Florida School Boards Association
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday a plan to replace the Best and Brightest bonus program to reward teachers and principals with tier-based systems. DeSantis, joined by Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in Vero Beach, called for $300 million in teacher and principal bonuses in the Florida Classroom Teacher and Florida School Principal Bonus programs. Read More
The United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) issued a report analyzing targeted school violence. This report expands upon twenty years of NTAC research in threat assessment and violence prevention. In line with this effort, NTAC conducted a study of 41 incidents of targeted school violence from 2008 to 2017. Read More Read the Report
Aiming to align career education to the needs of employers, state Sen. Travis Hutson proposed legislation to direct job growth grant fund money to certain charter schools that specialized in career-technical graduation pathways. His bill (SB 130) quickly attracted criticism from observers who wanted to know why only charter schools would benefit from the plan. Read More
Florida is one of only two states that hasn’t changed its sales tax laws since consumers began fleeing to the world wide web for gifts, groceries and other everyday needs. But that could change next year. A pair of bills have been filed for the 2020 Legislative Session that would require online retailers to collect and remit…
One state lawmaker wants to double the length of Florida’s annual back-to-school tax holiday to 10 days in 2020. Gainesville Republican Sen. Keith Perry’s proposed holiday (SB 542) would run from Friday, July 31 through Sunday, Aug. 9 next year before the earliest classes begin on Aug. 10. Read More
Florida managed care plans that participate in Medicaid and the state’s KidCare program fall below the national median in follow-up hospitalizations for mental illnesses for children, according to study findings released last week by the Trump administration. Read More
The Legislature will hold a 5th week of Interim Committee Meetings this week. Several bills of interest will be under consideration, including bills relating to funding, health and safety, public records, and ethics. In addition, the State Board of Education will be meeting on Friday in Brunnell, Florida. The agenda includes review district turnaround option…
The Legislature will hold a 4th week of Interim Committee Meetings this week. The schedule is relatively light since none of the main education related committees or subcommittees will be meeting. However, bills and topics of interest that will be considered this week include public safety, facilities, the Florida Kidcare Program, and public records. The…
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that passing his proposal to gives teachers a raise as well as requiring employers to verify their hires’ immigration status are two of his top priorities for the 2020 state legislative session. Read More
A bill is back in the Florida House for 2020 that would require a supermajority vote for a local tax referendum. HJR 477 would, if passed, allow a referendum to let voters decide whether to require a two-thirds majority for any municipality or subsidiary form of government to raise taxes. Read More