Florida’s school safety bill has divided Republicans and Democrats over the issue of allowing classroom teachers to carry guns on campus. But as the bill heads for a vote by the full Senate, other provisions dealing with mental health, campus crime reporting and active shooter policies have broad bipartisan support. Despite what both parties view as…
Today’s agenda includes both House and Senate floor sessions followed by a Senate committee meeting. Of particular interest, during the Senate Session, the Senate will consider its school safety bill (which has now been renamed “Implementation of Legislative Recommendations of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Public Safety Commission”) – on 2nd Reading. Several amendments have…
The Florida House bill that would require school districts that have had successful voter referendums to share their additional funding with charter schools passed its final committee in the House on Tuesday, with a few significant changes. Its next stop is the House floor. Under this bill, House Bill 7123, districts whose voters approved a…
As we begin the seventh week of the Legislative Session, please take a few minutes to watch our FSBA Week 6 Video Update featuring FSBA Executive Director Andrea Messina providing a recap of the main events during the sixth week of the Session. In addition, this is a good time to provide a quick update…
Over 150 school board members from across the state recently convened in Tallahassee to participate in leadership development training, legislative briefings, and advocacy sessions to prepare for visits to the Capitol.To kick off the week, over 45 school board members elected in 2018 attended the second installment of New School Board Member Academy. They were…
embers of the state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting on Tuesday debated the pros and cons of rating school districts on how well they are implementing policies to keep children safe. The discussion was part of the commission’s first hearing in more than three months, which began with reports of progress in making schools…
Before diving into the sixth week of the Legislative Session, please be sure to watch our FSBA Weekly Video Update featuring FSBA Executive Director Andrea Messina providing a recap of the main events during the fourth week of the Session. Today’s agenda includes consideration of the omnibus school choice bill — HB 7095 – in the…
Today’s agenda includes consideration of several bills of interest including bills relating to health and mental health, curriculum, early learning, hurricane recovery, school choice, and government accountability. Today’s schedule is posted below and will be updated to show the outcome on these bills after each meeting concludes. [toggle title=”Committee/Subcommittee Meetings – April 2, 2019“]…
Today’s agenda is fairly brief, but several bills of interest will be considered including, among others, bills relating to school board term limits, civics education, early learning, and government accountability. Today’s schedule is posted below and is updated to show the outcome on these bills after each meeting concludes. Please note that all of the…
Today, the House and Senate Appropriations committees will take up their proposed budgets, implementing bills, and conforming bills and will consider any amendments to them. We have prepared a side-by-side comparison of the education funding portions of the House and Senate appropriations bills as they stand today before consideration by the Appropriations Committee meetings. Please…