Florida education officials report gains at lowest-performing schools, outline literacy supports and grants

At a meeting of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, Dr. Paul Burns, senior chancellor at the Florida Department of Education, briefed senators on programs aimed at supporting the state's lowest-performing schools and on three smaller recurring appropriations that together total $16,000,000 in the PreK-12 education budget.

The department told the committee it uses a combination of Bureau of School Improvement teams, federal and state funds and regional literacy staff to intervene in schools that have earned a first-time grade of F or a second consecutive grade of D. "We have decreased from 6% to 4%, representing statewide a 2% decrease in the the number of failing schools," Burns said, citing the July 2024 school grades and the department's internal progress-monitoring data.

Why this matters: committee members said the programs touch struggling students statewide, and senators pressed staff on how rural districts access the supports. The presentation described how the state balances classroom visits and on-site coaching with grant dollars and professional learning to try to make gains that persist after schools exit improvement status.

Program details and funding Dr. Burns described three smaller recurring appropriations that the department said support school districts: assistance to low-performing schools, school district education foundation matching grants, and regional literacy teams. Together, those programs total $16,000,000 in recurring funding in the PreK-12 budget, Burns said. He told the committee the department also uses federal school improvement grant dollars and portions of Title I, Part A funding to support school-level interventions.

Florida Partnership: Burns said the Florida Partnership program was created in 1999 and later enacted in law; the appropriation has been $4,000,000 annually in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). For 2023-24, Palm Beach State College is the primary recipient. Burns said Palm Beach State and its subrecipients awarded just over $2,400,000 in 2023-24 for outreach to teachers, parents and students, and that Palm Beach State had allocated roughly $2.3 million to continue work into 2024-25. The college is developing a statewide model to increase enrollment and success in advanced courses and will track student performance on statewide assessments and college entrance exams.

Regional literacy teams (RAISE) The department described the state's regional literacy effort, known as the Reading Achievement Initiative (RAISE). Burns said RAISE was originally funded through CARES and ESSER and, since 2023, has received a $5,000,000 appropriation focused on what the department calls "RAISE" schools. "Our regional literacy directors...focus on those schools, that have the largest reading achievement gaps," Burns said.

Burns explained the program's service tiers: universal supports (webinars, book studies, state-approved literacy coach endorsement pathways), targeted supports (district- or school-wide professional learning and train-the-trainer models, provided to nearly 500 schools), and intensive, site-based supports (on-site coaching, lesson planning and classroom observation, provided to roughly 207 schools). He said the department currently identifies about 1,165 schools as RAISE schools based on K-2 and grades 3-5 assessment thresholds.

Measuring progress The department emphasized progress monitoring using the FAST system and in-year PM (progress monitoring) cycles. Burns cautioned against direct comparisons with the earlier FSA system because the state changed its monitoring system. He said the FAST data allow teachers to receive faster feedback and cited department releases showing student growth from PM1 to PM3 within a school year as evidence of progress.

Parent supports and continuing monitoring Burns told the committee the department provides at-home resources for families and operates a "New Worlds" program that delivers books to students reading below grade level. He also cited the department's ability to pull real-time data for families and to meet with districts to explain interventions. On how schools are monitored after exiting improvement, Burns said the Bureau of School Improvement and regional teams continue smaller-scale monitoring and occasional on-site visits to try to prevent a return to low-performing status.

Matching grants to education foundations Suzanne Pridgen, Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Operations, briefly described the school district education foundation matching grants, administered by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations. "The primary purpose of the grant is to provide challenge grants to public school district education foundations for programs that serve low performing students, provide technical career education, literacy initiatives, engineering and mathematics initiatives," she told senators. Pridgen said each subgrant has a $10,000 minimum and must include a private-sector match; the consortium provides application materials and oversight.

What senators asked Senators sought detail on rural participation, data after COVID-19, whether students identified as having substantial deficiencies in reading are tracked across testing changes, and how long supports continue after a school leaves improvement status. Burns replied that regional literacy directors are organized by region so all districts can access professional learning, and that schools still track students identified with substantial reading deficiencies under state board rules and provide individualized interventions.

Closing and follow-up Committee members asked the department for follow-up on the state's school-grading matrix and additional data the senators requested about program results. Burns and staff said they would provide follow-up information to the committee.

Ending: The committee moved on after the presentation; no formal votes were recorded on these program items during the meeting.