More than 5,000 students from Puerto Rico have enrolled in Florida public schools since Hurricane Maria. In the seven weeks since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, the majority of schools in Puerto Rico still don’t have electricity or running water. While most students have settled in Central and South Florida, school…
The Senate on Thursday released its version of tax reform, and in one important respect it could have a bigger impact on spending for public schools than the House bill released last week. The Senate’s GOP-only version would eliminate all the current deductions people can take on the federal tax returns for state and local…
The Legislature will hold a third round of Interim Committee Meetings this week. Please click on the file below to access the schedule and more information on the education-related meetings, bills, and presentations that will be considered. In addition, please click on the links below for our updates on the Constitution Revision Commission Committee meetings that…
Republican lawmakers unveiled a sweeping rewrite of the tax code on Thursday, outlining a $1.5 trillion plan that will deliver a significant tax cut for corporations and more modest savings for middle-class families while tilting the United States closer, but not entirely, toward the kind of tax system long championed by businesses. Read More
The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had “a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to…
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“]…
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…
As part of its ongoing work to aid hurricane relief efforts, today the Department of Education released new non-regulatory guidance to help Department grantees and program participants remove barriers to restoring teaching and learning environments and to expediting the recovery process for all those impacted by the recent hurricanes. Read More
President Donald Trump will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that gives protection to an estimated 800,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the order to end DACA Tuesday morning at the U.S. Department of Justice. The decision leaves the undocumented residents, an…
Robert Runcie came to this country at age six from Jamaica, the son of parents with a third grade education. Today he’s superintendent of the Broward County School District, a large system at the forefront of efforts to celebrate the cultural diversity of its students. On Wednesday, he added his voice to a chorus of…