Latest news with #FloridaEducationAssociation
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida education leader reacts to President Trump's executive order targeting college accreditation
The latest development in the Trump administration's efforts to reshape higher education nationwide came Wednesday night. President Donald Trump signed an executive order into law that aims to 'hold higher education accreditors accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act.' Essentially, the administration is looking to more strictly evaluate federal funding for universities across the nation. Andrew Spar, the President of the Florida Education Association, told Action News Jax Thursday he feels this is a slippery slope to funding cuts across local universities. 'We've already seen programs in Florida be targeted in federal cuts. We've seen it at the University of North Florida, University of Florida, [and] Florida State University,' Spar said. 'So when Florida universities, which rank among the best in the nation, are being shortchanged just like so many other universities, it's really gonna be concerning for our students, for those universities, and for the work they do every day.' [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The order, however, also 'directs the attorney general and the secretary of education to investigate and terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools.' Spar said this reveals the order for -- what he feels -- it really is: the administration's latest efforts to leverage education funding in the fight against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] 'Our colleges and universities are set up in a way that encourages students to think outside the box, to look at things from different angles, to understand varying viewpoints,' Spar said. 'And the concern we have with what this particular executive order from the president may do is it may really, try to narrow those opportunities for our students and make the United States less competitive.' Action News Jax also reached out to the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University for statements on the executive order and its possible impacts on their operations and programs. We are waiting to hear back. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Democrats pan Department of Education cuts; DeSantis attends signing
Gov. Ron DeSantis discusses education initiatives, some controversial. Jan. 23, 2023. (Via DeSantis Facebook) Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar called President Donald Trump's move toward eliminating the U.S. Department of Education 'political games.' To Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, it is 'unconstitutional.' Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing the department's secretary, Linda McMahon, to 'take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure' of the department. Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Trump at the White House for the signing of the order. Trump signs order directing Education secretary to shut down her own department 'Our Constitution has a duty to provide a world-class, free public education to every child in our state, regardless of race or place,' Spar said in a news release. 'If education is that important to us and the politicians in our state, why would we dilute the source with which we can ensure a high-quality public education?' The order, denounced by FEA and the Florida Democratic Party, is unlikely to lead to the department shutting down. Only Congress has the authority to do that — which is unlikely because 60 votes would be needed to pass the Senate. Along with DeSantis at the White House were governors of other states with expanded school choice programs: Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas. After DeSantis joined Trump at the White House, he appeared on Fox News, where he called on Congress to shut down the department altogether. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I think what President Trump can do, is I think he can from the inside neuter the organization. But it will not be wiped off the statute books by an executive order, that has got to come from the Congress,' DeSantis on The Ingraham Angle, adding praise to Trump for making a move that GOP politicians have long campaigned on. DeSantis advocated for leaving education policy up to the states, repeatedly referring to the federal department as a 'bureaucracy.' 'It doesn't surprise me that Ron made the trip to D.C. to spend the day as an Oval Office lapdog,' Fried said in a news release. 'Floridians deserve better than a series of victory laps and photo ops as he ends his lame duck political career. Ron needs to stop grandstanding and get back to Florida.' DeSantis appeared Friday at the Advancing American Conservatism summit hosted by the National Review Institute. There, he reiterated that 'whatever the president can do, he's going to do,' yet acknowledged that Congress would have to act. Some of Florida's GOP congressional delegation applauded the move, with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott saying the executive order is a 'promise kept' by Trump. 'As the federal Department of Education has grown, student performance has consistently declined,' Scott posted to X. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a candidate for governor, criticized the department, saying on X it 'FAILED. They prioritized bureaucracy over the success of our kids.' U.S. Rep. Greg Steube called it a 'great first step,' calling on Congress to act, and Rep. Daniel Webster said on X that the executive order will 'cut waste, expand school choice, and put the education of America's children first.' The department manages federal funding for students with disabilities, researches education trends, including the Nation's Report Card, and manages student loans. 'This executive order is unconstitutional and orders his unqualified super-donor secretary to eliminate the department, but it won't give states more power,' Fried said. 'Instead, it takes us back to a segregation-era education policy and rips away safety nets for millions of vulnerable students.' Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, indicated her organization would take legal action against the order, States Newsroom reported. According to a report compiled by the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee Democrats, Florida receives $2.2 billion in Pell Grants for more than 450,000 students and nearly $860 billion in annual funding flows through the department to Florida students with disabilities, plus $134 million annually for career and technical education development. The Trump administration said the executive order would not affect student loans, Pell grants, Title I program funding for low-income families, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, CBS reported. 'We need a federal agency to ensure that students who are supported with Individualized Education Programs, students experiencing homelessness, students living in rural areas, adults needing access to higher education opportunities, and so many more can continue to succeed,' Spar said in a news release. ' As someone with dyslexia and who had an IEP that helped me succeed in school and in life, I worry greatly about so many of our students, including my own daughters.' Phoenix reporter Jackie Llanos contributed to this report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Concerns raised that a new bill gives Florida charter schools a leg up on traditional public schools
Legislation moving in the State Capitol has parent and teachers' groups concerned about the potential for charter schools to gain new advantages over traditional public schools. The bill deals with school districts' ability to purchase and sell property and who gets to decide when a traditional public school is converted into a charter school. Under current law, parents along with school principals, teachers and the district school board all have the ability to weigh in on whether to convert a traditional public school into a charter school. But State Representative Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) believes parents should be the sole deciders. 'All this bill says is parents should matter more than anyone else in directing the education of their children,' said Andrade during the bill's first committee stop Tuesday. His bill would allow a majority of parents at a school to call a vote for charter conversion. At least 50 percent of parents with children in school would have to participate in the vote and a majority of those who participate would have to vote in favor of the conversion to make it happen. But Andrew Spar with the Florida Education Association argued the legislation disenfranchises key stakeholders, especially teachers. 'I think it's really important that all stakeholders are involved. At the end of the day we know that the education of children works best when it's the teachers, staff and administrators working with parents for the best interest of students,' said Spar. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The bill creates an additional option as well, allowing for municipalities to petition for charter conversion when a school fails to attain an 'A' grade for five straight years. 'Overstepping the role of the school board doesn't make sense to me,' said Duval Parent Katie Hathaway. Hathaway fears by putting the decision in the hands of people who don't generally deal with education issues, traditional public schools could begin to evaporate. 'We see lots of political games with city council and so this an easy way for them to line the pockets of their corporate donors,' said Hathaway. Related: Duval charter schools fall behind traditional public schools in new graduation rate report The second portion of the bill dealing with district properties has elicited similar concerns surrounding the potential for charter school expansion. At a time when school districts like Duval are seeing enrollment drop, Andrade argued districts are hoarding properties they may never need or use. 'School districts where school districts with a declining population, who have no need for surplus property, are holding onto property because they're afraid of more competition,' said Andrade. His bill does two things to districts that experience a decline in enrollment over a five-year period. One, the districts would be forced to sell off lands designated by the Florida Department of Education as surplus, and two, those districts would be put on a purchasing freeze, preventing them from acquiring any new properties. 'We saw the community here rally to save our neighborhood public schools last year and we need that same energy right now,' said Hathaway. Related: Duval County School Board votes to consolidate elementary schools, delays consolidation of others Hathaway argued the purchasing restrictions and sale requirements would give charter schools a leg up. 'It's tying the hands of local school districts from building new public schools, especially in areas that need them and it's ripe for charter schools to come in and build,' said Hathaway. Spar added while a district's enrollment may be declining overall, a particular part of a district may be experiencing rapid growth at the same time that warrants purchasing lands for a new school. 'If you start saying, well you can't do that and you grow in that area, what are you going to do for those students? Put them on buses for 30 or 40 minutes to school?' said Spar. Related: DCPS meets to discuss overcrowding at local middle schools It's an argument Andrade seemed receptive to when similar concerns were raised in the bill's first committee stop. 'You squeeze a balloon and it grows in one area even if the air is leaving the balloon entirely, maybe there's an opportunity. I'm happy to work with you on it,' said Andrade. The bill passed its first committee stop in the House on Tuesday. It has two more stops in that chamber before reaching the floor. In the Senate, a similar bill has not yet received its first hearing. Read: 'It's heartbreaking': Oceanway parents given unexpectedly long timeline for new school [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Miami Herald
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
What will education look like under the Trump administration? Probably a lot like Florida
President Trump has demonstrated his administration's priorities for education via a series of executive orders over the past weeks. With the stroke of his pen, he has laid out a vision for the U.S. Department of Education that prioritizes funding for state school choice programs, proposes penalties for schools that 'indoctrinate' students, puts an end to transgender student athletes competing in women's sports and, most recently, eliminates Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in universities. If this all sounds familiar to Floridians, it should. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have passed a series of laws aimed at reshaping public education in much the same way. Florida laid the groundwork for Trump's education policies starting four years ago, with laws aimed at curtailing how history and sexuality could be discussed, eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, limiting children's access to specific books, banning transgender women from playing sports with athletes assigned female at birth and massively expanding school choice vouchers. The Florida Department of Education said in a statement sent to the Miami Herald that they are proud to be an example for the nation on education issues, creating policies which support charter and private schools and ridding public schools of 'liberal indoctrination.' 'Florida has led the charge on these issues, enacting groundbreaking legislation such as the Parental Rights in Education Act, the STOP WOKE Act, and House Bill 1069 (2023),' read the statement, legislation aimed to prohibit schools and businesses from teaching concepts related to sexuality, race, gender, racism, and privilege, which President Trump's executive orders also oppose. The department says it looks forward to working with the United States Department of Education and the Trump Administration to 'further this important work and protect our students from indoctrination.' Critics say state cannot be trusted with federal funds Critics of President Trump's executive orders say that pulling from Florida's education playbook is not wise. According to The Nation's Report Card, published by the National Center for Education Statistics, Florida's war on 'woke' hasn't seemed to improve academic outcomes over the past few years. Florida students' reading scores have fallen significantly since 2022 and eighth grade math scores are the lowest in over two decades. Florida's Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz Jr., blamed the Biden administration's methodology for Florida's poor results in an op-ed. He argued that the assessment should also take into account students attending private and charter schools, a growing number in the state supported by taxpayer-funded scholarships or 'vouchers.' The Florida Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state, blames the state's education policies for the poor scores. Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, said that many of the proposals coming from the Oval Office have been tested in Florida, and that 'the results are not promising.' He says this does not bode well for the future of public education in the rest of the country, particularly if the Department of Education —which uses federal grants to influence state-controlled school systems — allows the states to distribute federal funds how they see fit. According to the Florida Department of Education, in the 2022-2023 year, 17.28 percent of school district funding came from federal sources. Florida ranks 32 in the nation for the amount of federal funding per student spent toward K-12, according to the Education Data Initiative. But although federal funding is not the majority of Florida's education budget, much of what comes to Florida from Washington D.C. is funneled to low-performing schools and students with disabilities, as well as for financial aid for higher education. Trump's executive order calls for federal funds to be given to the states for school choice programs, which critics worry that the limited federal funds would be stretched between traditional public, charter and private schools. Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of the teachers union in Miami-Dade, says that school districts are already burdened with campaigning for local referendums which harness property taxes to fund schools and she fears the federal funds will never find their way to local schools if they are distributed to the state to administer. 'What worries us is that our state has never supported education the way it should,' said Hernandez-Mats. 'We cannot feel at ease that our state, which has not done well by our community, will use these funds properly,' she said. Throwing money into school choice Trump's Expanding Educational Freedom And Opportunity For Families executive order underscores the president's commitment to the idea that public money should follow the child instead of automatically being sent to traditional public schools. Last year, Florida's school voucher program expanded substantially after removing income restrictions, which makes them available to all children. In the 2024-2025 year, at least 489,585 school vouchers have been distributed by Step Up for Students, an agency that provides the vast majority of vouchers in Florida. About 70 percent of those students were already attending private school, according to Step Up for Students, which means that state tax dollars are now subsidizing private schools. Florida is not the only state in the nation to have robust school-choice or 'voucher' programs. At least 16 states across the nation have voucher programs, according to EdChoice, a group that supports and tracks school choice vouchers. Ralph Arza is the director of the Florida Charter School Alliance and a former legislator who was part of the early 'pro-school choice' movement in Florida. He believes that the expanded school choice voucher program is evidence there is more equity today than ever. Arza says the executive order will empower dollars to go directly to children and teachers and limit wasteful bureaucracy. Critics warn that diverting funding to private schools and charter schools is problematic because those institutions are not governed by an elected school board and do not have the same public accountability mechanisms. But Arza says this puts the parents in control. 'Mom and Dad are the ultimate accountability, and that is who we are empowering to make that decision,' said Arza. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a former educator and Miami-Dade school board member, opposes the executive order and the trend of funneling public money into private and charter schools. 'Charters and private schools cherry-pick, and public schools have to educate everyone—even with less funding. This decision is wrong, it is unfair, and it's an insane ploy to destroy public education and leave it in shambles. I implore everyone: do not stop supporting our wonderful public schools!' she said in a statement. Title 1 funds in danger One of the criticisms of the U.S. Department of Education has been the amount of bureaucracy states encounter just to access federal funds. Title I funding is meant to supplement state and local funding for low-achieving children in high-poverty areas. It has intense monitoring protocols to ensure the money is spent efficiently. Robert Enlow, the director of EdChoice, the largest pro-school choice lobbying group in the nation, predicts the executive order will improve the flow of federal funds to where they are needed. He suggested that federal funds for Title I — federal grants to support schools with low-income students — could be sent as block grants to the state and go directly into Educational Savings Accounts, which parents can use to send their children to private or charter schools. He also said the money could be used to create more innovation funds to build more schools, whether that be private or charter schools. Many private schools in Florida are in high demand. But critics are concerned that putting Title I funds in the hands of states may not be in the best interest of those students and local leaders have expressed dismay at the Trump administration's intentions. In a statement, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teachers union in the nation, says the order 'hijacks federal money used to level the playing field for poor and disadvantaged kids and hands it directly to unaccountable private operators.' Spar, the Florida Education Association president, challenges the idea that President Trump is empowering states to make their own decisions. 'They are really not giving states control, they are trying to control what states are doing,' he said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unions argue governor's quarter-billion-dollar teacher pay raise won't do much for individuals
Governor Ron DeSantis is asking the Florida Legislature to boost the dedicated fund for teacher pay raises by 20 percent this year. DeSantis announced his request for a $246.7 million increase to the fund in this year's budget on Monday. 'And that's not just for district teachers. That also applies to our charter school teachers,' said DeSantis. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] But despite the quarter-billion-dollar top line figure, unions representing teachers in the state argue it would have very little impact on individual educators. The state's largest teachers' union, the Florida Education Association, estimated the funding would raise annual teacher salaries by just $1,400, or a little less than three percent of the state's $53,098 average teacher salary. Read: St. Johns County report points to struggle to retain teachers, create jobs 'It's just embarrassing that this is what we have coming for us for bargaining for our salaries with the increase in our insurance, increase in just everyday living,' said Tammie Brooks-Evans, President of Duval Teachers United. Brooks-Evans argued the proposed increase not only fails to keep up with inflation but also fails to improve Florida's 50th place ranking in average teacher pay. 'Which is a very sad place to be. We would hope that we would get more support from the Governor, some additional funds to move us up in those rankings,' said Brooks-Evans. Additionally, she noted the roughly $1.5 billion total teacher pay fund proposed by the Governor is less than half of the $3.3 billion the Governor wants to spend on the state's private school scholarship program. Read: 'Prime targets': St. Johns County students' information stolen in PowerSchool cyberattack 'Their focus with this amount seems to be on the voucher programs and not on public schools,' said Brooks-Evans. Unlike some prior years, which prioritized raising starting teacher pay, the proposed increase this year would apply to all teachers. Florida currently ranks 16th in the nation for starting teacher pay. Read: Duval charter schools fall behind traditional public schools in new graduation rate report [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
