FSBA Friday 5 – May 12, 2017
FSBA Friday Five – May 12, 2017 CLICK HERE
VIDEO: FSBA Session Wrap-up
Tallahassee, FL – After a three day extension, Florida’s Legislative Session has come to an end. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights, and be sure visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses. Also, be on the lookout for FSBA’s online and face-to-face Legislative Summary events.
FSBA Session Spotlight — May 8, 2017
The Legislature adjourned the 2017 Legislative Session, sine die, shortly before 9:00 pm this evening having passed each of the budget Conference Reports and tax cut package. As expected, HB 7069 was the only education related Conference Report that generated significant debate, particularly in the Senate. The bill passed the House by an essentially party…
Parents, school leaders urge ‘no’ vote on mammoth education bill
A swift outcry of condemnation came over the weekend from many parents, teachers and school administrators who want the Florida Legislature to reject a $419 million, 278-page K-12 public schools bill — which was decided behind closed doors, which lawmakers cannot change and which they’ll have had only about 72 hours to review when they…
FSBA Session Spotlight — May 7, 2017
The Legislature will return to work tomorrow — Monday — for the last day of the extended 2017 Legislative Session. The only items that are scheduled to be considered are a bill outlining the state tax cut package (HB 7109) and the Conference Reports on the budget, budget implementing bill, and the related conforming bills. …
Parents who want recess say lawmakers are using kids as ‘pawns in a political game’
Passionate parents, like Kate Asturias of Miami and Angela Browning of Orlando, have been fighting for years to get guaranteed daily recess for their children and the more than 1.2 million other kids in Florida’s public elementary schools. The two moms trekked to Tallahassee on Friday, for the countless time, hoping to see lawmakers finally…
In last-day surprise, Legislature loads education policy into pass/fail budget
At the insistence of House Speaker Richard Corcoran, numerous major changes to education policy for Florida’s K-12 public schools — from teacher bonuses and daily recess, to testing reforms and expansions for charter schools — were crammed into a single mammoth bill on Friday, with $414 million in spending attached. All of the policies in the…
FSBA Session Spotlight — May 4, 2017
Budget negotiators met twice today to close out the final differences in the budget. Of particular interest to school boards, a corrected distribution list for state Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funding was released. This provides $50 million each to Public Schools and Charter Schools for maintenance, repair, and renovations and more than $57 million…
Just like finals week, lawmakers cram on school policies — from testing to recess
With two days left for lawmakers to enact policy this session, two Republican senators late Wednesday released what’s essentially a brand new bill that salvages myriad stalled education proposals while also preserving one of the Legislature’s top K-12 priorities: reforms addressing excessive standardized testing in Florida public schools. Sens. Anitere Flores of Miami and Kelli…
FSBA Session Spotlight — May 3, 2017
As we have reported, the state budget must be made available to legislators and the public at least 72 hours before the Legislature may vote on passage of the budget. To meet this deadline, the budget would have to be available sometime on Tuesday so that a vote could be taken sometime on Friday, May…