Florida has two groups advocating on behalf of school boards, and they are not always asking for the same things. They disagreed on vouchers — in fact, the Florida Coalition of School Board members split from the larger, more established Florida School Boards Association over that issue — and now they disagree over the 278-page HB…
Add the Florida School Boards Association to the growing list of groups calling for a veto of HB 7069, the mammoth $419 million K-12 public schools bill Republican lawmakers unveiled and passed in the final days of their annual session. In a letter to Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday, the FSBA — which represents 64…
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.
A swift outcry of condemnation came over the weekend from many parents, teachers and school administrators who want the Florida Legislature to reject a $419 million, 278-page K-12 public schools bill — which was decided behind closed doors, which lawmakers cannot change and which they’ll have had only about 72 hours to review when they…
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. …
Passionate parents, like Kate Asturias of Miami and Angela Browning of Orlando, have been fighting for years to get guaranteed daily recess for their children and the more than 1.2 million other kids in Florida’s public elementary schools. The two moms trekked to Tallahassee on Friday, for the countless time, hoping to see lawmakers finally…
At the insistence of House Speaker Richard Corcoran, numerous major changes to education policy for Florida’s K-12 public schools — from teacher bonuses and daily recess, to testing reforms and expansions for charter schools — were crammed into a single mammoth bill on Friday, with $414 million in spending attached. All of the policies in the…
With two days left for lawmakers to enact policy this session, two Republican senators late Wednesday released what’s essentially a brand new bill that salvages myriad stalled education proposals while also preserving one of the Legislature’s top K-12 priorities: reforms addressing excessive standardized testing in Florida public schools. Sens. Anitere Flores of Miami and Kelli…
If legislators hope to adjourn as scheduled on Friday, the Conference Report on the state budget must be published sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) to allow for the constitutionally required 72-hour “cooling off period” before a vote can be taken on the passage of the budget bill. There are several major budget issues that appear to be…
Proposed dramatic changes to the way Florida schools get and use federal Title I funding gained support in the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, paving the way for their likely adoption into law. Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who heads the state superintendents association, tried to kill the language, which came from a…