Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature, which has been wracked by feuds among its top leaders for the last several years, is in danger of ending a three-day special session without restoring billions in money that public schools use to pay for day-to-day operations. The session is scheduled to end Friday, but after two days there remained a…
Lawmakers on Thursday morning inched closer to agreeing on how to boost state funding to K-12 public schools starting on July 1, even as a few senators still have plans to revive a debate over a controversial education reform bill, which could wrinkle any compromise. In amending legislation to add money to the K-12 budget…
As had been requested by FSBA and other education groups, Governor Scott vetoed the FEFP portion of the state budget and called on legislators to increase total FEFP funding per student by $100 over the current year (2016-2017) level. Florida’s Legislature convened in Special Session 2017-A on Wednesday to address this K-12 funding issue as…
Hialeah Republican Sen. René García told Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, in a letter today that he’s “not comfortable supporting any compromise” on increasing K-12 funding for 2017-18 that does not also address a controversial education policy bill that awaits Gov. Rick Scott‘s approval. García was one of three Senate Republicans to vote against HB 7069…
This week’s special legislative session on education and economic-development funding seemed Tuesday to be on the verge of collapse before it even began, with Senate and House leaders trading barbs and facing a tight deadline. Read More
The first substantive meeting of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission showed clear rifts among members of the panel responsible for putting proposed constitutional changes on the 2018 ballot. Meeting in Orlando, the commission Tuesday split on a vote about rules that will govern the panel’s work in the coming months. Read More
When lawmakers open a special session Wednesday afternoon, they’ll be under a tight, three-day time limit to increase education spending and create a new economic development program for the governor. The deal was inked behind closed doors last week by Gov. Rick Scott, House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron in an effort…
Advocates of traditional public education welcomed Gov. Rick Scott’s demand on Friday that lawmakers redo the K-12 education budget for next year and boost it with $215 million in additional spending. But school superintendents, teachers union leaders and others cautioned that those added dollars won’t be good enough if Scott intends to also sign House…
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday slashed the entire $11 billion public school budget and eliminated $409 million in local projects from the Legislature’s $83 billion spending plan, setting the stage for a special session next week to increase funding to schools. Read More
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a new state budget into law Friday evening, but not before he vetoed nearly $12 billion. The governor vetoed money for public schools as part of a budget deal he worked out with legislators. Legislators will hold a special session next week, where they are expected to increase the amount…