Shop

The story examined why Florida's second largest public school system, and the nation's fifth-largest district, has so little public confidence and generates such poor results on standardized tests. As the district has grown to 210,000 students, it is increasingly remote from the day-to-day concerns of parents. As the cost of running for a seat on the school board has increased to $80,000 or more, the board itself has become more dependent on a small group of political insiders, including teachers' union leaders, local real estate developers, lobbyists and large vendors to the district, who finance campaigns.