Florida lawmakers' focus turns to higher ed - Florida Today

Last year, Florida legislators made historic changes to education. Tenure for new teachers was eliminated. Instructor evaluations were revamped and linked to student test scores. And a new compensation system was passed to reward those whose students achieve the highest gains. In the 2012 session, which starts Tuesday, the focus is likely to shift from K-12 to higher education. Gov. Rick Scott and others say they want to find ways to make the state university system more effective and boost the number of students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).