Florida House members began moving forward Wednesday with a controversial proposal that would allow public-school students to receive voucher-like scholarships to attend private schools if they have been bullied, harassed or subject to violence. The bill (HB 1), approved by the House Pre-K-12 Innovation Subcommittee, is a priority of House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a major…
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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…
DetailsCollier County School Board member Erika Donalds thinks she is paid too much. Donalds, a member of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, proposed a constitutional amendment that would eliminate salaries for school board members in Florida. Commissioners will vote in the spring to decide which proposals will be placed on the 2018 ballot. Twenty-two of…
DetailsRepublican 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
DetailsFrom banning the death penalty to creating an elected secretary of state, members of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission have filed more than five-dozen proposals to change the state Constitution. The 37 members of the commission, which meets every 20 years and has the power to place amendments directly on the November 2018 ballot, had…
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The Legislature held the second round of Interim Committee Meetings last week. Please click on the file below to access our report on the bills and presentations that were considered. In addition, please click on the files below for information and updates on this week’s Constitution Revision Commission Committee meetings, recent action in Washington on…
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The Legislature will hold a second round of Interim Committee Meetings this week in preparation of the upcoming 2018 Legislative Session. Please click on the file below to access the full schedule of meetings and information on the bills, and presentations that will be considered. In addition, we have provided links to information about the State Board…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsFlorida lawmakers have taken great pains to include charter schools in the pantheon of the state’s public education system. But the state Ethics Commission saw things a bit differently in a draft advisory opinion offered to a Lake Wales city commissioner who also serves as legal counsel to the Lake Wales charter school system. Read…
DetailsPrivate schools in Florida will collect nearly $1 billion in state-backed scholarships this year through a system so weakly regulated that some schools hire teachers without college degrees, hold classes in aging strip malls and falsify fire-safety and health records. Read More — Part 1 Read More — Part 2 Read More — Part 3
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