Scott signs bill revamping schools, universities in Florida..!!

QuestCinq.com/EducationNews/04/23/2013

More changes are coming to Florida’s public schools, colleges and universities.
On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott signed a sweeping education bill that will revamp the state’s high school graduation requirements and place new emphasis on coursework that prepares students for high-tech careers. The law will also create two new diploma designations: one for teenagers seeking technical training and another for teenagers pursuing college-level classes.
The legislation will also:
• Enable state universities to qualify as “preeminent research universities” and receive additional money for online initiatives and high-tech degree programs.
• Allow some funding for state universities to be based on performance, rather than just enrollment.
• Allow state colleges to create a degree program that costs no more than $10,000.
• Provide financial incentives for schoolteachers whose students earn industry certification or post high scores on college-level exams.
• Require high school students statewide to take a course in financial literacy.
In some ways, the legislation represents a backpedaling from previous education laws. For more than a decade, Florida lawmakers have been adding challenging new classes and exams to the list of graduation requirements. The latest effort to reform the school system removes some of those obligations.
“The danger in the previous legislation was that it would drive more students away from high school [rather] than drawing them to success,” Orange County Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said. “Some of those courses, algebra II as well as chemistry as a graduation requirement, were just a little beyond what some of our students would need to be successful.”…

Source: Miami Herald