Florida – Friday, April 19, 2024: The Florida Board of Education has confirmed the Broward County Board of Education's decision to comply with state law and pay more than $80 million in outstanding payments to the district's charter schools.
On Tuesday of this week, the Broward County School District agreed to a three-year payment plan to pay for the district's charter schools. This comes after the State Board of Education last month launched an investigation into whether the school board was not “appropriately” sharing revenue with charter schools within the district. The investigation ended March 27 after finding that the Broward County School Board was not in compliance with its obligation to share more than $80 million of those funds.
At Thursday's meeting, the State Board of Education approved Broward County's payment plan and concluded that it complies with Florida Statutes Section 1002.33(17) with respect to revenue collected by the school district based on local ad valorem taxes. In 2018, Broward County voters passed a referendum providing additional funding for public schools, but the Broward County School District was unable to distribute that money to Broward Charter Schools.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement in Broward County,” Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said in a news release Thursday. We have a responsibility to comply.” . ”
The school board and the Florida Department of Education said they will continue to monitor the agreement to ensure it is fully implemented.
Clarifying ethical expectations for school principals
The State Board of Education also approved an amendment to revise the current principles of professional conduct for Florida's education profession.
The proposed amendments would allow certificate holders who serve as principals to prevent students from accessing educational materials or allow anyone to do so unless they determine that the materials violate Florida law or school board policy. It is prohibited to instruct others to prevent or permit them to do so.
“Clarifying ethical expectations for principals will go a long way in supporting effective school leadership,” Education Commissioner Diaz said.
Florida's Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession establishes ethical principles that educators must abide by. In the event of a violation, the Board of Education may take disciplinary action against the educator's certificate or impose other penalties as provided by law.
The amendments ensure that principals understand their responsibility to provide students with access to appropriate materials and that students are not denied access due to inappropriate conduct related to the school library or classroom book review process.
You can read the revised principles by clicking on this link: Florida Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Professions.