With the 2018 legislative session just weeks away, key failures of the 2017 Legislature continued to frustrate local elected leaders at separate meetings Tuesday in Collier County. Two positive steps the Legislature could take in the next session that starts in January are to immediately repeal — then start over on components of — House…
DetailsRaising the prospect of “irreversible damage” to the public education system, nine school boards want the Florida Supreme Court to block a massive education law approved in May.The school boards late Monday filed a constitutional challenge at the Supreme Court to the bill, which has become known in the education world by the shorthand HB…
DetailsGov. Rick Scott on Tuesday called for a record-high state budget of $87.4 billion for next year, an election year that offers him one last chance to recast spending priorities before leaving office. It is by far the largest budget Scott has proposed since the Republican governor took office seven years ago, and it’s a…
DetailsMore 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…
DetailsFor the last time as governor, Rick Scott will roll out a set of budget recommendations Tuesday for the Florida Legislature to consider in its upcoming election-year session that begins Jan. 9. As usual, Scott will soon realize that he and lawmakers will differ on where the state should spend more money. “Every year you…
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The Legislature held a third round of Interim Committee Meetings last week and will hold a fourth round this week. Please click on the links below to access this week’s schedule and our report on last week’s education-related meetings, bills, and presentations that were considered. In addition, we have provided a link to our latest…
DetailsRep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, leaned into the microphone then stopped in mid-sentence and pushed away from the table. Rep. Bryon Donalds, R-Naples, had smoothly declined to answer Abruzzo’s question of whether the Naples businessman would like to give private school vouchers to all public school students. Donalds said that was a topic for another discussion.…
DetailsThe Florida House plans to hold a hearing to explore how the state sends nearly $1 billion for scholarships to mostly unregulated private schools, the subject of the Orlando Sentinel’s recent “Schools Without Rules” series.“The goal of the House has always been a world class education for every child,” said Fred Piccolo, spokesman for House…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsA years-long battle in the Legislature to pass a bill requiring high school students take a course teaching them how to manage money is back again. Sen. Dorothy Hukill‘s bill, though, had a small victory on Wednesday. SB 88 advanced the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on pre-K-12 Education, leaving one more committee stop before it can…
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