Florida
State Government
Governor
Ron DeSantis (R)
State Senate
12
Democrats,
28
Republicans
State House
36
Democrats,
84
Republicans
Economic well-being - Florida
Extreme poverty rate
0.1
Food insecurity
0.1
Minimum wage
13.0
Percent of working families under 200% of the poverty line
0.3
Poverty rate
12.0%
Unemployment rate
3.8
Number of Black or African American children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Number of Hispanic or Latino children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Percent of individuals who are uninsured
10.9
Poverty by demographic - Florida
Child poverty rate
0.2
Number of Asian and Pacific Islander children below 200% poverty
31000
Number of Black or African American children below 200% poverty
445000
Number of Hispanic or Latino children below 200% poverty
628000
Senior poverty rate
12.1 %
Women in poverty
11,688,390
The Ledger, April 08, 2013: Low-Income Tutoring Program Could Get Makeover
"Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, added an unexpected provision to her sweeping education accountability bill Thursday: a pitch to free Florida school districts from having to provide private tutoring services at low-income schools."
Orlando Sentinel, April 08, 2013: Economic diversity still a concern in Sanford area schools
"Lack of economic diversity among students in some Sanford area elementary schools is pushing the Seminole School Board to consider taking a stronger role in deciding who attends which school. That could include setting a specific percentage of low-income students for each of the five schools on the west side of town and assigning students to meet that percentage, based on whether the children qualify for government subsidized lunches."
Orlando Sentinel, April 07, 2013: Rollins College students reach out to inspire youngsters at Fern Creek Elementary
"Rollins students make up more than half of the adult mentoring force at Fern Creek, spending at least one hour a week with their designated child. The college also has helped develop a science lab at the elementary school, resurrected an arts club, taught a robotics class, painted classrooms, worked on landscaping projects, directed a theater production and donated more than 1,000 books to the school's library."
Orlando Sentinel, April 06, 2013: Push is on to expand gifted education to more minorities, poor
"Florida school districts typically have used teacher recommendations and then an IQ test to identify gifted children. But teachers as gatekeepers' are problematic, Ford said, because most teachers aren't trained to spot gifted kids and often overlook the poor, minorities and those still learning English, as they don't fit their notion of the very bright. In Ford's view, traditional IQ tests also are biased against those groups, exacerbating the problem."
The Jackson Sun, April 05, 2013: (Editorial) Penalizing poor children won't create good parents
"One of this year's worst pieces of legislation would cut state welfare benefits to a family if a child doesn't do well in school. The theory is that cutting benefits to a poor family will cause parents to take greater responsibility for their child's education. This unfortunate piece of legislation is nave in its supposition, ill advised in targeting children, uninformed about the causes of underperforming students and insensitive to its potential consequences. We urge lawmakers to remove it from consideration."
Tampa Bay Times, April 04, 2013: Troubled low-income tutoring program could see changes
"Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, added an unexpected provision to her sweeping education accountability bill Thursday: a pitch to free Florida school districts from having to provide private tutoring services at low-income schools."