The 6th and Final Committee Week

December 9-13, 2019 marks the sixth and final committee week before the 2020 legislative session begins on January 14, 2020. It will be a busy week, as all 5 Education committees will be meeting. The Senate Education Committee, House PreK-12 Innovation subcommittee and the House PreK-12 Appropriations subcommittee will be hearing bills. Both the House and the Senate Education Appropriations subcommittees will be hearing presentations on the Governor’s budget. Here’s what’s on their agendas.

Remember, you can watch the proceedings live streamed (or recorded) on The Florida Channel.

Monday December 9, 2019

1:30 pm Senate Education

Seven bills are on the agenda. We are particularly interested in:

• SB376 (Lee) English Language Learners: The bill authorizes ELLs who enrolled in a public school in grade 9 or later beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, to be exempt from passing the grade 10 English Language Arts (ELA) assessment in order to earn a standard high school diploma, as long as they show sufficient learning gains in an assessment designed for ELLs. Also, makes changes to School Grade calculation, allowing the passage of the 10^th grade ELA FSA by ELL students to count towards Acceleration Points.
• SB486 (Bradley) Florida Best and Brightest Programs: Repeals Florida Best and Brightest Teacher Principal Program. For the record, we LOVE bills that repeal bad legislation.
• SB534 (Diaz) requires the Department of Education (DOE) to maintain a list of persons permanently disqualified from employment in a public school or a private voucher school.
  • Amendment 525626 repeals most of the bill and replaces it with “The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to implement the disqualification list.” We are concerned with the current trend toward consolidation of power with the unelected State Board of Education.

3:30 pm House PreK-12 Appropriations

The committee (agenda here) will be hearing a presentation of the Governor’s Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 and considering 30 Individual Appropriations Bills ranging from $241,878 of School Resource Officer Funding for the City of Lauderdale Lakes (HB 3767) to $945,000 for Child Sex Trafficking Advocacy and Education (HB4341) and $150,000 for Welding Lab Equipment for Astronaut High (HB4371).

Tuesday December 10, 2019

9:30 am House Education

Presentations on School Choice by Florida Virtual School and the Department of Education (agenda here).

Wednesday December 11, 2019

1:30 pm Senate Ed Appropriations

Presentation on Governor’s Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget Recommendations: Department of Education, Office of Early Learning and Board of Governors (agenda here).

4 pm PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee

Consideration of three bills (agenda here):

• HB 187 (Zika and Valdes) Postsecondary Education for Secondary Students: Renames collegiate high school programs as early college acceleration programs, revises and expands the programs. Includes a $550,000 appropriation, from General Revenue, for the purpose of providing instructional materials for private school and charter school students enrolled in Early College Programs. No Staff Analysis available at this time.
• HB 581 (Diamond and Aloupis) Civic Education: Requires Commissioner Corcoran to create a “nonpartisan civic literacy practicum that may be incorporated into a school’s curriculum for the high school United States Government course,” beginning in the 2021-22 school year. The State Board of Education “shall annually designate each public school in the state that provides students with high-quality civic learning, including civic-engagement skills, as a Freedom School.”
• PCB (Proposed Committee Bill) PKI 20-01 — K-12 Student Athletes
  • This bill explains the two committee meetings devoted to health concerns for student athletes. Mandates a series of requirements designed to counteract and prevent exertional heat stroke and, beginning June 1, 2021, the bill requires an employee or volunteer with current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training to be present at each athletic event during and outside of the school year, including practices, workouts, and conditioning sessions. 
  • The Staff Analysis claims “the bill has an indeterminate fiscal impact.” For the record, “indeterminate” means “not exactly known.” When AEDs were required in every school, the law encouraged the costs for the equipment and training to be covered by “public and private partnership,’ which is another way of saying it was an unfunded mandate. Does this committee intend to create more unfunded mandates, in the name of student athlete health and safety? We hope they will pursue funding for these potentially lifesaving measures.

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.