The Florida Roundup - Changes to higher education; Florida's housing market; controversial Flagler school assembly

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

A much different year begins on campus at Florida’s public universities after big changes pushed by the governor. Also, the cost of borrowing money to buy a house is rising, and a Florida school superintendent apologizes after Black students were singled out for an assembly about test scores.

Today on the Florida Roundup, a much different year begins on campus at Florida's public universities after big changes pushed by the governor. Reorient our universities back to their traditional mission. Plus the high cost of borrowing money to buy a home. Have you seen mortgage rates? Could they pop the high prices of Florida homes? Well, share your story of trying to buy or sell your home. Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. And a Florida school superintendent apologizes after black students were singled out for an assembly about test scores.

Students should never be separated by race. I'm Tom Hudson in Miami. What you're talking about across the state this week is up next here on the Florida Roundup from Florida Public Radio. Welcome to the Florida Roundup here on Florida Public Radio. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for listening. It is expensive to be a Floridian. All this sunshine does not come cheap.

The housing market has been on a tear for years here in Florida, and that just picked up speed during the pandemic. Prices have not cooled off much, if at all. And then there is the cost of cash to buy a home, assuming you can find one. You know, the number of homes for sale in Florida has dropped by more than a third since the summer before COVID-19. And interest rates have roared higher. If you've been in the housing market, you know it. You've seen it.

You've experienced it. Mortgage rates are now close to a two-decade high. So we're going to talk about this today on this episode of the Florida Roundup. What does all this mean here in Florida as the state wrestles with already an affordability crisis? Are you hoping to buy a home? How have higher mortgage rates affected what you can afford? Do you feel locked into your home because you were able to refinance at such a low mortgage rate and you don't want to sell because of these high prices and higher borrowing costs and things are getting crowded in the living room or the garage. Well,

call us now 305-995-1800 to share your housing experience. 305-995-1800. You can also email us. You can also email us. We have a new email address, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Email us your experiences in this Florida housing market with high prices and ever-escalating borrowing costs, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We'll take your calls and your emails later on in the program, but we want to line them up now. First, we're going to start with college students and teachers returning to campus now for a new school year at Florida's public universities. But it's a very different school year. Governor Ron DeSantis's education changes have not been confined to kindergarten through high school. He has targeted higher education for changes, too. through high school. He has targeted higher education for changes too.

What this does is reorient our universities back to their traditional mission. And part of that traditional mission is to treat people as individuals, not to try to divvy them up based on any type of superficial characteristics. That was the governor in May this spring, as he signed into law two bills targeting funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state universities and colleges. The law has banned certain topics like critical race theory from campus classrooms and banned general education courses that, quote, distort significant historical events. Now, this week, the State Board of Education passed rules banning students and faculty from using restrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex at birth or use a unisex bathroom. Violating that rule could get an employee fired. Opponents say it's part of a series of laws targeting transgender people

here in Florida. Well, it's just the most recent regulation in what has been a year of significant changes for Florida's public colleges and universities, governing classroom instruction, employee relations, and searches for top leaders. Divya Kumar covers higher education for the Tampa Bay Times, and she joins us now via Zoom. Divya, welcome to the program. The state agency that governs public universities has said there are 30 new laws that affect higher education. What are some of the more significant ones that are in play as students and faculty return to campus now? Right, definitely. I think one of the big ones that everyone's kind of waiting to see

how it'll sort of come into play that passed this last year was SB 266, the bill that kind of puts some restrictions on what can be taught in gen ed courses and kind of makes upper level courses subject to review, but also kind of impacts the hiring and firing power, expanding that for presidents and boards of trustees and ban spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives beyond what's required by accreditation. And though that's passed in the law, it's still sort of waiting to kind of go into effect based on how the Board of Governors, once the Board of Governors puts out those regulations and some of the things already in play that are kind of coming from, I guess, the previous piece and staffing and the effect. What effect has that had on faculty staffing as students return to campus this fall? of waiting to be seen in this next year and years to come. I think initially just the

from anecdotes and a little bit of data from this past year we are hearing that faculty are looking around, faculty are leaving, and people are having issues with their searches. People are asking questions when applying for positions. What that sort of means, it's kind of unclear so far. I think most of the people who left had started looking earlier. So I think this next year might be telling. What's another place to look? The Florida Public Universities, the big land-grant universities, UF and FSU, University of Florida, Florida State University, had been rising in ranks of national rankings. UF, a top five public university, according to the U.S. News and World Report. conversation around any concern about those rankings as these new regulations, new rules regarding curriculum and faculty tenure come into play? Right. And I think that's a good question. I think that's a conversation that faculty are sort of having. I think some are very worried. I think others feel like people are going to continue doing the work they do.

And I think a lot of it is kind of waiting and seeing how, how it all sort of plays out and, you know, if courses will still be available and if, you know, if there is, if there is the exodus and what does that look like? But if there is not, then our people stay. So I think a lot of that is... We were speaking with Divya Kumar covering higher education for the Tampa Bay Times here on the Florida Roundup about a new school year on Florida's public universities and colleges with some new rules still being written and rewritten thanks to new laws passed by the Florida legislature. and rewritten thanks to new laws passed by the Florida legislature.

You know, the governor and supporters have described these efforts as a war on wokeness on college campuses. What does that mean to them as expressed in this legislation, do you think? I think the way that they've sort of expressed it is that I guess to them it's sort of an accountability measure I guess they sort of see universities as being publicly funded and therefore in their eyes there's not a place for some of these ideas I think you know talking to people in these disciplines I think, you know, talking to people in these disciplines, I think they been governance changes at many of the public universities. How is that affecting the execution of these laws and rules on campuses? Yeah, that's a good question. I think that's a question that people are asking in terms, what role do university leaders play in all this as well?

And I think that's a conversation being had on campuses as well, that people are wanting to see, faculty are wanting to see more from university leaders. And I think a lot of university leaders feel like they're, you know, they're, that's not their job. Their job is to kind of carry out the function of a public university. Yeah. And still early days, as you mentioned, but any impact on enrollment this fall, one way or another, fewer or more students? I think that's what we're all really waiting to see. I think those final numbers, you know, would be really good to know this year as well as I think next year and the year after will be good to see. People ultimately voting with their feet and their dollars when it comes to higher education in Florida. Divya Kumar covers higher ed for the Tampa Bay Times. Divya, thanks for sharing your reporting with us here on the

Florida Roundup. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Remember, we're still going to talk about the housing market and high mortgage rates. We want to hear from you now. Send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Share your experiences in the housing market. We want to continue with higher ed here in Florida for a few moments here because no other public university or college in the Sunshine State has experienced these changes on campus like New College.

It's a small school once known for its liberal arts programs and using written evaluations instead of the traditional grades. Stephen Walker is the education reporter at the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Stephen, thanks for joining us and sharing your reporting with us. Let's just start with the campus living situation this week at New College. Describe that for us. Students are being,

you know, moved into hotels because of mold problems is an issue that's dated back further in the summer when the college commissioned a report on mold for all campus buildings, but it came back with a report saying that the pay dorms, which are communal living dorms that are typically housed by freshmen and earlier year students at New College, those dorms came back in the report as virtually uninhabitable. And then the second report came back last week and said the same thing. Students were being assigned into the dorms there still, specifically upperclassmen who generally live in the Dort and Goldstein dorms on campus, which are apartment-style dorms that were built more recently. And those dorms

instead are being housed with athletes and first-year students generally are given the priority for those. And the upperclassmen are the ones being sent off campus to hotels. Is this going to be all semester long, all college year long? It's unclear how long until they have more beds on campus, but it's likely over a year. Any sense about how the university decided which students would be able to stay on campus in school dormitories that were able to be lived in versus those that were moved out and are now housed in hotels? Students like upperclassmen were originally given housing assignments back in, you know, the end of last spring semester. These upperclassmen

were given housing assignments to the Dorton Goldstein apartment style dorms. And those housing assignments were basically ripped away from them by the housing department because of the incoming class, the size of it. The largest on record, according to the university, according to the college. Right. And that class is largely driven by student athletes that account for a little over a third of that number. You take that number out and you're looking at about the same amount as you usually see to new college. Yeah. they have this number of students coming in that they don't have the facilities for because of having to shutter dorms for both issues.

These students who were upperclassmen originally assigned to apartment style dorms, what you would qualify as the nicer on-campus living, they were reassigned to typically freshman communal dorms. And so you're talking three or four people in one room. With mold issues, then they were moved to a hotel, and then a different hotel, and then another hotel. The new student-athletes that have driven the increase in enrollment for incoming students at New College, the institution is not known as an athletic powerhouse. How is this an indication of the transformation that is underway? You're absolutely right there. There were no sports, at least intercollegiate, sanctioned NCAA or NAIA sports at New College. There were pretty robust intramural sports. There was sailing and rowing and powerlifting and things like that that students put on themselves with

faculty sponsorships. But basically, the athletic department was born out of a necessity to increase enrollment from the new administration that was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis. At least from the state's perspective, New College was failing. And, you know, a lot of people that are at New College and are alumni of New College and are current students there will tell you that New College ranks pretty highly, actually, among public universities where students go on to get graduate degrees. But the state was looking at raw numbers in terms of enrollment and graduation and these metrics where a new college describes themselves as being very different than a normal college. They don't have grades. They do senior

theses to graduate. They say that they shouldn't be compared to other Florida universities on metrics because they're not to other Florida universities on metrics because they're not like other Florida universities. The state government got involved, specifically Ron DeSantis, appointing a new leadership. That leadership fired Pat Ocker, the previous president, and installed Richard Corcoran as the interim, who is now a finalist to take the position altogether. And is the former commissioner of education in the state of Florida and a former house speaker of the Florida house of representatives. Right. Would be considered a pretty deep Republican ally. They gave him the job. They paid him way more than their predecessor. He makes $700,000 a year plus a housing stipend, which

is up there with university of Florida and FSU and UCF in terms of how much a professor makes for a school that's a tenth of the size. And his goal coming in was to boost enrollment. Like 100% of the way, he's like, we're going to have the biggest class this college has ever seen. And he delivered. to support these student athletes to become these student athletes at an institution that has no student athletic history. Governor DeSantis announced $15 million in additional funding to New College of Florida. You say, oh, they're going to offer scholarships to athletes. They have offered $10,000 merit-based scholarships called the Presidential Honor Scholarship. That's not sanctioned through the NAIA, and neither are they a member of the NAIA yet.

That comes up in October. And the NAIA, remind us of that acronym. Yes, that is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. It's meant for a lot of smaller schools. The earliest they could have NAIA-sanctioned competition would be next year. So you're talking 2024, 2025. Away from the student athletic fields into the classroom, these transformations have had significant changes on the makeup of the faculty, right? About a third of the faculty from a year ago at New College has resigned. Is there a

teacher shortage? Is there an instructor shortage? How have they filled those vacancies? They have filled a lot of those positions, but not enough to provide all of the courses that they previously have. I've been bombarded with a lot of messages from students and parents of students saying, my child's course was just canceled. And they'll get an email from the registrar's office saying, this class has been canceled. So you're talking some course is not happening because they don't have the instructors to do so. They're also in the midst of changing the curriculum altogether to align more with what

they would consider a classical education. Describe that a little bit more. What does that mean? That was something that the trustees, specifically Christopher Ruffo, who is a conservative activist, he's been a vocal opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at any level of anywhere. He goes on Fox News all the time. He writes op-eds in the New York Times and the Washington Post. He has been very vocal about changing new college into a more classical education akin to Hillsdale College, which is what would be considered a pretty conservative Christian college in Michigan. And a classical education can be qualified more as like, you know, they would say, you know, we're teaching the classics.

You're talking Aristotle. You're talking a lot of philosophers, you know, debate. It's the classical liberal arts. And that's what they would say was the original mission of New College and that they've strayed away from that. They point to the gender studies program as something that gets away from a classical liberal arts education. that gets away from a classical liberal arts education. So what role is ideology playing in all of these changes in the classroom, on the athletic field, in the governance of New College? It appears that the current administration disagrees with the ideology that they would say the college currently is and what the previous administration and the current student body embody. And what they're trying to recruit and change new college into is what the vision that they

would want to see, which the governor has explicitly said is in the image of Hillsdale College. Stephen Walker is an education reporter at the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Stephen, thanks so much for sharing all the reporting with us today. Much appreciated. Of course. Thanks for having me. Still to come so much for sharing all the reporting with us today. Much appreciated. Of course. Thanks for having me. Still to come on The Roundup,

the high price of homes meets the high cost of cash to buy a home here in Florida. Share your story of trying to buy or sell your house. Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, or call us 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800.

We're back on the Florida Roundup here from Florida Public Radio. Thanks for listening. I'm Tom Hudson. Can you remember life without Facebook? Do you know what Y2K means? Well, maybe you remember this. I'm going to go with B, Turkey. Final answer? The suspense, the tension of it all. Final answer. You got it for $125,000!

Ah, Regis. Who wants to be a millionaire? Well, if you remember those, then you probably remember home mortgage rates over 7%. Florida's high price of housing is holding up so far to these high mortgage rates, highest that we've seen in 23 years. Higher borrowing costs just add more pressure to the ongoing affordability crisis across Florida. Could these higher mortgage rates pop the housing market, housing prices of Florida homes? Share your story with us of trying to buy or sell your home. Email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Our new email address, radio at thefloridaroundup.org.

You can also call us at 305-995-1800, 305-995-1800. In Melbourne, Eric has been standing by. Eric, thanks for waiting. Tell us your home buying or selling story. Basically been on the fence. Have not made a purchase yet. watching Bloomberg Markets every day and seeing that the interest rates continue to go up. I'm watching Michael Boulder on YouTube, and basically they're saying that once the interest rates do start to come down, that basically the prices for the homes will go up even further than what they already are. So what are you left doing in Melbourne?

Just renting at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. And rent across the country, anything over $1,000 is a mortgage. So if you're paying rent, you're paying a mortgage. Yeah. Eric, good luck. I appreciate you sharing the story from Melbourne. Donna in Sarasota sent us this email. She writes

us that my husband and I moved to Florida from New York five years ago and have a lovely three bedroom pool home and a huge backyard. Donna writes that she'd love a house with no pool and less yard to manage. She wants to downsize. She says we refinanced and have a two percent interest rate. So it makes no sense to buy something else right now. Donna, like a lot of existing homeowners, feel perhaps locked in to those record low mortgage rates, taking advantage of those during the height of the pandemic and now don't want to go out and borrow money at 7%. Send us your notes, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org or 305-995-1800. Brad O'Connor joins us now, chief economist for Florida Realtors.

Brad, it's a heck of a market these days. Why are Florida home prices still increasing even as we have mortgage rates up by 50% compared to a year ago? by 50% compared to a year ago. Yeah, well, home prices in Florida are increasing on a month over month basis right now, just because typically that's what happens every year. The spring is the most active part of the market. And so as we go from- Yeah, but Brad, sorry to interrupt, but mortgage rates have gone from 5% to almost 7.5% in the last year. I mean, that's a 50% jump in the cost of borrowing money. Oh, precisely. So my point being is that they are rising month over month right now.

But if you look year over year, at least what Florida Realtors reports, our median sale price is pretty roughly what it was a year ago. Compared to three years ago, we're still 50% higher than we were. Yeah. How do you explain that, Matt? Last year, it has slowed down. I just want to emphasize that at least home prices are not still skyrocketing at that rate. Yeah, okay.

So we're not barreling ahead at 90 miles an hour. Maybe we've slowed down to a school zone kind of speed limit for the housing market. But rates are still the big story. You're spot on with that, right? We, in late 2019, right before the pandemic, our national 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 3.7%, somewhere in that range. And then we went on a two-year, I compare it to when my four-year-old found his sister's bag of Halloween candy and unbeknownst to us, ate more than half of it last year. The sugar binge. He did not slow down for pretty much two years, the same as the housing market. So the housing market really got juiced by these really low interest rates. And

then last year was just incredibly painful because we went from 3% at the beginning of the year to by November, we were near 7%. We ticked back a little from 7%, but now we're back up there over the last month or two. So yeah, we have really high rates relative to, I think you said it's been more than two decades since we were here, and I agree. So these rates are really the story. If you looked at prior to the pandemic, the typical Florida home, you could get a mortgage on it and only pay about $1,000 principal and interest each month on your mortgage. Now it's over $2,000. Yeah, it's an-

Affordability has eroded significantly. Affordability has disappeared for so many Floridians. We heard from Eric in Melbourne, who's been trying to catch the housing market and waiting for interest rates to go down, but prices have not. So what is driving the supply of homes for sale or the lack thereof? Well, the builders are one way of getting supply, and they've been undersupplying for several years, but they've started to catch up. They have slowed down a little bit because on their end, rates are high as well for business loans and construction loans. So they've slowed down a little bit, on their end, rates are high as well for business loans and construction loans. So they've slowed down a little bit and they've had to buy down rates to

get people to buy their homes. They only make up about 15 to 20 percent of the housing market, though. The rest are existing homes. Right. And that's really slowed down because of predominantly what I think your emailer Donna cited, which was she feels locked in to her low rate. Even if you had a higher rate in the past couple of years, you could have refied and brought your rate down. So we have a lot of people locked into low rates. So the reason why home prices are still way up there is because, yes, demand has fallen because cash is so hard. You can't get a mortgage for what you could get before.

And that's really hurt demand. But on the supply side, we're having the same problem. These rates are locking in people on the supply side. So what's the household? Prices are going to be determined by the ratio of buyers to sellers. And we've seen a drop in both. But we have not seen that impact. Prices, however. Prices have not necessarily gone down. As you mentioned, maybe flat year over year, but they haven't gone down. What's the household impact, though, of these higher mortgage rates? Put that economist hat on. Take the realtor hat off for a second, Brad, just as a pure economist. What's the impact on consumer confidence spending here in the state of Florida where tax revenues, for instance, are really reliant on not only real estate, but of course, sales taxes?

Well, yeah, thanks. I am not a realtor. I am an economist. So I'll keep that hat on. The household impact has been puzzling to economists broadly because we've expected for a long time, we've had inflation at very high levels. And even though it's coming down, that doesn't mean the prices have gone down. It just means they're slowing. So people should be constrained, right, not only due to high rent or high mortgage costs, but also because of high grocery store bills, you know, and all kinds of other things they're facing. And yet consumers still seem to be fairly strong when we look at data. Credit card spending, we look at that and credit card defaults, and that's up a little bit, but we're not seeing the warning signs yet. So we just continue to look

for signs for this. Somehow people are making it, but we know that there are a lot of people who aren't, who are really struggling. Yeah. Lots of people. And we see that with record high levels of credit card debt, for instance. But as you mentioned, we haven't necessarily seen that rollover to real significant delinquencies. And we haven't seen, of course, that necessarily rollover with housing prices. Let's go to Ybor City, where George has been listening in and experiencing this firsthand. George, thanks for... Oh, George just dropped off in Ybor. Well, let's say hello to Yvette Claremont, who is the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Florida. We were talking about the housing supply and the economy with Brad O'Connor, chief economist at Florida Realtors.

Let's talk about borrowing money, trying to find money at these higher rates to purchase a home. Yvette, welcome to the program. What are you telling borrowers these days? Yvette Claremont with the Mortgage Bankers Association. We'll have you unmute your microphone to join our conversation. There we go. What are you telling borrowers these days as they come in? They found a house. They're okay with the price. Now they got to go find the cash in order to close the deal. What are you telling borrowers? Well, certainly it is definitely the conversation that we have every day is about interest rates. With interest rates being higher, that does affect affordability. Right now, we're

really talking to buyers about budget, about their credit score, because that is more of an impact than ever, is making sure that credit scores stay high before you start shopping for your new home. scores stay high before you start shopping for your new home. And we're just really going over the budget of what they can afford. We are seeing buyers looking at homes maybe a little less price than they thought they would want to be looking at. But they still are seeing, I want to be a homeowner. I understand that owning a home is still part of the American dream. I want that part of it. I want to start investing in real estate. So the conversations we're having is more than ever about budget, budget and numbers, and really looking at that payment and parsing it down to what they truly can afford based on their monthly outgo. And as we've seen mortgage rates rise,

what they can afford perhaps has gone down. How are sellers responding? Are they being more flexible in the kinds of prices that they're willing to accept? Oh, 100%. I mean, just a 2% swing and let's say an average loan of, let's say, $300,000, that's $385 of payment that's adjusted from that 2% swing in interest rates. So that is affecting what a buyer can buy. But what we're seeing is that sellers today, which they weren't during the pandemic, are willing to discuss things like concessions, helping to pay for things like a temporary buy down. They're willing to take a little bit longer time

to get to closing instead of saying, I need a cash offer and they have to close in 15 days. So we're finally seeing that actually financed buyers buyers, they have a seat at the table now with sellers. So we're seeing them work better together than we did over the last couple of years during the pandemic. We're speaking with Yvette Claremont, the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Florida, talking about raising interest rates, higher interest rates throughout the country in affecting the housing market here in Florida, which is already wrestling with an affordability crisis, making it even more

problematic. Yvette, I want to share, I'm lucky enough to own a home in South Florida. And for years, I would get unsolicited text messages from realtors saying, hey, we're in your neighborhood. Are you interested in selling? Or we just sold your neighbor's house. Do you want to move on? I got a text message, however, last weekend. I'm out in the yard doing some work and it says, we wanted to know if you knew of a family member that's looking to buy. It was the first time I'd ever gotten a text message unsolicited from someone in real estate saying, hey, we need help finding buyers. What does that tell you? Well, it definitely tells us that the market has slowed. Buyers are nervous about

stepping into the market. They are looking at the prices of homes and then they're looking at the interest rate going, I can't do this. But really, they can. It's still possible to buy a home, even in a rising interest rate environment. It comes down to understanding your numbers, understanding what you can truly afford, making sure that buyers are educated today. Our members are working tirelessly to ensure that buyers are educated. Most of what we do on a daily basis is educate buyers, educating them on their numbers, their credit, and working with them on what a true budget is. In the past, you didn't really have to over the last

few years. But the thing is, is interest rates, although they are where they are, we're in that 7% range now, which is much different. But we were there not that long ago. People's memories are short. Interest rates on the whole had been into the fives and sixes not that long ago. So, yep, we're up, and that part is hard, but it's not forever. Interest rates are temporary. Yeah, you talked to some other veteran homebuyers. I remember buying in the 1980s at 18% or 15%, right, when interest rates were that high in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Yvette Claremont, the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Florida. Thanks for spending your time with us here and giving us a little bit of a tour from your perspective of the higher mortgage rates in Florida and the impact on this housing

market. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from Florida Public Radio. Let's hear from Stephanie, who has been listening in from Deerfield Beach. Stephanie, thanks for your time today. What's your story? Hi, thanks for taking my call. I am 36 years old. My boyfriend is in his 40s. I'm a psychologist. He's a college professor. We always thought, you know, at this point in our lives, we'd be able to afford a nice home,

you know, even a little starter home. It's just been completely unattainable, even with both of our salaries and all our savings, the prices, we can't keep up with the prices. Luckily, he has a two-bedroom townhome. I don't own any property, though. So I'm in that millennial generation that's really struggling to get in know, get in there and own property. So right now we're staying and we're just keeping an eye on the market. He has two kids is the problem. So, you know, by the time they go through puberty, we cannot have them sharing a room.

Maybe the challenge, maybe not the problem, Stephanie. The kids may be the challenge, right? Yes, that's what I meant. Just in case they happen to listen in, right? I hear you. Yeah, exactly. So it's just, you know, we're thinking of building a little room in the house, in the two-bedroom house, which would make our place so crammed. I mean, this is how you imagine people in poverty to be living, you know, crammed in a house and speaking at work. I mean, I have a doctorate. I never thought I'd be in this situation.

But hopefully there'll be a bit of a crash, and then it'll come down enough to be able to afford something. Yeah, spoken as a buyer in this housing market as opposed to a homeowner, right? Exactly. Stephanie, I appreciate you listening and sharing your story with us here on the Florida Roundup. We've got George back with us who's been listening in from Ybor City. George, you are a homeowner, and tell us your story. Yeah, I used to get these ruggedly handwritten notes saying, oh, I want to buy your house, and I'll give you cash. And they hope that you're either desperate or you're a sucker. And then the notes were getting better, and then they were typewritten,

and now I get offers for more than it's worth. And what am I going to do? If I were to sell it, okay, I got more than it's worth. Now where am I going to go? What am I going to do? You want to stay in Ybor City in the Tampa area? Yeah. to stay in Ybor City in the Tampa area? Yeah. But it's also disturbing how the past 15 years,

20 years, you know, you've seen it, that Florida, if these builders had their way, they would pave over all of Florida. It would just be one giant, ugly suburb. And it seems like everybody up north wants to come down here yeah yeah it certainly has seemed like that certainly over the past a couple of years as we've seen home prices just shoot through the roof uh george thanks for sharing your story with us here uh from ybor city michelle sent us this email uh we've lived in the same home for 20 years we've had our insurance canceled twice and last year the rate tripled. Our insurance agent was able to find us another insurance company, but only on the condition that our roof was less than three years old. Luckily, we had just replaced the roof. She writes, so not only are mortgage rates are a hindrance to buying, corporate entities,

homeowners, insurance companies provide other obstacles. It certainly is expensive. It all gets to that affordability crisis that we've had here. I want to hear from Joe real quick. I've got about 40 seconds, Joe, but I want to squeeze you in. Go ahead. Send your story to us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, talking about, again, home mortgage rates, the housing market, really just continuing to put pressure on the affordability crisis of the cost of life here in the state of Florida. We've got plenty more to come on this edition of the Florida Roundup here on Florida Public Radio. We're going to talk about the excitement and the anxiety, the confusion, and yes, the controversies as a new school year is now officially underway for public school children, parents and guardians, neighbors and residents throughout the state of Florida.

That's still to come as you're listening to the Florida Roundup here on Florida Public Radio. Welcome back to the Florida Roundup here on Florida Public Radio. I'm Tom Hudson. My first day of first grade. Oh, to have that joy every day, huh? Those first graders are among the hundreds of thousands of students in Florida heading back to classrooms over the past few weeks. Edith Blondette is their teacher at Broadview Elementary in Broward County.

I'm just excited because it's the first time I'm going to do first grade. It was the first day for everyone in her class earlier this week. These seniors are continuing what's become a tradition at Child's High School in Tallahassee, wearing black t-shirts, blue jeans or shorts on their first day of their last year of high school. In Hialeah, Adrian Emily is just starting out his high school experience. He's in ninth grade. Excited, nervous, scared, happy. I mean, it's big. But I had family who came here before, so not that nervous.

You know, there's a rhythm to a new school year. Waking up, sometimes a lot earlier than usual. Traffic, school, after school, traffic traffic probably some homework it can take a while to get back into the swing of things well pencils are sharpened erasers are ready crayons and calculators lunch boxes and lined paper another school year is underway here in Florida with the familiar mix of excitement and anxiety the beginning of this school year brings with it plenty of

attention in Florida over what's being taught and how, leading to plenty of controversy and confusion. Hillsborough County teachers planned to teach only excerpts of Shakespeare, not full books, not full plays. They worried that some of the racier parts of his work may not be allowed under a new state law. Well, the State Department of Education clarified that Shakespeare can stay in Florida classrooms. Still, it's just an example of the confusion that still surrounds how schools are to comply with new rules. Nancy Guan reports from WUSF in Tampa. The new legislation expands a law known as parental rights in education.

It says that books or materials that contain sexual content or are deemed inappropriate for certain age groups can be removed from classrooms or libraries. But school board members say that the language of the law is vague. Hillsborough board chair Nadia Combs says school administrators need more information to determine the educational value of certain materials. We have different concerns for different books. Everyone has different opinions. Everyone's interpreting the law differently. Combs says the confusion is fueling divisiveness among parents in the school community. I'm Nancy Guan in Tampa. Some students in Key West may have their books in their classrooms, but not their teachers.

The school board in the Keys okayed a plan to allow remote teachers to lead chemistry and physics classes. The teachers will use Zoom, and a teacher's aide will help in the classroom. Monroe County School Board member Sue Woltanski says it's not a permanent fix. board member Sue Woltanski says it's not a permanent fix. In the meantime, you know, continue the recruiting efforts and try to bring like real human people, not like 3D people rather than 2D screen people. The Keys, like a lot of Florida schools, have a problem. Simply not enough teachers.

Broward County was about 150 teachers short. Miami-Dade County opened with about 200 teacher openings. Jose Dotris is the Miami superintendent. And what we do is we cover them, whether it is via a substitute until we get them hired. And we have individuals at the school district that are fully certified teachers. And if there's a need, they will be deployed. We did that last year, and we'll do this again this year. Smaller school districts also find themselves scrambling.

In the Panhandle, Bay County Schools Superintendent Mark McQueen started the year with enough bus drivers, but not enough teachers. We're still short some teachers, about 50 is what my last number was. 57 was the last number I heard, so we're still short. The shortage of public school teachers in Florida is not without controversy. The statewide teachers union contends there are almost twice as many teacher vacancies in the state than the Department of Education reported as the school year got underway. From WFSU in Tallahassee, here's Lynn Hatter. Florida's teacher shortage is nothing new and has persisted for several years now. The state has continued its efforts to boost teacher pay,

increase the amount of time a temporary teaching certification is good for, and made it easier for veterans and first responders to transition into teaching. McQueen, the Bay superintendent, credits that for helping address shortages in his district. What's interesting about this community is it's a lot of folks moving to Bay County and Panama City and a lot of military that are present here, and we get a lot of infusion of people that are coming forward and wanting to teach. For its part, the union issued a statement arguing the state's contentious political climate around education remains a barrier to teachers entering the workforce. In a recent interview with WFSU, FEA President Andrew Spahr placed the blame for the perpetual vacancies on state policy.

Policy that really disrespects the profession as a whole, that doesn't allow for teachers to teach the way they know is best, that doesn't value their educational experience. And so that's why people are walking out of the profession in record numbers. Florida's so-called war on woke has resulted in more teachers leaving the profession, either retiring early or opting not to renew their contracts. There are new constraints on classroom discussions around race, culture, history, and LGBTQ plus issues. The state has also made it easier for parents and others to file complaints against teachers with penalties that could range to the loss of their teaching certifications. And there remains the ongoing battles around what books and other classroom

materials fit the state's idea of what constitutes being age and developmentally appropriate. It's a lot to contend with, says Precious Simonette, who's a teacher in Miami-Dade public schools. It has not deterred her passion for the profession, which she's held for 18 years. Teaching is hard work, but it is also hard work. And she has this advice for teachers who may be feeling down. They are the compasses, the lighthouses, and the hearts of the world. Where would the world be if teachers did not exist? There's been a lot of talking about teachers, Simonette says. Teachers need to do more talking for themselves. I'm Len Hatter.

And you are listening to the Florida Roundup from Florida Public Radio. The school year began with an apology to some students and parents in Flagler County. I apologize to the specific families and this community, and I ask for your support as we move Flagler forward. That's Flagler County Interim Superintendent LaShaka Moore. A week ago, black students at an elementary school were taken to an assembly while their white classmates stayed in class. Though no malice was intended in the assembly, it was executed in a way that does not align with the views of Flagler schools, the Flagler County School Board, or this community.

Students should never be separated by race. Danielle Pryor joins us now from our partner station in Orlando, WMFE. Danielle, thanks for joining us. Why were these students segregated by race at this elementary school? In a press conference on Thursday, the interim superintendent LaShaka Moore actually said she's waiting on results of the Office of Professional Standards. They're doing a whole review of this incident to really learn, you know, why students were segregated. So we just, we really don't know at this point. Initially, it was something about test scores, wasn't it? That's right. The purported purpose was to increase student test scores and to get them up throughout the district.

So at the assembly, students were paired up and they were told that whoever got the best score on the next test would get a gift card to McDonald's. The problem is that there were white kids and Latino kids and Asian-American kids who also scored low on those tests and they weren't at the assembly. And then some of the Black students that were at the assembly were actually really high performers on the test. So do we know even how did something like this come about and how was it announced and executed to pull students out of class based upon solely their race? Moore actually said in that press conference on Thursday that the assembly was not approved by administrators and parents didn't know about it. They didn't even have a permission slip that they had to sign. So she hopes that the report will shed some light on just how the assembly was allowed to move forward in the way that it did. And also, she said in the future, parents and families will be required to fill out permission slips if kids are pulled out of class for assemblies like that. Now, Florida public schools do receive grades from the state based upon student performance in these standardized tests. What is the grade of the school where this happened? They have a C-letter grade, and so

quite low. And, you know, admittedly, Moore says there is a problem with test scores. But again, she said it's across the board, students of every background. How old were the kids involved? They were fourth and fifth graders. So those are nine and 10 year old kids that were called out in this way. And keep in mind, again, some of them were actually high performers on that test. So there's been two apologies. Yes. And a press conference. You know, there was a press conference on Thursday. There's going to be a community meeting on Tuesday where all families and community members are welcome. The school district really wants to hear back about just how people are feeling right now after this incident and also recommendations of how to move forward past this. Any possible disciplinary action to be taken against those who organized the assembly? The principal of Bunnell Elementary School is on administrative leave. One other teacher is also on administrative leave.

And there could be further disciplinary actions taken. So we'll just kind of have to wait and see if it's more than just administrative leave for the folks who plan this assembly. Danielle Pryor is a reporter with our partner station in Orlando, WMFE. Thanks so much. Thank you. And finally, on the roundup this week, a fight for football bragging rights in Florida. Okay, it's preseason bragging rights. Miami Dolphins play the Jacksonville Jaguars

Saturday night in Jacksonville. The teams are 300 miles apart, but they have met only 11 times during regular season play. Now, sure, there is another NFL team in Florida. Give me a second. It's coming to me. It used to have a pretty good quarterback. Well, anyway, regular season starters are expected to get some playing time for the Dolphins and the Jags, since this is the

last game that doesn't count. But doesn't it? That is our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WJCT in Jacksonville. Bridget O'Brien and Heather Schatz are the producers. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and our Technical Director is Peter Merz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Charles Michaels, Jackson Harp, and Brady Corum. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting Public Radio.

I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. WLRN Public Media