It was supposed to be operational six months ago, part of Florida’s wide-ranging effort to prevent the next school shooting: a sprawling new database that would merge people’s social media posts with millions of records on individuals who have been bullied, placed in foster care, committed a crime, or even been mentioned in unverified tips…
Florida has an estimated 400,000 children who need behavioral-health services, but 55 percent of them don’t get any treatment, members of a health care panel were told last week. That translates to 220,000 children across the state, or about one child in every classroom, health official Jeffrey Brosco told members of the Florida Healthy Kids…
Can talking during snack time and making Jell-O in pre-K help break the cycle of poverty? One of the leading experts on the effects of early education thinks so. A bevy of research touts the benefits of high-quality early education, but Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman’s most recent published work from the University of Chicago…
Calling the recently wrapped Florida legislative session “amazing,” education commissioner Richard Corcoran said his team earned a top grade for achieving its goals. “We pretty much got 93 percent of the legislative agenda,” Corcoran told the State Board of Education during its meeting Wednesday in Tampa. He included among those successes bills — now laws…
Florida, as we know, is decidedly not California. The two coastal giants, Nos. 3 and 1 among states in population, are competing for congressional seats and federal funding in the 2020 Census, and they’re going about it differently. California has budgeted more than $100 million and has more than two dozen people working to reach…
We are pleased to announce the publication of the FSBA 2019 Legislative Session Summary. Our Summary provides an in-depth analysis of the education related funding in the state budget and detailed summaries of the education related bills passed during the session. We will update our Summary if, during the coming days, Governor DeSantis chooses to…
The 2019 Legislative Session has adjourned, sine die, with public education enjoying some important victories in education funding and policy, but also enduring some significant disappointments. We are still sorting through the final bill actions, including the status of last minute amendments to the bills that are of interest, but we have provided a PRELIMINARY…
After about seven hours of angry, sometimes deeply painful debate about race and gun violence that spanned two days, the Florida House passed a bill Wednesday that would allow classroom teachers to be armed, expanding a program lawmakers created last year after the Parkland shooting. The debate reached emotional heights that had Democrats shouting or…
The Florida Legislature is sending a controversial bill to the governor that allows teachers to carry guns on campus, despite protests from educators and students urging them not to put more firearms in schools. The Florida House voted 65-47 Wednesday in favor of the school safety measure, which prompted hours of heated and emotional debate.…
Bills of interest on today’s schedule include 3rd Reading of SB 7030 (school safety) in the House. Other bills of interest on the schedule today include bills relating to early learning, personnel, mental health, and public records. In addition to bills on the agenda, bills will be moving back and forth between chambers in Messages. …