With the 2018 legislative session just weeks away, key failures of the 2017 Legislature continued to frustrate local elected leaders at separate meetings Tuesday in Collier County. Two positive steps the Legislature could take in the next session that starts in January are to immediately repeal — then start over on components of — House…
Raising the prospect of “irreversible damage” to the public education system, nine school boards want the Florida Supreme Court to block a massive education law approved in May.The school boards late Monday filed a constitutional challenge at the Supreme Court to the bill, which has become known in the education world by the shorthand HB…
More than 5,000 students from Puerto Rico have enrolled in Florida public schools since Hurricane Maria. In the seven weeks since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, the majority of schools in Puerto Rico still don’t have electricity or running water. While most students have settled in Central and South Florida, school…
The Legislature held a third round of Interim Committee Meetings last week and will hold a fourth round this week. Please click on the links below to access this week’s schedule and our report on last week’s education-related meetings, bills, and presentations that were considered. In addition, we have provided a link to our latest…
Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, leaned into the microphone then stopped in mid-sentence and pushed away from the table. Rep. Bryon Donalds, R-Naples, had smoothly declined to answer Abruzzo’s question of whether the Naples businessman would like to give private school vouchers to all public school students. Donalds said that was a topic for another discussion.…
Florida House members began moving forward Wednesday with a controversial proposal that would allow public-school students to receive voucher-like scholarships to attend private schools if they have been bullied, harassed or subject to violence. The bill (HB 1), approved by the House Pre-K-12 Innovation Subcommittee, is a priority of House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a major…
The Legislature will hold a third round of Interim Committee Meetings this week. Please click on the file below to access the schedule and more information on the education-related meetings, bills, and presentations that will be considered. In addition, please click on the links below for our updates on the Constitution Revision Commission Committee meetings that…
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…
The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had “a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to…