Florida School Boards Association
TALLAHASSEE — The Supreme Court of Florida handed the insurance and business industries a significant defeat on Thursday, ruling in a 5-2 decision that the state’s attorney-fee caps in workers compensation law are unconstitutional. “We conclude that the mandatory fee schedule is unconstitutional as a violation of due process under both the Florida and United…
In a move towards strict liability, a recent Florida Supreme Court holding allows no room for public agency error under Florida’s Public Records Act (“Act”). On April 14, 2016, the Supreme Court of Florida issued on opinion in Board of Trustees, Jacksonville Police & Fire Pension Fund v. Lee, and held that a party is…
TALLAHASSEE- A four-week trial challenging Florida’s entire public education system and its hallmark components — such as standardized testing, school grades and “school choice” options, like charter schools — concluded Friday. Numerous witnesses, including state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, testified in Leon County Circuit Court during the trial, which began in mid-March. Judge George Reynolds…
TALLAHASSEE — A showdown over Florida’s public schools that began Monday in a Tallahassee courtroom is expected to delve into whether the changes pushed by Republican governors and a GOP-controlled Legislature over the past two decades helped or hurt the state’s school children. Education groups and parents from Duval and Pasco counties filed a lawsuit…
The Constitution Revision Commission is a big deal, and voters should pay attention. This group of unelected appointees will have the power to put constitutional changes directly on the ballot. The CRC is required to meet every 20 years to review and recommend changes to the Florida Constitution. That’s pretty heady stuff. The politically well-connected…
It’s time to start thinking about changing the constitution. Once every 20 years Florida convenes a Constitution Revision Commission to recommend changes to the constitution for voters to consider. Commissioners will meet again in 2017 and 18 legal, political and voting rights groups have banded together to get people talking about what they would like…
TALLAHASSEE — Four years after championing a law that inadvertently made sexting an unenforceable crime in Florida, a state senator is pushing to close that loophole. The Legislature in 2011 set out to update out-of-date statutes to address minors who send nude photos to other minors. “Unfortunately it was not written in the proper posture,”…