As Gov. Rick Scott took the podium Thursday to announce his support for the Legislature’s big education bill, he used words that have become increasingly familiar to Floridians, speaking of the need to “help all students.” Read More
May 2017 Finally Relief for Florida Agencies: Safe Harbor with Public Records Requests By Leonard J. Dietzen, III ldietzen@rumberger.com Florida public agencies have made tremendous efforts in training their staff to comply with their responsibility under the Florida Public Records Act. Unfortunately, one technical mistake has turned this law into the Lawyer’s Relief Act. For…
In a move surprised few and angered many, Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed into law a massive education bill that legislative leaders crafted behind closed doors in the final days of their spring session. He did so at an Orlando Catholic school that serves children with special needs, highlighting the bill’s $30 million…
or-profit charter schools are less likely to improve student achievement than nonprofit charter schools or traditional public schools, according to a new report from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). On average, nonprofit charter schools — which represent the majority of charter schools in the U.S. — offer their students the equivalent…
Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday vetoed a sweeping higher education reform bill that was one of Senate President Joe Negron’s top priorities of the 2017 session, saying that the measure “impedes” the ability of state colleges to provide access to low-cost, quality education. Scott’s rejection of SB 374 halts several of Negron’s reforms intended to…
With a controversial and wide-ranging education bill now on his desk, Gov. Rick Scott faces intense pressure from both sides as he weighs whether to sign or veto the legislation. Rumors have begun floating that Scott will sign HB 7069 later this week, but officially the governor maintains that he hasn’t made a final decision. …
In a flurry of last minute deal-making, legislators were able to patch together compromises to allow them to wrap up their work and finish the Special Session on time. The issue of greatest interest to school boards was increasing funding to the FEFP by $215 million in order to provide an increase of $100 per…
Facing a 6 p.m. deadline, Florida legislative leaders struck a last-minute agreement with the governor to resolve their differences and avoid an embarrassing override of the governor’s budget vetoes Friday. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, agreed to the Senate’s call to restore $60 million of the $114 million cut from…
Florida senators wanting a second crack at stopping a contentious $419 million education reform bill that narrowly passed the Legislature last month were unsuccessful on Thursday in defunding it to redirect the dollars to general K-12 public school spending. Broward County Democratic Sen. Gary Farmer led the charge to undo HB 7069, after Senate Pre-K-12…
Today, legislators made some progress in resolving the differences between the House and Senate versions of the FEFP funding bills . As we reported yesterday, the only significant difference between the House and Senate versions of their funding bills was the source of funds used to increase total FEFP funding by $215 million — the…