Legislative Updates

The following legislative updates are courtesy of FAME's lobbyist Vern Pickup-Crawford. Vern is the president and consultant of Schoolhouse Consulting Group, Inc.

3/12/19

Florida

A busy bill day as many got their first hearing of the session. Here is a rundown of a number of those affecting public schools:

HB6005 passed 10-3 in House Criminal Justice to allow adult holders of concealed weapons permits to bring a weapon securely locked in their vehicle and park in a school parking lot while on school business. The change does not include students.
SJR274 to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the November, 2020 general election ballot to impose 8-year term limits on school board members, starting with the 2020 election, was approved 4-3 in Senate Ethics and Elections.
SB62 passed unanimously in Senate Education to set specific guidelines in the use of restraint and seclusion procedures and require school district/FLDOE reporting of incidents.
HB727 passed House Criminal Justice to expand the definitions of "hazing" and to immunize certain individuals from legal proceedings if they provide aid to a victim.
SB1198 passed Senate Education to streamline audit and fiscal transparency reporting procedures that were passed last year as part of HB1279, which is slated to take effect this July 1.
SB522 passed Senate Education to establish a Florida Apprenticeship Grant Program, providing stipends to start up additional apprenticeship programs by sponsors who do not require assistance from a career education program institution; the bill also requires state reporting of available programs at the college or school district levels.

Of note tomorrow:

House Prek-12 Appropriations holds discussion on pending budget implementing and conforming bills;
House Higher Education and Career Readiness will take up proposed committee bill HEC2 whose text and analysis are attached and which deal with student enrollment at the college and district levels for CTE programs.

House Education Committee members on Thursday will take up a scholarship bill similar to that contained in SB7070. EDC-19-01 was just filed late today. It mirrors the Senate version, which, in turn, is based on Governor Ron DeSantis' recommendation last month. The qualifying poverty level, however, is 300% versus 260% in the Senate version. The program would be funded from the FEFP and administered by a scholarship funding organization (SFO). The bill contemplates 28,000 new scholarships in FY20. Both the bill and staff analysis, which this one is important to read, are attached.

Last, for the first time in years, the Democratic Caucus has developed its own version of a 2019-2020 state budget for comparison with that released last month by Governor Desantis. It is attached for your information. Both chambers will independently develop their own budget plans, the starting subcommittee level we should see by the end of next week.

Federal

More on the administration's budget from yesterday: proposed for elimination are Title II professional training funds, elimination of Title IV programs and elimination of the 21st Century grants. These cuts were also recommended in the past two budget years. Education Week today produced an easy-to-follow graphic which I've linked here for your information.
Meanwhile, school district legal counsel and others should note the release from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that the department has opined that the restrictions in ESEA against the use of federal dollars for private religious schools are unconstitutional and, therefore, the department will not be enforcing any violation. The decision is largely based on last year's Supreme Court decision involving playground equipment given a Lutheran Church in Missouri. The court stated the ruling did not address program dollars.

The US-Ed announcement is here.