FSBA Session Spotlight — January 12, 2017

As we close out the first week of the 2018 Legislative Session, it was a fairly quiet day at the Capitol today.  The House was in session to consider several bills on 3rd Reading and a few proposals of interest were considered by Constitution Revision Commission Committees.  Please click on the links below for our report…

Florida’s accountability plan needs more work, federal government says

Florida’s plan to change its education accountability and testing system as little as possible, despite changes to federal rules, ran into a roadblock this week.  The U.S. Department of Education told the state that it can’t simply adopt rules that run counter to the Every Student Succeeds Act, particularly without seeking waivers. That includes the way it…

FSBA Session Spotlight — November 20, 2017

The Legislature held a fifth round of Interim Committee Meetings last week, Governor Scott released his 2018 Budget Recommendations, the Constitution Revision Commission is considering 103 proposed amendments to the Constitution, and Congress is moving forward with the 2018 federal budget and competing tax reform packages. Please click on the links below to access our…

Florida Supreme Court is asked to block new education law

Raising the prospect of “irreversible damage” to the public education system, nine school boards want the Florida Supreme Court to block a massive education law approved in May.The school boards late Monday filed a constitutional challenge at the Supreme Court to the bill, which has become known in the education world by the shorthand HB…

Gov. Scott pitches $87.4 billion election-year budget for Florida

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday called for a record-high state budget of $87.4 billion for next year, an election year that offers him one last chance to recast spending priorities before leaving office.  It is by far the largest budget Scott has proposed since the Republican governor took office seven years ago, and it’s a…

Tampa Bay Area Schools Open Doors To Puerto Rican Students

More than 5,000 students from Puerto Rico have enrolled in Florida public schools since Hurricane Maria.  In the seven weeks since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, the majority of schools in Puerto Rico still don’t have electricity or running water.  While most students have settled in Central and South Florida, school…

State lawmakers want flexibility for Florida schools to take in displaced Puerto Ricans

As Florida communities prepare to take in Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria, five lawmakers are asking the state’s top education official to grant flexibility to public schools so they can accommodate additional students in the coming months.  In a letter to state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart on Monday, the lawmakers formally asked the state…

Trump Cancels DACA, Impacting Tens of Thousands of Students and Teachers

President Donald Trump will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that gives protection to an estimated 800,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the order to end DACA Tuesday morning at the U.S. Department of Justice. The decision leaves the undocumented residents, an…