Tallahassee

Effort to expand voucher program moves forward

TALLAHASSEE — A measure that would direct new public dollars to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and raise the value of each voucher gained momentum Tuesday. The Senate's Finance and Tax committee approved the expansion program in a 4-1 vote after a passionate debate about Read More

Pasco schools officials seek fair share of career education fund

"We're not getting enough," Pasco County School Board member Kathryn Starkey said of state funds for career and technical education. She pointed to a recently released OPPAGA report that detailed how some school districts got more than three times the amount that state formulas Read More

State wants to take sin out of film incentive

Once they were gay. Or homosexual. Occasionally they turned up as same-sex couples. This week in Tallahassee, that particular category of humanity received a new, slightly clunkier designation. Call them practitioners of “non-traditional family values.” The terminology surfaced in Read More

It’s tough to get rid of a teacher in Florida schools

The teacher came to Pasco County's Sand Pine Elementary School as a castoff from another campus, with the union hoping the teacher could get another chance to succeed with a different principal. He was good for about six weeks, principal Ginny Yanson recalled. Then, the teacher started Read More

Gov’t in the sunshine? More like in the shade

TALLAHASSEE – When he entered “the People’s House” with populist zeal, Gov. Charlie Crist made open government a cornerstone of his administration.

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Florida education news: Teacher background checks, student diversity, school taxes and more

READ THE RESUME: Former Springstead High basketball coach Stephen Ray Thompson has a resume filled with discrepancies , raising questions about just how much school districts do to check applicants' backgrounds. (Times photo, Will Vragovic) MINI UN: Students at Pasco's Gulf High School Read More

Bill to ban texting while driving moves forward

TALLAHASSEE – Here’s a new reason to keep your thumbs on the wheel and your eyes on the road: Action to outlaw texting while driving is off to a speedy start in the Legislature.

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Senate ponders how best to handle old class size vs. new class size

 As lawmakers in Tallahassee push a proposed constitutional amendment that would freeze class size counts at the schoolwide level, school principals across the state are planning for the 2010-11 school year based on the 2003 constitutional amendment that says class size has to be calculated Read More