Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannJuly 8, 2015

One of the Florida Capitol’s most respected insiders, Deborah Gallay, died on Tuesday, July 7. She was 66. Gallay’s extensive public service career included positions in the Executive Office of the Governor, the Department of Education and Board of Regents, which later became the Board of Governors and staff director of Senate Finance & Taxation. Never […]

Associated PressMay 18, 2015

Florida education officials are blaming a cyberattack for another round of problems with online testing. A Department of Education official acknowledged on Monday that end-of-course exams given by the state were delayed because of a denial of service attack against the testing vendor. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the attack disrupted exams given in U.S. […]

Florence SnyderMarch 17, 2015

A half-century after an unsolved murder, who did the crime is less important that what the crime did to those left behind. The Oct. 22, 1966, murders of Robert and Helen Sims and their 12-year-old daughter Joy changed Tallahassee, overnight, from a place where everyone trusted everyone to a place where the unspeakable could happen […]

Associated PressMarch 9, 2015

Florida’s top law enforcement agency is investigating cyber-attacks that caused several school districts to suspend standardized tests. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Education announced the investigation Monday, a week after school districts started reporting problems with the tests. Administrators were having problems logging into the testing system and some students […]

Ryan RayFebruary 25, 2015

Democratic Rep. Lori Berman of Lantana recently filed a mental health crisis prevention bill in the Florida House designed to increase preventative mental health care, a social service offered on a very limited basis if at all by Florida’s lean state government. “While the Mental Health First Aid Act is only a small step towards improving our […]

Ryan RayFebruary 25, 2015

Democratic Rep. Lori Berman of Lantana recently filed a mental health crisis prevention bill in the Florida House designed to increase preventative mental health care, a social service offered on a very limited basis if at all by Florida’s lean state government. “While the Mental Health First Aid Act is only a small step towards improving our […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 12, 2015

It’s not every day that a divorce lawyer reports her own client to the state child abuse hotline. But that’s what John Jonchuck‘s lawyer did. On Jan. 7, Jonchuck showed up at the firm’s office dressed in pajamas, toting his 5-year-old daughter Phoebe, along with a Bible he incorrectly believed to be written in Swedish. Jonchuck’s lawyer told the Hotline that her client was “out-of-his-mind […]

Gary FineoutJanuary 8, 2015

For several years, Florida’s political leaders, including Gov. Rick Scott, have touted across the state that their public schools were among the nation’s best. But one set of rankings – which just two years ago put Florida in the top 10 – has come out with a revamped formula that saw Florida tumble to the […]

Ryan RayDecember 13, 2014

According to an internal Department of Education email from Commissioner Pam Stewart released late on Friday afternoon, Chancellor Randy Hanna is leaving his post as head of the Division of Colleges. The governing body of the state colleges — as Florida’s community colleges were recently re-christened — has been led by Hanna for most of Gov. Rick […]

Tag: Department of Education

Longtime Florida educational policy insider Deborah Gallay dies

Florida officials blame another glitch on cyberattack

Florence Snyder: Postcard from a Tallahassee cold case

State investigates cyber-attack on school testing program

Lori Berman files "Mental Health First Aid" bill

Lori Berman files “Mental Health First Aid” bill

Florence Snyder: Phoebe Jonchuck tragedy reveals underpaid staff, DCF doublespeak

Florida schools ranking from Education Week drops to 28th

Chancellor Randy Hanna leaving Florida Division of Colleges