Florida School Boards join state leaders in Tallahassee

Over 150 school board members from across the state recently convened in Tallahassee to participate in leadership development training, legislative briefings, and advocacy sessions to prepare for visits to the Capitol.To kick off the week, over 45 school board members elected in 2018 attended the second installment of New School Board Member Academy. They were…

Justices to hear Parkland liability dispute

The Florida Supreme Court said Friday it will hear arguments in a dispute about how much the Broward County School Board could be forced to pay to parents and victims in last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  Justices issued a unanimous order saying they will take up the case and will…

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 11, 2019

Today’s agenda includes House and Senate committee meetings and a House floor session. Of particular interest, the Senate will consider its school safety bill — SB 7030 – and the House will consider a PCB relating to taxation and tax relief.  The House floor session provides 3rd Reading on several bills of interest that had…

Bill in Florida House would require school districts to share local referendum money with charter schools

Florida school districts that successfully pushed for a special local property tax to better fund public education would have to share that money with charter schools, under a bill filed this week in the Legislature.  The measure, proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee, would allow the state to withhold other sources of money…

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 10, 2019

Today’s agenda includes both Senate committee meetings and House and Senate floor sessions. Bills of interest under consideration today include bills relating to term limits for school board members, parental rights, school choice, local referenda, career education, public records, and government accountability. Today’s schedule is posted below and will be updated to show the outcome on…

Stoneman Douglas commission reviews how school districts are doing at keeping kids safe

embers of the state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting on Tuesday debated the pros and cons of rating school districts on how well they are implementing policies to keep children safe.  The discussion was part of the commission’s first hearing in more than three months, which began with reports of progress in making schools…

How do Florida’s standards stack up? The state wants your input

The Florida Department of Education has launched a new website aimed at gathering more detailed public views about the standards Gov. Ron DeSantis has demanded be revised.  The site, which requires registration, details language arts and math standards by grade level. For each, it asks respondents whether they would like to eliminate, revise, move or…

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 9, 2019

Before diving into the sixth 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 fourth week of the Session.  Today’s agenda includes consideration of the omnibus school choice bill — HB 7095 – in the…

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 4, 2019

The Senate considered and passed most of their budget and related bills in floor session yesterday and the House will follow with consideration their budget and related bills today. In addition, the Senate will consider several bills of interest including bills relating to curriculum, taxation, and impact fees.  Today’s schedule is posted below and will…

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 3, 2019

Today’s agenda includes consideration of several bills of interest including bills relating to health and mental health, curriculum, early learning, hurricane recovery, school choice, and government accountability. Today’s schedule is posted below and will be updated to show the outcome as soon as possible (please forgive any delays in our reporting this week while we…