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…
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…
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…
The chambers were unable to reach agreement on a budget today which means that, at a minimum, the session will be extended beyond Friday’s scheduled date of adjournment. Senate President Negron indicated that the chambers are very close to agreement and they hope to publish a budget by Friday. They may then recess during the…
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If legislators hope to adjourn as scheduled on Friday, the Conference Report on the state budget must be published sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) to allow for the constitutionally required 72-hour “cooling off period” before a vote can be taken on the passage of the budget bill. There are several major budget issues that appear to be…
Proposed dramatic changes to the way Florida schools get and use federal Title I funding gained support in the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, paving the way for their likely adoption into law. Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who heads the state superintendents association, tried to kill the language, which came from a…
The Senate president and House speaker stepped in Sunday afternoon to take over budget negotiations, with several issues still in play as lawmakers race toward a Tuesday deadline to finish work on a nearly $83 billion spending plan. Talks over the weekend between Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, and House Appropriations Chairman Carlos Trujillo,…
As we enter the last week of the Session, a great deal of work remains if legislators hope to adjourn by Friday. Work on the budget is not complete and major policy issues remain unresolved. However, as always, things can happen very quickly. The House has no meetings or floor sessions scheduled for tomorrow but…
With barely three days left before lawmakers have to finalize the annual state budget if session is to end as scheduled May 5, Floridians still have very little idea what kind of compromise lawmakers are crafting behind closed doors when it comes to the most consequential reforms this year that affect K-12 public schools. Read…