Are Florida laws chasing university faculty away? Some see a ‘brain drain.'

| 7/13/2023

Are Florida laws chasing university faculty away? Some see a ‘brain drain.’

Records show an upward tick in staff departures at some of Florida’s largest universities. And, as the Board of Governors discovered this spring, doubts about the state’s academic workplace are spreading fast. Across the State University System, the murmurs are getting louder: Some Florida schools are having trouble filling positions. More from the Tampa Bay Times and WFIT.

How to claim money for kids' education under new Florida law

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1 in May, unleashing funds that families can use toward private school tuition, homeschooling materials and other education expenses. School districts receive a certain amount of funding per student from federal, state and local governments. The new law essentially allows any K–12 student to take the state portion allotted for them — roughly $8,000 annually — and redirect it toward private school tuition. [Source: Axios]

Classes resume in a month. Will your Florida school have enough teachers?

Students return to classes across Florida in less than a month. School districts are hard at work trying to find enough teachers to fill all the classrooms. Pinellas County School Board vice chairperson Laura Hine noted Tuesday that her district had 260 teacher openings on June 10, and 150 as of July 10. She praised the human resources staff for making great strides, but said much work remains. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Education group is the latest to pull its convention from Florida

Noting the “escalating waves of hostile actions and legislation coming out of Florida,” the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) is ditching its scheduled annual conference at the Hyatt Regency Miami later this year and instead will hold it in Chicago. In a letter sent to ACSP educators, researchers, and students posted on the organization’s website Friday, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, the ACSP president, said the group had made “this difficult decision” to move their convention to stay in alignment with the ACSP’s values statement. The organization is a consortium of more than 100 university departments and programs offering planning degrees. [Source: Florida Phoenix]

Florida school book challenges could be heard by special magistrate, under new law

A change to the book challenge process in Florida schools could take final decisions out of the hands of local school districts. A law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that just took effect on July 1 allows objectors to request that a special magistrate hear their concerns if they are not happy with a school board's decision about a book. More from WPTV and the Tampma Bay Times.

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Chancellor suspends FAU president search. Critics allege politics. [Tampa Bay Times]
Florida’s political and higher education worlds expressed surprise last week when Florida Atlantic University trustees named three finalists for their presidential search, and Republican firebrand Rep. Randy Fine was not among them. Gov. Ron DeSantis had, by several accounts, encouraged Fine to seek the job. It’s not clear whether the Palm Bay lawmaker, whose work experience is in casinos, applied. Days later, university system chancellor Ray Rodrigues, another DeSantis ally, put a stop to the search.

› USF’s new sailing classroom is docked at Port of St. Petersburg [Tampa Bay Times]
The University of South Florida’s new classroom in St. Petersburg is a little different — it floats. A research vessel, the Western Flyer, was granted to the school by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The Florida Institute of Oceanography, which is housed at USF but serves the entire state university system, will use the vessel as a sailing classroom for students pursuing careers in ocean science, engineering and marine operations.

› FIU medical school to admit 120 of 6,200 applicants [Miami Today]
The Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine received over 6,200 applications for the 2022-2023 admission cycle, from which 120 are expected to be enrolled. From 2018 to 2022, the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine had a 38% growth in number of applications. The average growth for Florida schools is 13% and national average is 17%, said Ileana Varela, director of media and community relations at the college.

› Gainesville For All's Family Learning Center ready to tackle local achievement gap [Gainesville Sun]
An idea six years ago to create a center in Gainesville aimed at serving low-income families by providing high-quality early learning and child care in an effort to prepare young children from challenged families for kindergarten has finally come to fruition. The Gainesville Empowerment Zone's Family Learning Center is scheduled to open Aug. 10 in a building on the Metcalfe Elementary School campus.

Tags: Education eNews

Previous Education Updates:

A Florida health provider says better building design can help patients heal

FHSAA to potentially sanction esports in Florida schools

Now might be the time to move to Florida as inventory levels surge and sellers slash prices

Florida invests $850 million to advance Everglades restoration