A Look Ahead to Committee Week #5– February 15-19, 2021
Committee Week #4 falls right on the tail of Committee Week #3. On Wednesday, Senator Diaz’s controversially SB48 will be heard in Senate Education Appropriations. There will also be several discussions regarding the impact of Covid on schools and school finances.
Monday, February 15 Presidents Day
Is it strange that the Florida Senate has meetings scheduled on Presidents Day?
12:00-2pm Senate Select Committee on Pandemic Preparedness and Response
- Presentation by the Florida Department of Education – this might be a good time to ask the FLDOE about the wisdom of administering spring assessments during a pandemic. Surely the health risks outweigh the benefits of bring remote learners back to campus for standardized assessments in a year that is anything but standardized. Can’t the DOE use the data from the “robust progress monitoring” it mandated in its Emergency Orders?
Public Testimony will be received from Room A3 at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Tuesday, February 16
9-11:30 am Senate Education
- Presentations on the alignment between postsecondary education and labor market demand
- SB 258 – Jones: Creates the “Florida Internship Tax Credit Program” which provides tax credits to businesses providing internships to certain college students.
- SB 280 – Baxley: Requires school districts to provide basic training in first aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, for all students in grade 9 and grade 11.
- SB 538 – Polsky: Mandating maintaining a supply of epinephrine auto-injectors in all K-12 schools, state colleges and universities.
- SB 760 – Burgess: something to do with allowing charter schools, virtual schools and home education cooperatives the option to join the FHSAA.
Public Testimony will be received from Room A3 at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm House Early Learning & Elementary Education Subcommittee
- Presentations and discussion on teacher preparation and professional development relating to reading instruction and the implementation of evidence-based strategies in classrooms and at home.
- HB 529 – Fine: Mandates a daily movement of silence at every public school. This is the companion bill to Senator Baxley’s SB282, which is simply the next step in the attempt to bring school-mandated prayer back into public schools, something the Supreme Court has repeatedly, since 1962, found to be unconstitutional.
- If you want to make public comment please note: “Audience seating will be socially distanced and limited to the press and those persons wishing to provide substantive testimony on the filed bills or draft legislation. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Persons who wish to attend must register at www.myfloridahouse.gov, and pick up a pass at the Legislative Welcome Center on the 4th Floor of the Capitol beginning two hours before the start of the meeting. Registration closes three hours before the meeting starts.”
4:00 – 6:00 PM House Education and Employment
- Presentations and Discussion on the Oversight and Accountability of Florida’s Workforce System
Wednesday, February 17th
- Presentation on Florida’s school choice landscape and panelist discussion on preparing students for college and careers
3:30-6 pm Senate Education Appropriations
- SB48 – Diaz: This is Senator Diaz’ voucher expansion bill which converts the current 5 voucher programs into 2 “streamlined” Education Savings Account (ESA) programs. ESA’s a publicly funded edu-debit cards that can be spent on a broad array of education products. The idea is to dismantle or unbundle public education and ask families to reassemble their child’s education in they way they see fit.
Public Testimony will be received from Room A3 at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Thursday, February 18th
10:00 am – 12:00 pm House PreK-12 Appropriations
- A series of Appropriations bills will be considered on a consent agenda.
- Presentation providing an overview of the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP)
- Panel Discussion on the Fiscal Year 2020-21 FEFP and the Federal Assistance Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic for Elementary and Secondary Schools with:
Mr. William Husfelt, Bay County Superintendent
Mr. Will Hartley, Bradford County Superintendent
Dr. Mark Mullins, Brevard County Superintendent
Mr. Alberto Carvalho, Miami Dade County Superintendent
Dr. Donald Fennoy, Palm Beach County Superintendent
Again, if we want to save public education in Florida, we need everyone to be paying attention. All meetings are live streamed and archived at thefloridachannel.org. Please follow along with us this legislative season (on Facebook and Twitter), stay informed, help us call out the accountabaloney and defend our community’s public schools.