Florida educators say rural schools challenged by new mandates for math and science courses

A a new Florida law requires the state's high school students to take geometry, algebra II, biology, chemistry and physics to graduate. Some state educators say while the law makes it harder to graduate, it also makes it harder for rural schools to meet the standard, Lanetra Bennett of WCTV in Tallahassee reports. Educators say rural schools will have trouble finding teachers certified to teach the more advanced classes.

"That [certification] test is, needless to say, not the easiest test to pass. Most people who major in physics or major in chemistry with a physics background, they're not going to a small district to get hired because they can make money some place else," Taylor County High School Principal Michael Thompson, told WCTV. "It's going to be hard." Thompson said before his school's current certified physics teach passed the exam last year it had gone five years without a teacher on staff certified to teach the course. (Read more)