Florida Schools

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
325 W. GAINES ST
TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399
(850) 245-0505

The Sunshine State's 2,382,655 students and 160,694 teachers seem to be making significant strides to make sure no child is left behind. Governor Jeb Bush will be awarding schools who have made significant strides in school improvement and achievement. This year, he will split $157.6 million in funding between 1,799 schools-five times more schools than when he implemented the program in 1999.

In the 2005-06 school year, Florida's middle school students made significant improvements in reading. As a result, this year 223,000 more students are reading at or above their grade level compared to numbers in 2001. To promote this achievement, Governor Bush announced that on Thursday, September 28, between 11 - 11:30 a.m. EST, middle school students will attempt to break the current record of "Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations". Over 200,000 of Florida's middle school students will participate. If they succeed, they will blow away the current record of 155,528 students from 737 schools throughout the United Kingdom who read William Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils" on March 19, 2004. The Florida students will read portions of "Peter and the Starcatchers" written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. For more information on this and other stories from Florida, visit the Department of Education website at http://www.fldoe.org/.