Florida School Boards Association
A sweeping plan to reduce standardized testing in Florida’s K-12 schools cleared its first state Senate committee on Monday, after lawmakers struck a compromise to blend competing reform proposals. Despite political drama last week that delayed the policy discussion, senators breezed through vetting SB 926 and passed it unanimously after considering most of the amendments…
Fed up with traditional K-12 public schools that perpetually fail, often in Florida’s poorest communities, Republican lawmakers in the state House have proposed a bold — and costly — idea to help those students. They want to spend $200 million in 2017-18 to entice “the best of the best charter schools in the entire country”…
The House and Senate are on track to start budget negotiations with a gap of $2 billion in their proposals, providing fresh reasons for skepticism that lawmakers will complete a spending plan by the scheduled May 5 end of the legislative session. The Senate on Thursday published an initial draft of its budget that would…
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran famously said “hell, no” last month to any property tax increases during the 2017 legislative session. That’s not scaring off the state Senate, though. Senators plan to test Corcoran’s hardline stance and are proposing to spend almost $540 million more than the House next year on K-12 public education by…
Tallahassee, FL – In our Week 3 update, FSBA Member Communications Manager BillieAnne Gay covers assessment, government oversight, and legislative happenings from the 22nd Floor of the Capitol.
Florida’s public schools would have to let students lead religious prayers during the school day and at school-sanctioned events, under a controversial proposal that the state Senate approved Thursday, mostly along party lines. Read More
Since Florida lawmakers eliminated annual contracts for public school teachers, a majority of the state’s school districts including Pinellas have guaranteed yearly renewals to those educators who earned an “effective” or “highly effective” evaluation rating. Read More
The Florida Senate on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a compromise proposal aimed at cracking down on “gotcha” public records requests while preserving the attorney fees leverage the public has against public officials who violate Florida’s Sunshine laws. Read More
Gabriela Fowler has a 4.7 GPA, takes college-level calculus and statistics courses, and is the president of her school’s business leadership club. But for the 17-year-old Hialeah High senior, a college scholarship funded by the record-setting revenues of the Florida Lottery somehow remains out of reach. Read More
For all the talk that Florida’s 2017 legislative session would focus on higher education, giving K-12 a breather, the climate is shaping up for potentially major changes to the state’s Jeb Bush-era test-based accountability system. The latest signal: The Senate Education Committee has scheduled a workshop for Tuesday, where it will tackle ideas in seven bills…