A budget proposal that is advancing in the Legislature would make next year’s funding for Florida’s public schools contingent on the passage of Republican House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s chief education priority: a new voucher directing taxpayer dollars to private schools. Read More
Work on the state budget took center stage today and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees reviewed their respective budget proposals and related bills. The House made only a few changes to their main budget bill – none of which impacted Pre-K-12 Education Funding – but adopted a lengthy substitute bill for their main education…
In a replay of last year, the House on Wednesday attached a major education policy bill to the state budget, spurring a debate on controversial issues such as a voucher-like program for students who are bullied and an effort to weaken teachers’ unions. The House Appropriations Committee voted 20-8 for the 198-page budget “conforming” bill…
Legislative committees considered several bills of interest today, including, most notably, bills relating school board member term limits and school district accountability. Please click on the link below for our report on the outcome of the consideration of these bills and others that were considered today. Tomorrow, the Appropriations Committees in both chambers will be…
Legislative committees considered several bills of interest today, including bills relating to student safety and health, juvenile justice, public meetings, school funding, early learning, and curriculum. Please click on the link below for our report on the outcome for these bills and others. Tomorrow, legislators will consider several more bills of interest, most notably, bills…
As we begin this fourth week of the 2018 Legislative Session, we encourage you to view our Legislative Weekly video that features Andrea Messina providing a recap of the major bills and meetings last week. This will be a busy week with several bills of interest under consideration throughout the week, consideration of the House…
Florida lawmakers moved last week to expand the state’s school voucher programs — pushing to create a new one for bullied students — even as they also worked to impose more rules on participating private schools.The state’s three current voucher, or scholarship, programs pay private school tuition for 140,000 students statewide, serving youngsters from low-income…
The Constitution Revision Commission Education Committee met this afternoon to consider several important education-related proposals to amend the Florida Constitution, including, among others, proposals relating to public and charter school authorizers, school choice programs, and the prohibition against using public revenues in aid of religious entities. You may wish to review our Discussion and Key…
Proposals to ask voters in November to expand vouchers and school choice were given a predicted green light Friday as a key committee of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission moved forward in what is a top priority of Florida’s Republican leaders. The biggest school choice victory of the day was the unanimous vote of the…
Tallahassee, FL – Updates from Florida’s Capitol: Children’s Week, Senior’s Day, subcommittee budgets, and more.