gaming the system; and the program was rife with conflicts of interest.

-- Michael LaForgia and Kathleen McGrory

Scott leverages bond approval to force universities to lower student fees

From the Associated Press: Gov. Rick Scott is putting pressure on Florida's public universities to hold down fees charged to students, making it a condition for two universities seeking state approval for construction projects on their campuses.

Scott indicated Tuesday he refused to go along with granting bonding approval for the projects at Florida State University and Florida International University until the schools agreed to keep costs down for students.

In one instance, the Republican governor said he extracted a promise from Florida International to freeze a transportation access fee for six years as a prelude to winning bonding approval for a new parking garage on FIU's campus in West Miami-Dade County. The fee is paid by every student, including those walking or cycling to class, he said.

"It's the right thing to do," Scott said of the fee freeze during a meeting of the Florida Cabinet at the Capitol.

Asked if he was imposing a new prerequisite for campus bonding projects, Scott replied, "We're doing it on this one." More here.