House and Senate Advance Budgets to Conference
The House and Senate each advanced their budgets and conforming bills with successful votes in each chamber, setting the stage to begin the budget conferencing process. The two chambers remain more than $4 billion apart in spending and differ in their tax relief proposals, with the House proposing permanent $5 billion sales tax relief while the Senate has proposed a roughly $800 million sales tax relief package targeted at clothing and shoe purchases under $75.
Along with tax proposals, the two chambers also differ on their proposed approaches to funding school choice scholarships.
School Choice Proposals Move Forward
Several proposals that would positively affect charter schools and private school choice continued to advance through the committee process this week:
- House Bill 1267, sponsored by Rep. Demi Busatta, passed the House PK-12 Education Budget Subcommittee. The bill would expand the Schools of Hope charter school program by expanding the definition of a persistently low-performing school; require the Department of Education to create a standard mutual management agreement; and make it easier for Hope operators to access vacant, underutilized and surplus public-school facilities, including co-location.
- House Bill 123, sponsored by Rep. Alex Andrade, passed the House Education & Employment Committee. The bill would make it easier to initiate a charter school conversion process and allow municipalities to convert charter schools under certain conditions for the purpose of creating “job-engine charter schools.”
- House Bill 443, sponsored by Rep. John Snyder, also passed the House Education & Employment Committee. The bill increases charter school flexibilities and streamlines operating procedures and charter sponsor requirements. Importantly, the bill also requires that charter schools be given first right of refusal prior to a school board disposing, leasing or transferring any land or facility.
- House Bill 569, sponsored by Rep. Kim Kendall, passed the House State Affairs Committee. The bill:
- Ensures charter schools are not subject to building code requirements above and beyond those required of traditional public schools;
- Ensures charter schools are not forced to obtain special exemptions or conditional use approvals for facility development;
- Creates an education impact fee credit for developers who provide a contribution or improvement to a school district or charter school near the development; and,
- Protects private schools from local governments imposing unfair traffic ordinances and requirements during school hours or if the requirements would limit enrollment in the school.
- House Bill 1115, sponsored by Rep. Susan Valdes, passed the House PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee. The bill makes changes to the Schools of Hope charter program, allowing a college or university to sponsor a School of Hope and requiring that any interlocal agreement that includes a school district must also include sharing of certain tax revenues with charter schools.
- Senate Bill 1702, sponsored by Sen. Danny Burgess, passed the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Committee. The bill provides zoning flexibility for the construction of new private school facilities in certain counties.
- Senate Bill 248, sponsored by Sen. Corey Simon, passed the Senate. The bill would expand access to sports offered at a public school to any private school student if their school does not offer the sport. It also expands access to public school sports for students participating in a home education instructional program.
Workforce Education Bills Move Forward
The legislature continues to tackle smarter workforce education policies by advancing several proposals this session.
- House Bill 127, sponsored by Rep. Kim Kendall, passed the House Education and Employment Committee. The bill would require the Department of Education and Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities to establish a workforce micro-credential program for students with disabilities within existing career and technical education frameworks that would allow a student to signal their skills to employers.
- House Bill 681, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Melo, passed the House Education and Employment Committee. The bill makes positive changes that will better align the standards, requirements and funding for Florida’s apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. The Senate version, Senate Bill 1458 sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, passed the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee.
Changes to Educator Preparation Programs Advance
Two versions of proposals that would make significant changes to the state’s educator preparation programs took another step forward this week with Rep. Alex Rizo’s House Bill 875 advancing through the House Education and Employment Committee and Sen. Danny Burgess’ Senate Bill 1590 advancing through the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Committee.
The Senate version of the bill has a shorter implementation timeline with broader requirements to be developed by a Department of Education working group, while the House version has a longer implementation timeline with more specific criteria that must be part of the new requirements for educator preparation programs.
