It can be maddening to watch the Florida Legislature waste so much time and energy bickering over issues like the sliver of the state budget dedicated to economic development when more fundamental and far-reaching concerns deserve more attention. But legislators, to their credit, are on the verge of taking action on a problem that has…
A stalemate between the Senate and the House over allowing property taxes to pay for education will be the toughest issue to resolve before lawmakers agree on a state budget, the Senate’s top leader said Friday. Senate President Joe Negron plans to allow property taxes to rise with increasing land value, but Speaker Richard Corcoran…
Tallahassee, FL – Week 7 is in the books. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights. Be sure visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.
Legendary Senate Rules Chairman Dempsey Barron is credited with the immemorial admonition when following the Florida Legislature to “assume nothing.” With that in mind, Senate and House budget chairmen insist that despite dire predictions, they are making progress toward an agreement that would allow the Legislature to pass a budget and adjourn on time by…
In today’s House Education Committee meeting, a lot of attention was given to HB 549 relating to Publication of Student Assessments. The House has chosen this bill as a vehicle for adding several provisions relating to assessments and accountability, several of which are also included in HB 773. The original core of this bill requires…
A top Florida senator on Tuesday rolled out his version of a comprehensive plan to help students who attend perpetually failing public schools in Florida — proposing to offer additional resources to those traditional schools, rather than emphasizing incentives for new charter schools to come in and compete with them as the House wants to…
In another very full day of consideration of significant bills, one of today’s highlights was action on SB 926 in the Senate Rules Committee. This is the bill that was significantly amended earlier this month to include several improvements to the state assessment and accountability system. The bill was significantly amended today, mainly by adding…
A group of Florida parents that has taken its challenge of the state’s third-grade retention laws to the state Supreme Court must convince the justices on narrow venue issues before they can get to the heart of the matter. Read More
With House Republican leaders holding up a Senate-approved bill to mandate daily recess in public elementary schools, Florida senators will attempt another route to get the proposal enacted this year. Miami Republican Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor of the Senate recess bill (SB 78), filed a sweeping amendment Wednesday morning to her measure aimed at…
Today was a very full day of consideration of significant bills, but one of today’s highlights was action on a bill in the Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator Simmons proposed a lengthy amendment to SB 1552 (relating to the Best & Brightest Teacher and Principal Scholarships) that revises and adds components of current school…