One Floridian wants the Bible and prayer in the state’s public schools. Another seeks to prevent state funds from going to any institution that promotes religion. One resident calls for all school district superintendents to be appointed, while another says they should all be elected. A third would do away with the job altogether. These…
Florida lawmakers will again consider a proposal that would require high-school students to pass a financial-literacy course before graduation. The Senate Education Committee this week unanimously passed a financial literacy bill (SB 88) spearheaded by committee Chair Dorothy Hukill, a Port Orange Republican. Republican state Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen of Fort Myers, filed a House version…
When Edgardo Ortiz boarded a flight from Puerto Rico to Florida on Oct. 7, with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, he didn’t have a concrete plan for what would happen next. He planned to stay with his aunt in Kissimmee, enroll his daughter in school, and look for a job. Read More
Click below to read Executive Director Andrea Messina’s top picks for this week’s education news. Read. Learn. Share. Retweet. 1. Learning about STEM from astronauts while they are in space: Learn more 2. Black Girls CODE organization expands in Detroit: Learn more 3. Ways teachers can help students during disasters, difficult times: Learn more 4. Heard about the $1 Billion…
A bill that won’t likely be filed for another 30 days rose to the top of the Florida House’s education priorities Wednesday, as Speaker Richard Corcoran and the chairmen and vice chairmen of all education committees gathered to announce the “Hope Scholarship.” Modeled after the corporate tax credit scholarship, which allows donors to contribute to…
Long before Florida entered the deadliest hurricane season in a decade, auditors at the state’s Division of Emergency Management sent out a warning: the state was ill-prepared for a major disaster. A 23-page annual audit completed in December 2016 by the agency’s inspector general detailed a lengthy list of deficiencies needed to prepare and respond…
Aiming to reward the state’s top performing schools with fewer mandates, the Florida Legislature added a section into HB 7069 last spring creating the “Schools of Excellence” designation. This week, 640 schools from 44 counties, including Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando, will learn that they landed in that new category. Three lab schools also will…
This issue of the FSBA Session Spotlight provides information and updates on a variety of issues including hurricane preparedness and response, Legislative Interim Committee Meetings, legislative special elections and changes to key legislative committees and subcommittees, state budget development, the ongoing work by the Constitution Revision Commission, and federal issues. [toggle title=”Hurricane Preparedness and Response Resources“]…
A coalition of nearly all Florida lawmakers is pushing for nearly $27 billion in additional hurricane relief money, underscoring the tremendous financial toll this year’s storms have had. The request covers the gamut, from money for citrus and livestock losses to funds for the Herbert Hoover Dike to the need for schools that could see…
Families from Puerto Rico who were displaced by Hurricane Maria won’t have to worry about having transcripts or immunization records if they enroll their children in Florida’s public schools this month, state education officials announced Friday. But for county school districts taking in the new arrivals, there is no guarantee the state will provide financial…