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Department of Education Announces Appointment of Damien Kelly as Director of Newly Created Office of Safe Schools

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The Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart today announced long-time law enforcement officer Damien Kelly as director of the newly created Office of Safe Schools. Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Governor Rick Scott signed into law the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. One component of the comprehensive law is the creation of the Office of Safe Schools within the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) and the appointment of its director.

On March 23, Governor Rick Scott sent a letter to district superintendents and school board members that set deadlines FDOE and each school district must meet. Governor Scott directed FDOE to hire a director for the newly created Office of Safe Schools by May 1, 2018.

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UT Education Program Receives Accreditation Renewal, Strong Marks on Teacher Preparation

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Under a new and more rigorous teacher preparation evaluation system, The University of Tampa recently renewed its accreditation from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

The FDOE recently began the new accreditation system in conjunction with Teacher Prep Inspection-US (TPI-US), which reviews teacher preparation programs to determine how the programs can expand their promising practices and address areas of improvement.

In March, UT’s Department of Education underwent a weeklong inspection that included observation of faculty and students teaching, interviews with stakeholders, analysis of all documentations, and evaluations of work samples and students’ work.

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Florida dominates national affordability rankings, including for online education

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Recognizing Florida’s commitment to higher education affordability, recent rankings by AffordableColleges.com place several Florida universities among the top in the country for both traditional and online degrees.

Seven State University System institutions were ranked in the “50 Most Affordable In-State Public Universities,” with the University of Florida, New College of Florida and the University of South Florida earning the top three slots. Further, the University of Florida earned the No. 1 ranking in the “50 Most Affordable Online Colleges” category, with the University of Central Florida, Florida International University, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida all garnering spots in the top 20.

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CFO Jimmy Patronis Releases Top 7 Tips to Boost Financial Education during Financial Literacy Month

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Data breaches at major companies like Equifax, Target, Uber, and most recently Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal app will continue to happen and Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) wants to ensure Floridians take steps to protect themselves from fraud and safeguard their finances. One of the top ways to protect yourself from fraud is to freeze your credit, and CFO Patronis successfully eliminated the fee imposed to do so during the 2018 Legislative Session. Knowing how to protect your finances is equally as important as knowing how to manage your finances and with Financial Literacy Month recognized in April, CFO Patronis released his top 7 easy tips to strengthen and protect your financial future.

“Nearly half of American adults don’t have enough money saved for a $400 emergency, a third of American adults have not saved a penny toward retirement, and 16.7 million consumers were impacted by identity fraud in the United States last year,” said CFO Jimmy Patronis. “These are shocking statistics and numbers we can change with increased awareness and education to safeguard your finances.”

  1. Freeze your credit if you’re a victim of a data breach. CFO Patronis worked to eliminate the credit report freeze fee during the 2018 Legislative Session. Freezing your credit is one of the top ways to protect yourself from identity fraud.
  2. Watch your credit report. Check it for inaccuracies by setting up alerts to better protect yourself from fraud.
  3. Keep your passwords secure. You can avoid opening your financial world to anyone who knows your pet’s name or your birthday, and make sure to change your passwords regularly.
  4. Follow the 20-10 rule when it comes to credit cards. Don’t borrow more than 20 percent of your annual net income on all your loans (not including a mortgage). Payments on those loans shouldn’t exceed 10 percent of your monthly net income.
  5. Set up alerts whether via a credit card’s app or via email so you don’t ever miss a payment. It also helps you know when charges are made on your cards so you can flag anything that is suspicious.
  6. Keep track of everything you spend for a week and adjust your spending as needed. Make purchases with cash to help you stick to a budget and avoid impulse purchases.
  7. Rank nonessential expenses and keep the ones you like the best and cut the items on the bottom of the list.
CFO Patronis’ Division of Consumer Services offers several resources and programs to help increase Floridians’ financial knowledge and protections:

Frauds and Scams – An overview of frequent frauds and scams that impact consumers.

Consumer Alerts – Sign up to receive Consumer Alerts to stay abreast of important issues that impact consumers such as insurance, current frauds, scams, disaster alerts and more.

Consumer Protections – A section that covers insurance topics to help consumers gain a better understanding and assist in making informed insurance and financial decisions.

Mediation and Neutral Evaluation Programs – If consumers have a claim dispute with their insurance company, the Department’s Mediation and Neutral Evaluation programs offer alternative dispute resolution options that may help resolve the issue prior to taking legal action.

For more information on the Department’s Division of Consumer Services, call the toll-free Insurance Consumer Helpline at 1-877-MY-FL-CFO (693-5236) or visit www.MyFloridaCFO.com/Division/Consumers.

Florida Lottery celebrates latest milestone of $33 billion in contributions to education over 30 years

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The Florida Lottery announced today it has reached the $33 billion mark in total contributions to the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund over the past 30 years. Since the Lottery’s inception, Florida’s public schools have received more than $11.6 billion, colleges and universities have received a combined total of more than $8.4 billion, and more than $5 billion has been used to fund the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, sending over 775,000 students to college since 1997.

Governor Rick Scott said, “Today’s news that the Lottery has reached $33 billion in total contributions to education means that more Florida students will have the opportunity to get a great education in our state. The success of the Florida Lottery has a direct connection to the continued success of Florida’s scholarship programs and world-class education system. Just this month, U.S. News & World Report again ranked Florida as the best state in the nation for higher education and this latest milestone achievement will help us continue the important work of making sure that every student has access to a great education in Florida.”

“As the Lottery celebrates its 30 years in operation, we are especially proud of this milestone moment in education funding,” said Secretary Jim Poppell. “We are thankful to Governor Scott for his leadership, our loyal players, hardworking retailers and dedicated employees who allow us to help Florida students achieve their dreams of a brighter future.”

The Lottery has established itself as a committed and dependable funding source for public education; contributing more than $1 billion annually for the past sixteen consecutive years, while remaining one of the most efficiently operated lotteries in the country. The benefits continue to be felt in communities across the state.

Expert on Academic Freedom in Higher Education to Speak at UT on Monday, March 19

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Risa Lieberwitz, professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and general counsel of American Association of University Professors (AAUP), will speak at The University of Tampa about academic freedom in higher education on Monday, March 19, at 3 p.m.

This presentation is free and open to all UT students, faculty and staff, and the public. It will be held in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values on campus.

Lieberwitz will address the role of law and institutional policies in protecting the multiple aspects of academic freedom in public and private institutions of higher education — individual rights of free speech and due process and collective rights of shared governance. The presentation, “The Many Faces of Academic Freedom: Free Speech, Due Process and Shared Governance,” will also examine the following questions: What does academic freedom mean? Does it extend beyond the teaching and research? Does it include rights to due process?

Lieberwitz’s presentation will be followed by a Q-and-A session.

The event is organized by the UT Workgroup on Free Speech and Academic Freedom, and is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Faculty Senate. The presentation is the first of a series of forums and events meant to cover the principles of free speech and academic freedom for the benefit of the entire University community.

For more information, contact Marcus Arvan, UT assistant professor of philosophy and chair of the UT Workgroup on Free Speech and Academic Freedom, at [email protected].

FLVC’s Open Educational Resources Summit discusses the high cost of student textbooks

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Florida Virtual Campus held its first Open Educational Resources Summit Feb. 7-8 at the Hilton Sandestin Beach & Golf Resort in Miramar Beach, Florida. FLVC is a Complete Florida Plus Program, managed by the University of West Florida Division of Research and Strategic Innovation.

“We are deeply grateful to all our amazing speakers, staff, and support teams who helped make this event a hit for state and campus leaders,” said Dr. John Opper, executive director of Distance Learning and Student Services at FLVC. “We had approximately 200 attendees, some stating the summit was as good as any national summit they had attended.”

Attendees heard from Cable Green, director of Open Education at Creative Commons, and many other national and campus leaders who are involved in defining and driving OER strategies and initiatives. The summit’s discussion focused on the high cost of college textbooks and the resources available to students. Speakers identified ideas and options for how Florida can raise the level of awareness regarding textbook costs and bring OER options to the forefront of the conversation.

Studies have shown that the cost of college textbooks is creating a barrier to student success. According to the 2016 FLVC Student Textbook and Course Material Survey, almost 46 percent of college students report not registering for particular classes due to the high textbook cost, and 26 percent of students dropped a course when they found out the cost of the textbook.

Open educational resources are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets useful for teaching, learning and research purposes. One state funded resource for storing and sharing OER is the Orange Grove, an online collection of textbooks and educational materials available to Florida students and faculty for free. Using this resource, students can find textbooks for a range of courses, from english composition to oceanography to precalculus.

If you were unable to attend the summit, a video archive of the presentations can be found on the FLVC YouTube page.

SR Education Group Ranks UNF a 2018 Top, Most Affordable Military-Friendly Online College

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The University of North Florida has been named a 2018 Top and Most Affordable Military-Friendly Online College by SR Education Group, a leading education research publisher.

SR Education Group evaluated more than 500 accredited colleges across the country offering online degrees using factors important to military students, with only 60 colleges making the 2018 Top Military-Friendly Online Colleges list. UNF was also highlighted as a Top 25 military-friendly college committed to affordability, ranking No. 6 in the country on the 2018 Most Affordable Military-Friendly Online College list.

“The fact that we’re being nationally recognized for our online programs is a testament to the exceptional education offered at our institution,” said UNF President John Delaney. “Faculty in our online programs are committed to this form of program delivery and have developed course materials and teaching methods that are second to none.”

Colleges were required to offer at least 10 fully online degrees to be considered for the Military-Friendly Online College rankings. All accredited schools that met this requirement were evaluated based on four key factors for military support in online education: military culture, online support, financial aid and flexibility. SR Education Group used government data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill Comparison Tool to evaluate schools in these four categories and manually researched annual tuition rates of online programs offered by all schools on the military-friendly list.

This latest recognition comes on the heels of UNF receiving several other national designations, including U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 “Best Online” Bachelor’s Program, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s “Best College Value of 2018,” 2018 “Best in the Southeast” by Princeton Review, 2018 “Best Regional” University by U.S. News & World Report, 2018 “Best Colleges” by College Factual and the 2017 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from Insight into Diversity magazine, to name a few.

SR Education Group’s mission is to create authoritative online resources for students seeking an online education program that best suits their budget and career aspirations. SR Education Group is passionate about making quality education attainable for everyone and believes that objective information about education, careers, and educational financing should be free and easily accessible.