Primary and Secondary Schools
In the state of Florida, public primary and secondary schools are administered by the Florida Department of Education.
School districts are organized within county boundaries. Each school district has an elected Board of education which sets policy, budget, goals and approves expenditures. Management is the responsibility of a Superintendent of schools.
The Florida Constitution allows districts to either elect the superintendent in a popular election (the default provision) or choose (via popular election) to allow the school board to appoint the superintendent. As of 2010, school boards in 25 districts (Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Saint Johns, Saint Lucie, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia) appointed the superintendent; the remaining districts elect their superintendent.
In 2008, there were 619 secondary schools in the state.
Education Week evaluated Florida's schools for 2010, fifth in the nation overall, with As for student testing, teacher accountability and progress on closing the achievement gap. It gave the state an F for per-pupil spending.
In 2011, the Center for American Progress, described as a "left-leaning think tank" stated that for half the states studied, it found no correlation between spending and achievement after allowing for cost of living, and students living in poverty. The Center commends Florida as one of two states that provides annual school-level productivity evaluations which report to the public how well school funds are being spent at the local level.
Florida's public-school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually rank in the bottom 25 percent of U.S. states. Average teacher salaries rank near the middle of U.S. states.
Florida public schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 25 percent of many national surveys and average test-score rankings before allowances for race are made. When allowance for race is considered, a 2007 US Government list of test scores shows Florida white fourth graders performed 13th in the nation for reading (232), 12th for math (250); while black fourth graders were 11th for math (225), 12th for reading (208). White eight graders scored 30th for math (289) and 36th for reading (268). Neither score was considered statistically significant from average. Black eighth graders ranked 19th on math (259), 25th on reading (244).
In 2002, voters approved a constitutional amendment to limit class size in public schools starting in the 2010-11 school year from 18 in lower grades to 23 in high school. This was phased in by the legislature from 2003 to 2009, to promote compliance when the amendment took effect. As of March 2011, 28 school districts had failed to comply and owed fines, which were to be redistributed to districts that were in compliance.
Florida educators criticized former Governor Jeb Bush for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, most prominently the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Supporters say the program's tough measures have resulted in vast improvements to the education system. Major testing organizations frequently discount the use of state's average test-score rankings, or any average of scaled scores, as a valid metric (for details on scaled test scores, see psychometrics).
Florida, like other states, appears to substantially undercount dropouts in reporting.
In 2007, the state's school population grew by 477 students to 2,641,598, which was far below the projected 48,376 increase. School boards blamed rising insurance and property tax costs and the major 2004 and 2005 hurricane season, which have discouraged migration into Florida. Growth in counties such as Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Pinellas, and Duval counties was under state projections. Hillsborough County was the only one of these to have grown; growth in the county was projected to be 4,537, but the actual increase was only 536 students.
Some school districts had backed up the start of the academic year well into August in order to complete the semester and exams before the December holiday break. In 2006, the legislature required districts to start no earlier than two weeks before the end of August. The state requires that each school teach for 180 days. Private schools may be open for more than 170 days.
Florida does not handpick the best students to take the Advanced Placement exams.
In 2010, there were about 60,750 foreign-born children of illegal immigrants attending public schools. The cost per year averaged $9,035 annually. The total cost of educating these children is over $548 million.
Paddling students for discipline is legal in Florida.
Read more about this topic: Education In Florida
Famous quotes containing the words primary, secondary and/or schools:
“Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of “Liberty to all”Mthe principle that clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Scientific reason, with its strict conscience, its lack of prejudice, and its determination to question every result again the moment it might lead to the least intellectual advantage, does in an area of secondary interest what we ought to be doing with the basic questions of life.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“In America the taint of sectarianism lies broad upon the land. Not content with acknowledging the supremacy as the Diety, and with erecting temples in his honor, where all can bow down with reverence, the pride and vanity of human reason enter into and pollute our worship, and the houses that should be of God and for God, alone, where he is to be honored with submissive faith, are too often merely schools of metaphysical and useless distinctions. The nation is sectarian, rather than Christian.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)