News & Public Affairs
Rick Scott signs teacher pay and tenure bill then is protested at Tampa charter school
03/24/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rick Scott, education, SB736, SB6, charter schools
Governor Rick Scott signed his first bill as governor this morning in Jacksonville. The governor later spoke at Pepin Academy, a charter school in Tampa, to discuss the future of education in Florida.
Senate Bill 736, or "Son of 6" as many opponents are calling it, is a bill that requires teacher pay be linked to student performance. According to information released by Scott’s administration, tests, including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or FCAT, will be used to measure stude...
Be the first to commentFlorida Education Association President Andy Ford - SB 736 is bad news for teachers and students
03/18/11 Lisa Marzilli, Beth BellLast Call Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: FEA, Andy Ford, SB 736, teacher tenure, SB 6, Florida Legislature, education
On today's Last Call we spoke with Florida Education Association President Andy Ford about SB 736 which was approved by the Florida Legislature after fierce debate earlier this week. The bill, which will dramatically change the way public school teachers are evaluated and compensated now heads to Governor Rick Scott who has promised to sign it into law. A s...
Be the first to commentControversial teacher pay and tenure bill passes Florida Senate listen
03/10/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Senate Bill 6, SB6, teacher tenure, Paula Dockery, Rick Scott, education reform, education, Charlie Crist, 2011 Legislative session
Last year former governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill doing away with teacher tenure and linking teacher pay to student test scores. The state Senate passed a modified version of the bill today, and the governor is almost certain to sign it into law.
Supporters say it’s a much needed – if imperfect – kick start to education reform. Opponents say it places student success squarely on the shoulders of teachers. Senate Bill 736 passed pretty much along party lines. The exceptions were Democra...
Be the first to commentLocal teachers rally to demand an end to systematic dismantling of public education
03/04/11 Lisa Marzilli, Beth BellLast Call Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: education, teaching, Rick Scott, National Education Association
On today’s Last Call we spoke with teachers who were attending one of several rallies that took place in Pinellas County on Friday afternoon. They’re demanding an end to the defunding and dismantling of public education as well as the scapegoating of teachers that’s going on in Florida and across the US.
Florida ranked 37th in average teacher pay for the last school year and is expected to plummet to No. 47 in the nation according to a new report from the National Education Association.
Be the first to commentEnergy efficient buildings and schools
01/24/11 Jon ButtsRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: education, energy efficiency, LEED, solar, Ybor City
On today’s program we talked with a couple of the best green contractors in our area. The Learning Gate Charter School in Lutz just received its Platinum LEED certification from the US Green Building Council, and last year installed a 5 KW solar electric grid-tie System.
Charles Girard, the teaching contractor on the project, joined the program with the head of the environmental department, Adam, and two really sharp students attending the school, Demonte and Shelby.
Also joining ...
Be the first to commentSchool officials from all over Florida "Lead The Way" listen
01/20/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Education reform, SB6, Rick Scott, education, Randi Weingarten, unions
School Superintendents and Teacher’s Association Presidents from all over the state met yesterday and today to discuss the future plans for education reform. The “Leading the Way” conference addressed some tough issues.
Florida Schools are facing a series of uncertain changes in the coming months and years with the arrival of an all new Rick Scott-led administration. School officials made certain they were ready for the changes by proposing one very dominant theme. Randi Weingarten, Presi...
Be the first to commentPinellas schools superintendent weighs in on Scott, vouchers listen
01/14/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pinellas County Schools, Hillsborough County, Julie Janssen, Bill Heller, Pinellas County Democrats, 2010 Election, education
Florida governor Rick Scott appears to have put education reform at the top of his list. Public educators throughout the Sunshine state aren’t gung-ho about how he wants to tackle education woes, but the head of Pinellas County Schools says the governor might not get too far.
In Pinellas Park last night, Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Julie Janssen told a banquet hall full of card-carrying Pinellas Democrats that politics really aren...
Be the first to commentThe Rick Scott Era: What can we expect?
01/06/11 Mitch PerryLast Call Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rick Scott, vouchers, school vouchers, Florida politics, education, Rick Kriseman
Our first Last Call program focused on the new Rick Scott tenure beginning in Florida.
In the studio we had St. Petersburg Democrat House Representative Rise Kriseman, and on the phone we had Chuck Kiker talking about Scott's "Vouchers for all" plan. Kiker is with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.
Be the first to commentScience Challenge 2011
12/27/10 Dawn Morgan ElliottWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: science, books, reading, education, nonfiction
Former physicist Jeff Shaumeyer worried about American culture excluding the sciences. So in 2004, he began a company called Ars Hermenuetica in an effort to encourage science literacy.
Shaumeyer implemented the Science Reading challenge a few years later, an attempt to inspire average Americans to read popular science.
Be the first to comment"It came about when I noticed some online blogging fri...
Rick Scott: Maybe some day, vouchers for all Florida students listen
12/09/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rick Scott, school vouchers, Florida Politics, SB 6, education, Kim Black
Today at a large church in St. Petersburg, Governor-elect Rick Scott shared the stage with three corporate executives. They were touting Step Up for Students, a tax credit scholarship that funds Florida’s school voucher program, but it didn’t take long for politics to creep in.
It’s one of those events where people in tailored suits hand off gigantic checks to nonprofit heads whilst surrounded by less fortunate beneficiaries. The nonprofit in question is Step Up for Students, which manages...
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