Property taxes likely to spur school funding fight

Another battle about using increases in local property taxes to bolster public schools will complicate upcoming state budget negotiations.  In his $87.4 billion budget proposal for 2018-2019, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday called for a $770 million increase in funding for Florida’s kindergarten through 12th-grade education system. But nearly $7 out of every $10 of…

Are States Changing Course on Teacher Evaluation?

Bolstered by new research and federal incentives, experts decided about a decade ago that better teacher evaluation was the path to better student achievement. A flood of states started toughening their teacher-evaluation systems, and many of them did it by incorporating student-test scores into educators’ ratings. Read More

Does Florida’s constitutional mandate of one-subject legislation apply to HB 7069?

Logrolling.  It’s defined as the practice of including multiple unrelated items in a single legislative bill, with the goal of attracting wider support for the measure as a whole.  Florida’s constitution forbids it, stating: “Every law shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, and the subject shall be briefly expressed in the…

Editorial: Continuing debate shows need for legislative do-over

With the 2018 legislative session just weeks away, key failures of the 2017 Legislature continued to frustrate local elected leaders at separate meetings Tuesday in Collier County.  Two positive steps the Legislature could take in the next session that starts in January are to immediately repeal — then start over on components of — House…

Florida Supreme Court is asked to block new education law

Raising the prospect of “irreversible damage” to the public education system, nine school boards want the Florida Supreme Court to block a massive education law approved in May.The school boards late Monday filed a constitutional challenge at the Supreme Court to the bill, which has become known in the education world by the shorthand HB…

Gov. Scott pitches $87.4 billion election-year budget for Florida

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday called for a record-high state budget of $87.4 billion for next year, an election year that offers him one last chance to recast spending priorities before leaving office.  It is by far the largest budget Scott has proposed since the Republican governor took office seven years ago, and it’s a…

Tampa Bay Area Schools Open Doors To Puerto Rican Students

More than 5,000 students from Puerto Rico have enrolled in Florida public schools since Hurricane Maria.  In the seven weeks since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, the majority of schools in Puerto Rico still don’t have electricity or running water.  While most students have settled in Central and South Florida, school…

FSBA Session Spotlight — November 13, 2017

The Legislature held a third round of Interim Committee Meetings last week and will hold a fourth round this week. Please click on the links below to access this week’s schedule and our report on last week’s education-related meetings, bills, and presentations that were considered.  In addition, we have provided a link to our latest…