SB 468: Is Sen. Ring’s bill forcing Bright Futures recipients to replace foreign language study with 2 years of coding discriminatory?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Yahoo! executive, Senator Jeremy Ring, is sponsoring SB 468, a bill that forces Bright Futures Scholarship recipients to take two years of coding instead of a foreign language. The bill sets up a massive ready-market for vendors and denies the value of learning more than English in school. Why isn’t coding classified as a free-choice science elective?

Clearly, Ring is targeting and taking advantage of the foreign language graduation requirement to open up a market sector.  If there are so many computer science jobs available, why doesn’t Ring just let the market influence the choices of Bright Futures Scholarship recipients?  Why isn’t he comfortable with letting these specific students “vote with their feet?” Why is he forcing coding on these students and eliminating language studies for them? Is SB 468 promoting deliberate discrimination?

Forcing a specific group of students to take coding, regardless of their aptitude or interest is not appropriate. Using Bright Futures in this way allows the state to inappropriately direct and make judgments about professional choices certain students should make.

In addition, SB 468 is so poorly conceived that it fails to address the fact that universities may not be willing to drop foreign language study as an entrance requirement. Will SB 468 end up limiting the college options of Bright Futures scholars?

Ring’s bill exacerbates the fact that Florida’s A-F Accountability test and punish scheme has narrowed the foreign language offerings in schools. SB 468 will result in the firing of foreign language teachers in order to hire those who teach code. This narrows the options of all students, not just those seeking to qualify for Bright Futures Scholarships.

SB 468 by Sen. Jeremy Ring is about vendors. All Florida public school students deserve better than to be gamed into becoming consumers for a market not meant to benefit them. Once again, Ring’s SB 468 demonstrates how in Florida politics and greed always drives policy.

2016 FL Legislature: Rush passage of ed “reforms” & double down on FSA house of cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Predictions and reflections from this blogger in this week’s Orlando Sentinel Central Florida 100. 

Looking ahead:

Every recent special session of the Florida legislature has ended in unmitigated failure. Much has been written about taxpayer cost and unproductive bickering. What’s not apparent is that the public airing of controversial bill ideas is being pushed aside to argue about items such as district lines. Look for the 2016 session to end with politicians shoving reams of unrelated legislation into an eleventh hour “train” bill. There will be no proper vetting, no discussion or committee process. This will be the third year that such a bill will be used to pass a political agenda without transparency.

Last week:

Florida’s A-F School Accountability high stakes debacle is underway. As the state clings to its FSA house of cards, determined to use flawed scores to unfairly label, sort and punish teachers, students and schools, they look ridiculous and mean. High stakes scores show that teaching to the test just isn’t working. Overwhelming evidence indicates that students and teachers are doing great work by other measures. Instead of addressing their school “reform” failures with humility, the House K-12 Committee plans to double down with proposed legislation to increase “remediation” and “interventions” for K-3 students, further narrowing an already rigid curriculum.

Monetizing high school athletes & principal autonomy

 

 

 

 

Predictions and reflections from this blogger in this week’s Orlando Sentinel Central Florida 100. Enjoy.

Looking ahead:

The Florida House Education committee will repeat last year’s effort with a bill that transforms high school athletes into free agents able to transfer schools at will. It promises to limit the authority of the Florida High School Athletic Association, create unfair advantages for a few schools and encourages athlete recruitment using the excuse of academic choice. It paves the way for the creation of a mega sports charter school system that could monopolize, control and perhaps monetize the state’s best student athletes. The embedded message in this legislation goes against every good lesson students can learn by playing sports.

Last week:

The Principal Autonomy Pilot, HB 287, flew through committee. Three districts must select three D or F schools to participate in a three year turnaround program, giving principals autonomy over budget, staffing and resource decisions. Districts should look before they leap. This smacks of another unproven state experiment to peel schools away from the authority of elected school boards. Giving principal’s overriding power is a long-held dream of the Florida Legislature. What happens if a district strongly disagrees with the actions of a principal? During this pilot, these schools belong to the state. Isn’t this the opposite of local control?

Read this weeks entries here.

 

Please support our work.

Join us. Stay informed. 

Virtual Education Racket & Gov. Scott’s lousy BOE appointment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very pleased to announce that this blogger is participating in weekly reflections and predictions as part of the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida 100. These items are short and to the point. Enjoy.

Central Florida 100 – this week’s contribution

Last week: When Gov. Rick Scott appointed personal friend and former one-term House member Tom Grady to the Board of Education, he fell short. Grady’s modest education experience involves sponsoring hostile policy bills such as the House companion of the controversial SB6, vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist. Grady also sponsored legislation that dramatically escalated tax dollars diverted to pay for private religious school vouchers. A politically appointed education commissioner and a governor-appointed board of education all but guarantees that the people will have no voice. Scott’s appointment of Grady just adds another uninformed ally for corporate “education reform.”

Looking ahead: Red flags should fly when differing sides release studies that conclude the same thing. The Stanford CREDO study, funded by the pro-charter Walton Family, concluded that 180 days of virtual school was as valuable as not going to school at all. The study issued by the National Education Policy Center strongly doubts the ability of full-time virtual to provide a high-quality, equitable public education. Both studies cite inconsistencies in quality, lack of oversight and high ratio of vendors profiting greatly from virtual education. Expect a growing conversation about why virtual classes are a Florida graduation requirement.

Read this week’s Central Florida 100 entries here.