VIDEO: Week 5 FSBA Legislative Update

Tallahassee, FL – Week 5 of the Florida Legislative Session has come to an end. Watch this FSBA Legislative Weekly Update for highlights, and visit the FSBA Session Spotlight Blog and 2017 Legislative Session page for in-depth summaries, resources, and analyses.

FSBA Session Spotlight — April 6, 2017

This week marks the mid-point of the Legislative Session and has brought attention to key bills that directly address the priorities identified in the FSBA 2017 Legislative Platform: assessment and accountability, education funding, and capital outlay funding.  During this very hectic week, the Senate Education Committee took up SB 926 relating to K-12 Student Assessments…

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School officials gather for FSBA advocacy event

Port St. Joe – Billy Quinn, Danny Little and Cindy Belin of the Gulf County School Board joined over 130 school board members, district superintendents, and other education leaders in Tallahassee March 29-31 to participate in the Florida School Boards Association’s 30th Annual Day in the Legislature Conference and Board of Directors’ Meeting. Read More

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FSBA Session Spotlight — April 5, 2017

The Senate and House Appropriations Committees reviewed and amended their respective proposed state budgets today. In the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, there were more than 120 amendments filed with about 30 of these proposed amendments relating to education. The majority of the education related amendments revised non-FEFP allocations and the remaining few focused on post-secondary…

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Senators’ homework pays off in progress on reducing student assessment tests

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…

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Are ‘schools of hope’ the solution to perpetually failing public schools?

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”…

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