The iAdvocate for Kids Committee is sponsoring a special advocacy program this month to mobilize parents and education advocates on behalf of Public Pre-K to12 Education.
During the month of February, three (3) alerts will be emailed to you asking you to contact the Governor, your State Senator and your State House Representative to support Public Pre-K to 12 Education.
The governor has asked for $1 billion to be added back to the Public Pre-K to 12 Education budget in the next fiscal year, but that is NOT enough. Duval County Public Schools still faces a deficit of at least $53 million dollars, even if the governor’s request is implemented.
Also, there are other bills affecting Public Pre-K-12 Education which have been introduced which take money away from public education and do not allow for local control of our schools.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the email alerts.
Click here to see the second action alert.
___________________________
FLORIDA PTA WANTS YOU TO KNOW
EDUCATION WEEK’S “QUALITY COUNTS” REPORTS:
FLORIDA RANKS 11th IN THE NATION
…..Don’t throw the confetti yet…
Education Week, a national publication, released its findings in a report entitled "The Global Challenge – Education in a Competitive World," and the news is disturbing. Florida’s school system dropped from 5th place to 11th place overall. The results kept Florida off the publication’s Top 10 List for the first time in four years.
Florida earned a C+. The rankings are based on statistics from 2009 – before last year when $1.3 billion was cut from the state’s education budget. In 2009, state lawmakers cut $466 million in education funding. In 2011, they cut and additional $1.3 billion.
The 2012 report shows Florida earning:
A in Standards, Assessments, and Accountability
C in Chance for Success
C- in Achievement
D+ in Finance/Funding
D in College Readiness
F in Spending
One example of why Florida is looking at an F score in Spending versus 1st ranked Maryland…Maryland spends $3,351 more per-pupil than Florida!
A State Senator who sits on the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee is quoted as saying: Florida’s slide in rankings is “a wake-up call for Legislators and policymakers.”
Florida PTA agrees.
NOW IS THE TIME to contact your Legislators. Tell them our state’s children deserve better.
from Mindy Gould, Florida PTA Legislation Chair
Are you happy with the current funding levels for public education? Do you have concerns regarding the changes to school grades and FCAT Testing? Does it sadden you that our schools are being closed around the state and our teachers are being removed from our classrooms? If not, this message is not for you.
On the other hand, if you feel the future of public education is at risk and the education of our state's children is in jeopardy, then please read on.
Florida's Legislative Session begins January 10, 2012 and run through March 9, 2012. Policies that directly affect our children will be made during these weeks. If our Legislators do not see us or hear from us, their impression will be we are fine with any and all decisions they make.
It is time to Take Action! CLICK HERE for more!
_____________________________________________
For names and contact information for legislators in the Duval County delegation, click here.
_____________________________________________
DCPS Legislative Agenda
Posted: 04 Nov 2011 08:48 AM PDT
This year Duval County Public Schools and Save Duval Schools created a coalition of agencies around town to discuss the state of public education in the District. DCC PTA was asked to participate with this coalition. Through the work of the coalition, it was decided to come up with a legislative agenda to present to our Duval Delegation members (state legislators) before they went into session in January.
The long term goal of the coalition is to ask for the State to come up with a sustainable funding source for public education.
Short Term Issues that the coalition asked the Duval Delegation to help with:
Class Size Amendment – F.S. 1003.03
Challenge: It is not feasible to require school districts to pay a penalty for failure to comply with class size requirements when funding has been reduced $1,000 per student or 16% over the last five years.
Recommendation: In an environment of continual revenue reductions and to avoid additional revenue reductions for school districts, explore other ways of having accountability without a monetary penalty. Especially where districts such as Duval Public Schools have expended all prior year and committed all current year class size funding and supplemented with general funds to comply with class size requirements.
Instructional Materials – F.S. 1006.40(2)
Challenge: State mandate to purchase new textbooks is too restrictive.
Recommendations: Purchases must be made within the first 4 years 2 years after the effective date of the adoption cycle; and allow the purchase of instructional materials or other items having intellectual content that are aligned to the State standards and shall be used instead of State-adopted core materials described in section 1004.40(1) which assist in the instruction of a subject or course.
Opportunity Scholarship Program – F. S. 1002.38
Challenge: The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) is extremely disruptive given the short timeline, affects a greater number of schools and students, adds significant unfunded costs and is not effective in increasing student achievement.
Recommendations: Provide 1 year extension to transfer decision implementation; and revise criteria to 2010-11 standards for eligibility; and do not provide transportation for students leaving their neighborhood school.
Differentiated Accountability – F.S. 1008.33
Challenge: The lack of local control and flexibility as well as the duplication of services within the DA Model requires additional time and funding and limits district’s ability to focus on the priority needs of our students.
Recommendation: Establish local control over accountability requirements and funding to schools by reducing the number of required reading, mathematics and science coaches employed by the FLDOE DA Regional offices by 80% of the allocated budget. This will enable the district to provide targeted support and better alignment of resources to meet student needs.
Download DCPS Legislative Agenda 2011 – Detail
_____________________________________________
News from Florida PTA Legislative CommitteeCHANGES TO FLORIDA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM
The House and Senate approved bills [on May 2] to dramatically change Florida’s Education System. Several bills that passed will expand virtual schools and voucher programs, which will potentially move students away from traditional public schools.
The push for “school choice”, whether through virtual classes, expansion of charter schools, or vouchers for private schools, has the backing of Governor Rick Scott and the Republican majority.
Public school advocates are concerned that state funds that would have gone to local school districts will now be used to support private schools and virtual schools.
Florida Education Association President, Andy Ford, stated “This Legislature, under the leadership of Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon, have side-stepped their requirement to take care of public schools, they are just looking for gimmicks that can save the state some money.”
On [May 2,] the House approved:
HB 1331 which expands the definition of a failing public school from a school that received an “F” grade in a four-year period to a school that has received a “D” or “F” in the prior year, allowing students in failing public schools to use an Opportunity Scholarship to transfer to a higher-rated public school elsewhere in the state.
HB 7197 which requires students to take a virtual class prior to graduation and allows children as young as kindergarten to take full-time virtual school classes with private vendors paid for by state funds.
HB 965 allows companies that donate to a corporate tax scholarship group to receive a tax credit worth 100% of that donation. Currently, these companies only get a tax discount worth 75 percent of their contribution. Corporate contributions go toward scholarship groups that use these funds to pay for private school vouchers.
On Monday, [May 2,] the Senate approved:
An expansion of the John McKay scholarship for students with disabilities by expanding the definition of disabled students. This will amount to potentially 50,000 additional students to receive state funds to attend a private school.
The Senate also passed SB 1546 last week that will make it easier for highly-rated charter schools to expand enrollment and add grades, paving the way for more charter schools to compete for public school students.
Funding for K-12 is currently in discussion, but it has been suggested that the amount for the 2011-2012 Base Student Allocation (BSA) will be far worse than anticipated. Per student funding may decline to a level not seen since 2001-2002.
FYI – HB 307, School Board Governance, sponsored by Logan, is being protested by Miami-Dade County Council of PTAs/PTSAs. This bill will only affect districts with population over 2,000,000 (Miami-Dade only at this time) and will revise the manner in which the School Board in Miami-Dade operates.
Florida PTA believes our elected officials should be dedicated to supporting and improving the education, health, and safety of our state’s children.
___________________________________________________________
Florida PTA
everychild:onevoice
"Change the first 5 years and you change
everything" This is a short video sent to Florida PTA board
members: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbSp88PBe9E
Did you know that the National PTA/PTSA is the nation's largest volunteer child advocacy group? According to the National PTA website, "Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) reminds our country of its obligations to children and provides parents and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the best tools for parents to help their children be successful students."
And the Florida PTA's mission statement means it strives to be a powerful voice for all children, a relevant source for families and communities, and a strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child.
Unfortunately, Florida is currently ranked 50th in the nation in funding education and child services. Worse, this was before recent budget cuts passed our State Legislature in Special Session in January, and school districts are bracing for even larger cuts as the current legislative session attempts to grapple with the continuing economic downturn. A strong movement is needed to ensure that a stable source of funding flows into the state's coffers to meet the budget needs of Florida's children.
Below is some information on how to stay updated as to the budget and issues relevant to children and public education and how to take action by joining your voice with PTA/PTSA and with other related child and education advocacy groups that strive to invest in the future by investing in our children and their education:
- Sign up for updates and alerts from Florida PTA at www.floridapta.org/CapWiz.html -- click on Action E-List and then on PTA Take Action Network -- and respond to these alerts.
- Visit the Duval County Council of PTAs/PTSAs website at http://dccpta.org/legislation to find out what actions are being taken locally and join in whenever possible.
- Visit the Duval County Public Schools website at www.duvalschools.org to find out our district's situation and needs.
- Visit the Save Duval Schools website, sponsored by People for Jacksonville's Future, Inc., at www.saveduvalschools.org. The site has links to reach out to State Legislators and an opportunity to share your thoughts with other Duval County residents on its message boards.
- UPDATE: In 2009, as the Duval County Public Schools faced a more than $100 million budget deficit due to falling state revenues, a local politico and a prominent school board member had an “aha” moment together. Michael
Munz and WC Gentry had met with Duval Schools Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals, who reported, incredulously, that the district was required to spend millions on music books even as music teachers were being “surplussed” due to
budget cuts! Munz and Gentry, together with nonprofit and business leaders in the community, agreed that when it came to cuts in education, they’d had enough. Munz’s business, The Dalton agency, and other community leaders pulled in Deborah Gianoulis Heald to say it out loud in front of local media: “Enough!” And Save Duval Schools was born. Save Duval Schools is a political issues organization with a simple goal: To give voice to Floridians who want the Legislature to follow Article IX, Section 1 of our constitution, i.e. to fulfill the state’s “paramount duty” to provide public school students with a “high quality” education. It is Save Duval Schools’ position that our lawmakers need to make two things happen in order to fulfill their “paramount duty.” First, we
as a state must find or create a steady, reliable income source for public K-12 education. Second, we must invest our local school boards with discretion on how to spend state education funds, without the nonsensical mandates like
the “mandatory music books,” cited above. Save Duval Schools founders
created a website (www.saveduvalschools.org) through which voters in Florida
may directly contact their lawmakers with their thoughts on education funding. Last legislative session, lawmakers let us know that they were definitely hearing from Save Duval Schools—thanks to involved parents like YOU! But in order for Save Duval Schools to continue its impact on the Florida Legislature, we need for involved parents like you to spread the word! If you haven’t already signed up to receive email alerts from Save Duval Schools,
please go to www.saveduvalschools.org today and sign on! And please spread
the word ... the viability of Save Duval Schools mission DEPENDS on its grassroots—that’s us, PTA people—you and me. Won’t you please help us spread the word about Save Duval Schools? (from the October 2009 DCCPTA News newsletter) - Visit the 50th No More website, "a non-partisan, grassroots organization designed to fight back against budget cuts to our great public schools," at www.50thnomore.org to find out more ways to "help Florida's kids get the education they deserve."
- Contact your legislators! Legislators are quick to note that they hear more frequently from tax cut advocates than those who support adequate public education funding. Please make your priorities known to your elected state representatives. For complete contact information for members of the Duval County Legislative
Delegation, visit www.duvalschools.org/static/aboutdcps/superintendent/downloads/Legislative_contacts.pdf. Keep in touch with your legislators through emails, letters, faxes, and phone calls and by responding to Florida PTA alerts. Provide a picture of the impact on your school through real examples. - Write a letter to the editor. Share examples and facts about what the impact of these cuts are on your school and community.
Thank you for your advocacy efforts.