Constitution Revision Commission member Donalds withdraws proposal to end superintendent elections in Florida

A proposal to ask voters to end Florida’s practice of allowing school districts to elect their superintendents will not go to the state Constitution Revision Commission today, as had been anticipated.  Its sponsor, Collier County School Board member Erika Donalds, quietly withdrew the item from further consideration late Tuesday. It already had won support from…

Secretary DeVos Releases Restart Funding Application for Disaster Impacted Students, Schools

Today, Secretary DeVos released the application for state educational agencies (SEAs) to apply for initial funding under the Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program. The release follows DeVos’ recent announcement of $2.7 billion in federal assistance to help K-12 school districts and schools as well as institutions of higher education in their recovery…

Largest school districts may skip armed ‘guardians’ program, even if governor signs it

The Legislature’s new plan to arm school employees as a last line of defense to an active shooter might never get tested in Florida’s biggest school districts.  Officials in 10 of the state’s largest systems, which educate nearly 60 percent of all Florida school children, said they have no intention of giving teachers or other…

The Latest: School safety bill moves ahead in Florida Senate

A Florida Senate committee has approved that chamber’s version of the school safety bill.  The bill was approved on a 13-7 vote Tuesday evening.  Sen. Bill Galvano, who is designated to become the next Senate president and is ushering through the bill, said the earliest it will be considered by the full Senate is Friday.…

FSBA Session Spotlight — February 27, 2018

Today marked the last day of regularly scheduled committee meetings during this Session. Although committee meetings may still be called, if needed, the bulk of each of the remaining days of the Session will be devoted to floor sessions where bills will be heard on 2nd and 3rd Reading and will be swapped in Messages…

FSBA Session Spotlight — February 26, 2018

As we enter the 8th week of the Legislative Session, please take a few minutes to review our Legislative Weekly video featuring Andrea Messina providing a recap of events last week and a status report on key bills and issues to be addressed in the final weeks of the Session including legislation to address student…

FSBA Session Spotlight — February 22, 2018

Legislators took up several bills of interest today including bills relating to retirement, curriculum and graduation requirements, and government accountability and ethics. Please click on the link below for our report on the outcome of consideration of these and other bills today.  There are no committee meetings or bills of interest scheduled on Friday.  However,…