Committee Week 5: A few Committees Hear Bills, Some Remain on Hiatus

It is Committee Week #5 and despite the Governor’s insistence that this will be “The Year of the Teacher,” many Education committees are, once again, NOT scheduled to meet. Despite being challenged by the Governor to find $603 million in the budget to fund a $47,500 minimum salary for Florida’s teachers, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education is AGAIN NOT meeting.

We believe it is time for journalists to start calling Chair Kelli Stargel and asking why her committee is not holding public meetings.

The two committees that ARE meeting, Senate Education and House PreK-12 Appropriations, will be hearing bills. The House PreK-12 Education appropriations Subcommittee will also hear presentations on the Status of School Hardening and the FLDOE’s Implementation of Mental Health Awareness and Assistance Training.

There are two bills that we believe need a closer look.

SB130 Grant Funds to Certain Charters, only

SB130, “Florida Job Growth Grant Fund,” will be heard on Tuesday before the Senate Education Committee. We believe SB130 Needs Amending. The bill authorizing the Governor to approve workforce training grants, under the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, to charter schools that “exclusively offer the Career and Technical Education Graduation Pathway Option.” Last year’s massive Workforce Education bill (HB7071) mandated that all district’s create a Career and Technical Education Graduation Pathway. SB130 allows charter schools which exclusively offer this new Career and Technical Education Graduation Pathway access to $40 million of Florida Job Growth Grant Funds, designed to promote public infrastructure and workforce training across the state. Public schools, which are required to offer the pathway, are excluded from applying for those funds. This, we believe, is a problem. What charter school vendors are lined up waiting to create these new CTE focused schools? You can read more of our concerns here. Rumor is there may be an amendment by the bill’s sponsor addressing some of these concerns.

HB2089: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Pilot Funding

HB2089, an appropriation request entitled “Creating Compassionate Schools,” will be heard on Thursday before the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee. This year’s request is for $300,00, but they expect to need additional support of “>3-10 million” for more than the next 5 years. This appears to be a plan to embed social-emotional learning (often referred to as SEL) into students’ daily curriculum in an attempt to understand and manage student emotions through intense data gathering. An open conversation about the potential negative impacts of collecting data on student’s emotional needs is long overdue in Tallahassee. Everyone wants “Compassionate Schools” but parents should be concerned about programs with embedded SEL data collection.

From what we can understand, Pasco County (as well as other districts) is already partnering with The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and American Institutes for Research (AIR) to develop PK-12 social-emotional learning and academic readiness standards, that they intend to pilot and spread across the state of Florida. CASEL is funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, and is focused on embedding SEL in public policy. AIR, the same company Florida hired to create the state mandated FSA assessments, is a behavioral and social science research firm that initially created assessments for the screening of military personnel. Social Impact Bond investors are lining up to profit from the development of SEL programs. SEL is now a key market for impact investors, allowing wealthy institutions and individuals to make money while manipulating students’ emotions.

The most recent MSD Safety Commission Report recommends (page 152) “Schools should be required to implement evidence-based mental health and behavioral education designed to help youth develop empathy for others, learn how to make decisions, problem solve, resolve conflict, advocate for themselves in an appropriate way, develop self-esteem, and identify and handle their emotions.” Could this be why HB2089 expects to need funding for more than 5 years?

While attending to the social and emotional needs of children is certainly something caring teachers do, creating stealthy, embedded curriculum that collects social and emotional data on our children is more than concerning. Should education focus less on knowledge of academic content and more on student attitudes, mindsets, values, and behaviors? Despite investors and corporations eager to develop such products, Florida should proceed with caution. Parents should pay attention. We will be writing more about this; in the meantime, you can learn more about SEL and data gathering here and here.

Here is the Education schedule for Committee Week #4:

Tuesday, November 12

• 3:30 PM Senate Education Committee is hearing bills:
  • SB 130 by Hutson—Florida Job Growth Grant Fund. (see concerns above)
  • SB 154 by Thurston—Human Trafficking Education in Schools
  • SB 156 by Perry—Early Childhood Music Education Incentive Pilot Program
  • SB 168 by Cruz—Drinking Water in Public Schools
  • SB 356 by Hutson—Keep Our Graduates Working Act
  • SPB 7008 by Education—OGSR/Animal Medical Records/State College of Veterinary Medicine

Thursday, November 14

• 9:00 AM: House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
  • Presentation on the Status and Uses of School Hardening Funds for Fiscal Years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. 
  • Presentation on the Department of Education’s Implementation of Mental Health Awareness and Assistance Training for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 and 2019-2020
  • Consideration of the following bills: (To learn more about these requests, follow the link and then click on the bill’s Appropriations Project Request Form)
  • HB 2001 — National Flight Academy 
  • HB 2005 — Hands of Mercy Everywhere, Inc.-Belleview Lakeside Hospitality Program 
  • HB 2089 — Creating Compassionate Schools (see concerns above)
  • HB 2103 — Learning for Life 
  • HB 2137 — Adult Literacy League – Improving the Lives of Central Floridians through Literacy and Education 
  • HB 2161 — Building a Better Tampa Bay STEM Workforce Initiative 
  • HB 2263 — West Jacksonville Restoration Center Multimedia Afterschool and Summer Camp Training Program 
  • HB 2273 — The Student ACES Center Phase Two 
  • HB 2303 — Junior Achievement Workforce Readiness Program Expansion 
  • HB 2315 — Brain Bag Early Literacy Program 
  • HB 2351 — Dedicated STEM Classroom for Marine Science 
  • HB 2359 — Security Funding in Jewish Day Schools ($3 million)
  • HB 2429 — Expansion of READ USA Book Fairs 
  • HB 2431 — Leaders Ignited For Transformation (LIFT) Initiative
  • HB 2507 — Sarasota County Schools Summer Learing Academy
  • HB 2521 — Ann Storck Center – Early Intervention Preschool 
  • HB 2527 — STEM/STEAM Television Programming 

In addition, on Friday, November 15, 2019

• 9:00 AM State Board of Education Meeting in Bunnell, Florida The meeting agenda will be published here. Expect the Board to continue to pass rules solidifying their power and the power of Commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran.

Despite the Governor’s declaration that 2020 be “The Year of the Teacher” and the House Speaker contemplating the theme “The Year of the Child”, the House Education Committee, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, and House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee are NOT meeting this week. People should start asking why.

As always, you can watch these meetings (live-streamed or archived) on 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 public schools.