The Legislature held the second round of Interim Committee Meetings last week. Please click on the file below to access our report on the bills and presentations that were considered. In addition, please click on the files below for information and updates on this week’s Constitution Revision Commission Committee meetings, recent action in Washington on…
The Legislature will hold a second round of Interim Committee Meetings this week in preparation of the upcoming 2018 Legislative Session. Please click on the file below to access the full schedule of meetings and information on the bills, and presentations that will be considered. In addition, we have provided links to information about the State Board…
Just to get it on the record here, thirteen Florida school boards including Pinellas County filed suit Monday in Leon County court, challenging the constitutionality of several provisions within the law created by HB 7069. The lawsuit comes as no surprise. Speculation ran rampant that such a legal battle would emerge from almost the moment after the…
From schools to shelters, Florida is readying for an influx of people struggling for food, water and power in hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico. Gov. Rick Scott said Florida doesn’t know how many people will make the trip from Puerto Rico. Also, Scott said it is unknown how many will decide to remain permanently in Florida or…
The legal war has officially begun over a highly controversial, charter school-friendly education law Republican state lawmakers pushed through last spring. Palm Beach County School Board members filed a lawsuit this week challenging the constitutionality of one part of House Bill 7069. Another, potentially more far-reaching lawsuit with the backing of at least 14 other school…
Rhonda Combs had finished storing her photo albums and scrapbooks in big plastic bags. There was nothing left to do but go stir crazy, waiting for Hurricane Irma.So she drove to McKitrick Elementary School, where she teaches kindergarten, and saw volunteers escorting families to the classrooms where they would seek shelter. Combs found those assigned…
By 1 p.m. Monday, as Hurricane Irma’s ferocity weakened and the storm continued its northward march, just 50 people were left at the shelter inside Boca Raton High School. It was a dramatic change from just a day earlier, when 1,700 evacuees had sought shelter at the high school in the Palm Beach County school…
A makeshift sign hanging from a fence outside of New Renaissance Middle School warned residents seeking last minute shelter from Hurricane Irma that the school’s gym had reached its capacity and couldn’t accept any more people. Outside, nearly 160 cars filled the school’s main parking lot. Inside, hundreds of people had gathered. Read More
Schools in at least 20 counties across Florida have cancelled classes for Hurricane Irma.The Florida School Boards Association confirms that response plans from the school district have improved since previous storms, and students should be able to return to school shortly after the storm. Read More
Last week the Orange County School Board voted unanimously to join numerous other Florida school districts in petitioning the courts to declare recently enacted House Bill 7069 unconstitutional. The decision to join the litigation was not made lightly, and was made only after concluding that constitutional principles of a uniform, high-quality education and local control…