Posts that reference happenings of the 2017 session
School boards from across the state have gone to the 1st District Court of Appeal as they continue to challenge a controversial 2017 law that includes steps to boost charter schools. Eleven districts signed on to notices filed last week indicating they will appeal an April 17 ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper…
After a nearly 5-hour hearing, Leon County Judge John Cooper wasted little time Wednesday in throwing out several school districts’ challenge of HB 7069, the controversial 2017 education legislation that created a new class of charter schools, among several other measures. Cooper found the law constitutional. Read More
Long before Florida entered the deadliest hurricane season in a decade, auditors at the state’s Division of Emergency Management sent out a warning: the state was ill-prepared for a major disaster. A 23-page annual audit completed in December 2016 by the agency’s inspector general detailed a lengthy list of deficiencies needed to prepare and respond…
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…
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…
As had been requested by FSBA and other education groups, Governor Scott vetoed the FEFP portion of the state budget and called on legislators to increase total FEFP funding per student by $100 over the current year (2016-2017) level. Florida’s Legislature convened in Special Session 2017-A on Wednesday to address this K-12 funding issue as…
In response to the requests and advocacy of school board members, superintendents, district staff, parents, and students, Governor Scott has announced that he intends to veto the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) portion of the state budget because he finds it to be inadequate to meet the needs of students and their families. A Special…
Tallahassee, FL – After a three day extension, Florida’s Legislative Session has come to an end. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights, and be sure visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses. Also, be on the lookout for FSBA’s online and face-to-face Legislative Summary events.
The Legislature adjourned the 2017 Legislative Session, sine die, shortly before 9:00 pm this evening having passed each of the budget Conference Reports and tax cut package. As expected, HB 7069 was the only education related Conference Report that generated significant debate, particularly in the Senate. The bill passed the House by an essentially party…
The Legislature will return to work tomorrow — Monday — for the last day of the extended 2017 Legislative Session. The only items that are scheduled to be considered are a bill outlining the state tax cut package (HB 7109) and the Conference Reports on the budget, budget implementing bill, and the related conforming bills. …