FL DOE and DeSantis Shake Up School System

The Florida Department of Education has issued Emergency Order 2021-EO-02, which is essentially an amendment to a previous emergency order to create conditions for the reopening campaign of public schools.

The recent order also builds on top of another previous order that expanded state-wide testing assessments of students (testing on curriculum, not COVID tests).

Governor DeSantis (R-FL), who has often placed a high premium on education claims, "Florida has led on prioritizing the education and wellbeing of our state's students."

The governor then commented on the recent emergency order, claiming it will "empower" students, families, and teachers.

The order essentially reserves more power for local school districts to mobilize important decisions such as "Graduation, promotion, and whether to opt-in to school grades and improvement ratings," said Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran.

The order comes with a list of new modifications to the school system, but the most drastic change would be the implementation of data reports to help aid, "Differentiate between among public schools, account for an assessment participation rate below 95%, and calculate progress towards long-term goals and measurements of interim progress or indicators."

However, some practices will remain unaltered, such as the continuous support of lacking schools and the resuming of school identification in the Fall semester of 2022.