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Legislative Report - Week 2 (Oct. 14-17)
Posted on 10/21/2019

General Information

This report contains information presented and discussed during the second interim committee week of the 2020 legislative session. Both the House and Senate held meetings which consisted of presentations and discussion legislative bills.

This is the report developed by Jim Hamilton in regards to concerns to the Governor’s teacher salary proposal. Please see attachment for view the document.

 

House Committees

House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee - Chair Ralph Massullo

The House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee met this week. Members were given a presentation by Melissa Ramsey, Vice Chancellor of Strategic Improvement and Jason Gaitanis, Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Accountability and Policy Research in from the Florida Department of Education.

During the presentation, both Melissa and Jason gave an overview of the following below:

·       School Improvement Process and Requirements

·       Impact of HB 7069

·       School  Improvement Funds Including the Turnaround Allocation Funds

·       Role of the State's Value-Added Model (VAM) in the SI Process

·       Overview of the new VAM Visualization Tool

To view the presentation by the Florida Department of Education on the System of School Improvement by Melissa Ramsey, Vice Chancellor of Strategic Improvement and Jason Gaitanis, Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Accountability and Policy Research in from the Florida Department of Education, please click the highlighted web link.

 

House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee - Chair Chris Latvala

The House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee meet. The Subcommittee begin discussions on Florida classroom teacher compensation and the PreK-12 base budget. Representative Latvala asked members to identify potential cuts within the base budget that would free up $600 million that would be allocated towards teacher raises.

 

Representative requested that members identify cuts prior to the beginning of the 2020 Regular Legislative Session.

 

Below I provided the web link to the following:

·       Base Budget

·       Presentation on Florida Classroom Teacher Compensation

 

Senate Committees

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education – Chair Kelli Stargel

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education met this week. Similar to the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, members were given a presentation by Suzanne Pridgeon, Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Operations from the Florida Department of Education.

 

During the presentation, the Department of Education presented there FY 2020-21 Legislative Budget Request which consist of the following below:

 

Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP)

       $50 student increase in the Base Student Allocation (rolling the funds from the bullet points below into the BSA)

o   Eliminating Declining Enrollment categorical

o   Phasing-out State-Funded Discretionary categorical

       $86 student increase in the total FEFP

       $25 million increase in the Mental Health Assistance Allocation to decrease the ratio of students to mental health counselors

 

Investing in Great Teachers

       $284.5 million for Best and Brightest Teachers and Principals

o   No change in the FY 2019-20

        $12.8 million increase ($37 million total) in Teacher Professional Development

o   $10 million for Teacher Talent Pipeline – new funding 

o   $10 million for Computer Science (CS) Certification/Bonuses

o   $5.5 million for Youth Mental Health Training

o   $891 K to create K-12 CS Certification Course – new funding 

o   $421 K Summer STEMposium – new funding 

o   $500 K High Impact Teacher Corps – new funding 

o   $3 million for Professional Development on Standards – new funding 

       $200,000.00 increase to Liability Insurance to cover Teachers who are Guardians

 

Serving Students Unique Needs

       Special Needs: $42 million increase for 4,000 Students on the waitlist for Gardiner Scholarships

       Literacy: $2.4 million increase to Reading Scholarship Accounts

       High Quality Public Charter Schools: $40 million maintained for Schools of Hope

 

Serving Students Unique Needs - Office of Early Learning - Total funds of $1.23billion

       Administers the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education (VPK) and School Readiness programs through 30 coalitions

       $12.8 million increase for Voluntary Prekindergarten, highest BSA since 2011-2012, for a total of $415 million

       $760.8 million for School Readiness Services - ensures children of low-income working families receive high-quality care

 

Critical Technology Needs

       School Safety: $8 million to fund Interoperability real-time emergency services communications in every school –new funding

       Student Data: $5.5 million to modernize the DOE Mainframe and enhance DOE's support for districts, all public schools, teachers, parents and students – new funding

 

To view the FY 2020-2021 Legislative Budget Requests presentation by Suzanne Pridgeon, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Operations for the Department of Education, please click the highlighted web link.

 

Senate Education Committee - Chair Manny Daiz

The Senate Education Committee met this week. The committee was given an overview presentation on Educator Professional Development. The presentation was given by Dr. Paul O. Burns, Deputy Chancellor for Educator Quality of the Florida Department of Education.

 

To view the Educator Professional Development presentation by Dr. Paul O. Burns, Deputy Chancellor for Educator Quality, please click the highlighted web link.

 

Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee – Chair Joe Gruters

SB 130 by Senator Hutson related to Florida Job Growth Grant Fund

The bill amends ss. 288.101 and 1002.33, F.S., authorizing the Governor to approve workforce training grants to support programs at charter schools that exclusively offer the Career and Technical Education graduation pathway pursuant to s. 1003.4282(11). 

 

Charter schools that exclusively offer the CTE pathway would be eligible to apply for grant funds available through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund. Because application requirements for the fund are not provided for in statute, the submission requirements may be subject to change with the implementation of the bill.

 

The bill takes effect July 1, 2020.

 

The bill passed the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee favorably.