Florida school districts file formal challenge to constitutionality of HB 7069

Just to get it on the record here, thirteen Florida school boards including Pinellas County filed suit Monday in Leon County court, challenging the constitutionality of several provisions within the law created by HB 7069. The lawsuit comes as no surprise.  Speculation ran rampant that such a legal battle would emerge from almost the moment after the…

FSBA Session Spotlight — October 16, 2017

The Legislature held the first round of Interim Committee Meetings last week in preparation of the upcoming 2018 Legislative Session.  Please click on the file below to access our report on the bills and presentations that were considered.  In addition, please click on the other files listed below for a few quick updates on items of interest.…

Lawmakers eye student financial literacy requirement

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…

Florida House leadership announces plan for new student scholarship

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…

Hundreds of Florida schools to get added flexibility from some state rules

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…

FSBA Session Spotlight — October 9-13, 2017

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“]…

Florida lawmakers seek $27 billion for hurricane recovery

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…

Florida workers comp rates fall, lessening legislative battle’s urgency

Crisis, what crisis?  Just a year after dire predictions that the state’s economy was in peril due to rising insurance costs, Florida businesses could see an average 9.3 percent reduction in workers’ compensation premiums in the coming year under a rate filing Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier will consider later this month.  If approved, manufacturing businesses…

Stage is set for a big court battle over Florida’s funding of charter schools

The legal war has officially begun over a highly controversial, charter school-friendly education law Republican state lawmakers pushed through last spring.  Palm Beach County School Board members filed a lawsuit this week challenging the constitutionality of one part of House Bill 7069. Another, potentially more far-reaching lawsuit with the backing of at least 14 other school…

FEA Sues State, DOE And School Districts Over ‘Best & Brightest’ Teacher Bonus Program

The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, along with seven Florida teachers are suing the state, the Florida Department of Education and all 67 public school districts. That includes university lab schools, Florida Virtual School and the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. At issue: whether the state’s “Best and Brightest” teacher…