With House Republican leaders holding up a Senate-approved bill to mandate daily recess in public elementary schools, Florida senators will attempt another route to get the proposal enacted this year. Miami Republican Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor of the Senate recess bill (SB 78), filed a sweeping amendment Wednesday morning to her measure aimed at…
Today was a very full day of consideration of significant bills, but one of today’s highlights was action on a bill in the Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator Simmons proposed a lengthy amendment to SB 1552 (relating to the Best & Brightest Teacher and Principal Scholarships) that revises and adds components of current school…
With three weeks remaining in the Legislative Session, the chambers are rapidly moving bills into position for passage. In addition to the passage of individual bills, it is expected that legislators will create at least one “train” of education bills – combining all or part of several bills into one omnibus bill. In general, to…
Administrators at some of Florida’s largest school districts — including Miami-Dade County — are speaking out in opposition to House Republicans’ $200 million “schools of hope” plan that would pit new, specialized charter schools against the districts’ perpetually failing traditional public schools. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is “actively lobbying against” HB 5105, a spokeswoman said,…
Florida lawmakers this week set into motion a budget process that will result in several highly consequential policy reforms affecting public education to become law this year in one form or another. But if years of precedent are any indication, what exactly those final laws might be will now be determined through deal-making and negotiations…
During most of the last week or so, we have tried to keep you updated on progress on the budget. As you know, both chambers have passed their versions of the budget and related bills, but significant differences remain that have not been resolved. The next step in the budget development process is for each…
As we reported yesterday, the Senate amended and/or passed their version of the budget, budget implementing bill, and budget conforming bills and sent them to the House for consideration. Since each of these Senate bills differ from their House companion bills, the Senate requested that the House pass the bill as passed by the Senate…
Tallahassee, FL – As Week 6 of the Florida Legislative Session wraps up for the holiday weekend, watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights. Be sure visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.
As expected, both chambers reviewed their respective budgets – SB 2500 and HB 5001 — and related budget implementing bills and budget conforming bills. Most of these bills were either approved without amendment or the amendments did not directly pertain to PreK-12 education. However, two significant amendments were approved in the Senate to SB 376…
Thirty-seven Floridians, almost all of them unknown to the public, will be among the state’s most potentially powerful people over the next 18 months. They serve on the Constitution Revision Commission. Their impact could last far longer than that of many people who hold elective office. Read More