FSBA Session Spotlight — March 28, 2019

Today’s agenda is fairly brief, but several bills of interest will be considered including, among others, bills relating to school board term limits, civics education, early learning, and government accountability. Today’s schedule is posted below and is updated to show the outcome on these bills after each meeting concludes. Please note that all of the…

FSBA Session Spotlight — March 27, 2019

Today, the House and Senate Appropriations committees will take up their proposed budgets, implementing bills, and conforming bills and will consider any amendments to them. We have prepared a side-by-side comparison of the education funding portions of the House and Senate appropriations bills as they stand today before consideration by the Appropriations Committee meetings. Please…

Should parents be able to ‘opt out’ their children from having an armed teacher?

A bill that would allow classroom teachers to carry guns passed yet another committee Tuesday in the Florida Senate along party lines, leaving it with just one more committee in each chamber before it reaches the floor.  But amidst the emotional debate surrounding the bill, a new idea emerged that caught the attention of a prominent…

Travis Cummings sees education funding as budget skirmish

Expect money for education to be heavily contested during budget conferencing and negotiations of the later days of Session.  That’s according to House Appropriations Chair Travis Cummings, who spoke to Florida Politics about the spending plan he believes his committee will forward on Wednesday to the House floor next week. The House and Senate late last week released initial…

FSBA Session Spotlight — March 26, 2019

As we near the mid-point of the Session, time is growing short for bills that haven’t been heard in their committees/subcommittees of reference so today we see a flurry of activity to consider bills that have been waiting for first hearings while others are completing work in their committees/subcommittees of reference and soon will be…

FSBA Session Spotlight — March 21, 2019

Today’s schedule appears fairly light, but several bills of interest will be considered, including the House Proposed Committee Bill (PCP) relating to school safety as well as bills relating to anti-Semitism, parental rights, public records, government accountability. and construction, Today’s schedule is posted below and is updated throughout the day with the outcome on these…

FSBA Session Spotlight — March 20, 2019

Today’s schedule called for consideration of the Senate’s school safety bill – SB 7030 – this afternoon in the  Senate Infrastructure & Security Committee but there was not sufficient time for discussion, public testimony, and debate of the bill.  Committee Chair, Tom Lee, apologized and rescheduled consideration of the bill for Tuesday, March 26.  However,…

FSBA Session Spotlight — March 19, 2019

Before diving into this third week of the Legislative Session, please be sure to watch our FSBA Weekly Video Update featuring FSBA Executive Director Andrea Messina providing a recap of the main events during the second week of the Session.  The third week of the Legislative Session begins with a particularly busy schedule today that…

Florida House advances Ron DeSantis’ charter school expansion plan

Florida House leadership has unveiled another proposal aimed at enacting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ goal of widely expanding school choice programs.  This time, it would open the door for a broader influx of charter schools into the state’s poorest communities.  A bill from the PreK-12 Innovation subcommittee, filed late Friday, would allow the establishment of “Hope” charter schools in “opportunity…