By B.C. Manion
School districts that want to garner more state dollars need to increase the number of students obtaining industry certifications, Sen. John Legg told Pasco County School Board members at a legislative update on May 7.
“That is the direction that I see the Legislature going over the next couple of years,” said Legg, a Republican whose district represents portions of Pasco and Hillsborough counties.
“We’re talking real, meaningful industry certification – cyber security at the middle school, industry certification at the high school level.
“It is critically important that Pasco kick into gear on this. If you look at Pasco compared to some of our other counties, they’re ahead of us. They’re ahead of us in Hillsborough and Manatee and other areas,” Legg said.
State legislation rewards districts that beef up efforts on this front, the state senator said.
“There are significant dollars — significant dollars — tied to this,” Legg said. The Florida Legislature wants school districts, state colleges and universities to prepare students for jobs in the new economy.
“We’re not talking mom’s economics class or dad’s vo-tech class,” Legg said, adding that school districts will receive additional funding when students complete industry certifications.
The Legislature also has created designations for diplomas, which Legg expects will ultimately link to the state’s Bright Futures Scholarships.
“It is one single diploma that allows for designations, based on the coursework,” he said, explaining that a scholar designation requires students to pass specific end-of-course exams.
“I will be very, very candid. If you start to look at those designations, they start to correlate very closely with Bright Futures Scholarships.
Legislation also gives extra weight for universities to create degrees for jobs linked to the state’s economic security report, Legg said.
The idea of preparing graduates for an evolving work force hits home with the state lawmaker.
“My son is in college. When he gets out of college, he’s not moving back home. I told him, ‘You’re getting a job. You’re working somewhere. Better make sure your degree is something you can get a job in,’ ” Legg said.
Legislators also took on the issue of cyber bullying, Legg said.
“You have a kid that’s off-campus, absolutely terrorizing a kid,” he said. The action takes place off campus, but the repercussions spill onto campus.
“The whole school is in absolute chaos because all of the kids know about it,” Legg said.
“We don’t want to be Internet police,” Legg said, but when harassment occurs off campus and there’s documented evidence, lawmakers want principals to have the ability to remove the perpetrator from school.
“You want a calm campus at all times,” said Legg, who is co-founder of Day Spring Academy.
There are changes afoot, as well, regarding virtual education, said Legg. He thinks there’s room for vast improvements in that arena.
“I am not a fan of virtual education, straight-up virtual education. I think straight-up virtual education has a lot of bad actors. I call it ‘unregulated, Wild-Wild West education,’ if it is not done correctly.”
On the other hand, Legg said, “I’m a huge fan of blended online. It is online plus an instructor coming in and seeing people.”
The legislation that was passed begins to structure the state’s virtual education system, moving forward, he said.
Legislators also decided that the state is not yet ready for online assessments, and based on Legg’s remarks, it is not clear yet when it will be.
If the state had thrown the switch to use online assessments next year, Legg said, “I think the whole system would have imploded on itself.”
“Your infrastructure, as a district, has to be ready, in order to do the online assessments,” Legg said.
He thinks that extra dollars at the state level in the future will be invested in school technology.
Legg said his first priority would be to provide wireless broadband that schools need. Next, he would support training for teachers. “The last piece of the puzzle is the devices.
An important piece of legislation that received virtually no media attention during the session involves the creation of a district school of innovations.
“You demonstrate success one year, in this one model, you’re allowed to replicate it. It’s to maximize your flexibility, similar to charter schools,” Legg said.
Legg also noted big changes that have been made by legislators relating to early learning.
A comprehensive bill passed which creates benchmarks.
“We do need standards. It’s taxpayer dollars. We have to make sure there is quality in those programs,” Legg said.
He anticipates there will be substantially more money coming out of Washington, D.C. for early education, and if Florida wants to go after any of those dollars, it will be in a better position to do, Legg said.
