Florida’s two main education boards are meeting this week. The agendas include a progress report on new learning standards and the approval of new degree programs at the state’s public universities.
The State Board of Education and the Board of Governors will hold meetings throughout the week. The Board of Education oversees public k-12 schools and community and state colleges while the board of governors oversees Florida’s public universities.
The State board of Education will hear an update on Florida’s transition to new learning goals, called the Common Core. Florida has been phasing in the new standards, but results from this year’s standardized FCAT exam shows students are struggling to meet those new, higher expectations. Meanwhile the Board of Governors will hear from each university about its goals. The board will also take up fee increase proposals from several schools, but won’t address tuition.
Governor Rick Scott has asked all the public universities to reject a 1.7-percent cost-of-living tuition increase mandated by the legislature, but there is confusion on whether the universities can reject the increase. So far, most institutions have accepted the cost-of-living increase.
