The clock starts today for Gov. Rick Scott who has 15 days to decide whether to sign an $82.4 billion state budget — and just how much of it he wants to veto. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, on Wednesday is sending the budget bill (SB 2500) to Scott, who faces a June 15 deadline to act on…
Florida Gov. Scott should veto the misbegotten K-12 education budget. Turn a deaf ear to his political foes’ contention that in doing so he would be caving in to (liberal) teacher’s unions. Swat down fantastical tales of overly larded public-school budgets. Decry, resolutely, the appallingly secretive deal-making between legislative leaders that, ultimately, leaves public schools…
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.
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…
Tallahassee, FL – Week 8 of Florida’s Legislative Session is coming to an end, and will be heading into a weekend of Budget Conference Committee Meetings. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights. Be sure visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.
Florida lawmakers this week set into motion a budget process that will result in several highly consequential policy reforms affecting public education to become law this year in one form or another. But if years of precedent are any indication, what exactly those final laws might be will now be determined through deal-making and negotiations…
Tallahassee, FL – Week 5 of the Florida Legislative Session has come to an end. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights, and visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.
Fed up with traditional K-12 public schools that perpetually fail, often in Florida’s poorest communities, Republican lawmakers in the state House have proposed a bold — and costly — idea to help those students. They want to spend $200 million in 2017-18 to entice “the best of the best charter schools in the entire country”…
The House and Senate are on track to start budget negotiations with a gap of $2 billion in their proposals, providing fresh reasons for skepticism that lawmakers will complete a spending plan by the scheduled May 5 end of the legislative session. The Senate on Thursday published an initial draft of its budget that would…