TODAY’S HAPPENINGS In the House Session: Bills on 2nd Reading: HB 7107 – Public Employees / Retirement by State Affairs – READ 2ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3RDREADING FOR 2/24/16 Authorizes renewed membership in retirement system for certain retirees who are reemployed in position eligible for Elected Officers’ Class; provides for renewed membership in retirement system for certain retirees of…
STATUS REPORT ON EDUCATION LEGISLATION As background, it is important to remember that, in order to be passed, a bill must undergo 3 Readings. The 1stReading occurs with the bill is introduced and its title is published in the chamber’s journal. The bill then is referred to 2-4 committees/subcommittees for consideration – these are called the bill’s…
Under the guise of school choice, the Florida House is pushing ahead with three bad bills that would benefit charter schools and yet again damage traditional public schools. The priorities are upside-down, and the Senate should stick up for local control and a fairer distribution of tax money to public education. The first example of…
This Video Update features FSBA Executive Director Andrea Messina reporting on issues impacting the Legislature as we enter the last weeks of the 2016 Session, including a few education related bills that appear to be off the table for the rest of this legislative session. Ms. Messina also discusses HB 287 / SB 434 relating to…
TAMPA — The validity of the test, the way it’s graded and the way those grades are used have come under question by parents and educators since the new Florida Standards Assessment debuted last year. Still, students across the state are preparing to take the exam a second time at the end of this month and…
An assortment of education measures — several with significant effects on Florida’s public education system — easily passed the state House on Thursday, mostly along party lines. The approved bills, deemed priorities for the Florida House, include one that would allow parents to send their children to any public school in the state that has…
Public records advocates won support on Wednesday for an amendment that defuses their concerns over a controversial bill targeting people who attempt to misuse the state’s public records laws to extort money from the government. The compromise, worked out between the First Amendment Foundation, the League of Cities and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. René Garcia,…
Senate Education Committee chairman John Legg said Thursday that his committee again will not meet next week, marking the effective death of several bills that had his panel as their first point of reference. Among the measures that generated the most passionate reactions but not getting hearings were related to requiring elementary school recess (SB…
TALLAHASSEE — In a near-unanimous vote, the House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would mandate recess in elementary schools. Before the chamber’s floor session, advocates from around the state who have dubbed themselves “recess moms” held a press conference alongside Democratic lawmakers to push for the legislation, which appears dead in the…
The Florida House has approved several education bills changing everything from the way students can transfer to how how quickly they can advance in school. But some of those proposals face opposition in the Senate when they get there. Democratic Representative Steve Geller sums up his party’s sentiment about the education bills. “It’s a pattern…