FEA Frontline Report Week 5 of the 2015 Legislative Session April 2, 2015 "I'm done with the testing program in the state of Florida," said by a frustrated Sen. Tom Lee (R-Brandon) during debate on the Senate Floor. Senate passes testing bill The train wreck that is Florida’s accountability system was lambasted by Republican and Democratic senators, even by those who admitted to having voted for the ‘reforms’ over the years. “This is kind of backwards. What we’re doing is giving kids the test and then deciding afterwards whether or not we’re going validate the test,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, (D-Lake Worth). Sen. Lee called out Bush’s foundation for pushingto maintain the current level of testing for all the wrong reasons. It is well worth watching Sen. Lee’s remarks by going to http://www.flsenate.gov/Media/Videos/?Tab=Session and looking for Senate Session on 4/1 and 4/2. At the time this report was compiled the 4/2 video was not available. In the end, the bill passed with some good provisions from both the Senate bill and the House bill. As this process can get confusing once bills start bouncing between chambers, here’s a little recap of the process that occurred: The Senate amended SB 616 on Wednesday and then took up the House bill, HB 7069 on Thursday, replacing the House bill with the new version of SB 616. So, from now on the bill to watch and write to your legislators about is HB 7069. There are some provisions from the old version of the House bill included in this new improved Senate version and some new language for which we all lobbied. The new version includes: • Reduced impact of test scores on teacher evaluation to 33% (rather than 50%; • More detailed information about student performance on standards; • Validation of tests by an independent entity; • Elimination of the requirement of remedial classes in grades 6 -12; and • Local determination of progress monitoring. HB 7069 is far from perfect and does not do everything that parents and teachers wanted. The biggest problem is state testing requirements have not really changed and the much touted 5 % cap on testing seat time is frankly bogus as none of the state test related school disruption was addressed. The bill passed by a vote of 33 to 4 and will now go back to the House. The House could vote out the bill as is -- or choose to amend the bill again. The bill could come up for a vote in the House next week. Please be sure to thank Senators Lee, Hays, Bullard, Clemens and Montford for listening to parents and teachers, and for their support of our students and our schools. Senators vowed to come back next session to once again work on accountability and testing. But then they swerved back into the old political rhetoric of the presidential campaigns and the real elephant in the room raised its head. Budget bills pass House and Senate As we wrote last week, the budget proposals increase overall funding for K-12 by about 4% which amounts to nearly $750 million more than last year. Florida spent about $6,915 per child last year. The increase being considered would bring the per child to $7,129.74 in the House proposal and $7,122.85 in the Senate. The House Democrats pushed back against the House Budget chair Richard Corcoran’s (R-Lutz) for not address the healthcare funding crisis. As both bills have passed their respective chambers the next step in the process before final passage is the conference committee process where differences are negotiated and compromise is reached. We expect committee members will be appointed in a week and with conference meetings starting as soon as mid-April. Keep in mind that there’s a lot of work and potential craziness that can and will occur before the final passage. Put the gun down SB 180 – School Safety aka Guns in Schools by Evers ran into a brick wall this week in the Senate PreK-12 committee as the Republican Whip was counting votes and coming up short. Rather than letting the bill fail on a vote it was temporarily postponed. It is a pretty good bet that this bill is dead for this legislative session. The House bill HB 19 is still making its way through the process but will have a difficult time passing both chambers now that the Senate bill has stalled. As you probably recall this bill would permit a school superintendent, with approval of the school board, to authorize a school safety designee to carry a concealed weapon or firearm on school property. [NOTE: School Resource officers already can carry weapons under current law.] Other bills that are moving       HB 85 – Public School Instruction / Terrorist Attacks by Hill was passed by the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee. This bill requires that the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 and the impact of those events are taught in public schools. Senate Version SB 358 by Sen. Abruzzo has not been heard in committee. HB 1045 – Homebound Instruction by Burgess was passed by the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee. This bill puts into statute provisions regarding instruction to homebound or hospitalized students. It outlines the requirements for student eligibility and methods of providing instruction to homebound or hospitalized students. There is not a Senate bill but language similar to this bill was included in SB 1552 by Sen. Benaquisto. [SB 1552 contains many unrelated provisions about charter school accountability and expansion, and public school choice.] HB 1145 –Parent and Student Rights by Sprowls passed the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The bill deals with public and private school choice and public reporting by school districts of the amount of funds spent educating students. It contains several very problematic provisions regarding open enrollment and adjunct teacher certification. [Language from this bill is also contained within SB 1552- see above]. SB 352 – American Founders’ Month by Flores passed the Senate Education PreK-12 committee. This bill designates the month of September as “American Founders’ month and requires district school boards to celebrate the American Founders and the principles inherent in the country’s founding documents. The House version HB 143 by Bileca is ready to be voted on the Floor. SB 888 – Educational Professional Practices by Detert passed the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee. The bill adds certain employees or agents of the Department of Education who investigate or prosecute educator misconduct to the list of individuals authorized to have access to reports and records related to child abuse. The bill also makes some changes regarding the membership of the Education Practices Commission; authorizing the Commissioner of Education to appoint emeritus members to the commission. Finally it authorizes the commissioner to issue a letter of guidance in response to a complaint against a teacher or administrator in lieu of a probable cause determination. The House version, HB 587 by Spano includes revival of the educators’ liability program which an OPAGGA report recommended discontinuing the program because it was not cost effective. SB 602 – Students with Disabilities by Gaetz was passed by the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee. The bill makes some changes to the Personal Learning Account program that was put into law last year. It tightens up some of the language on how the funds can be used, eligibility, accounting of funds and under what circumstances a scholarship would be terminated. The House version HB 7095 is ready to be taken up on the Floor. Member lobbyists Last week we missed acknowledging that Citrus president Victoria Smith and a group of her members who were in Tallahassee meeting with legislators. Thanks to all the member lobbyists who joined us this week from Alachua, Hillsborough, Lee (TALC), Pasco, and UFF. Please remember to let us know when you are visiting the capitol. When planning a lobby visit to Tallahassee, please click this link http://goo.gl/forms/VcebQn8QM2 to complete the FEA Member Lobbyist form and return it to Tina Dunbar ([email protected]) in advance of your visit. All typos are my own as brain capacity and time for editing were both significantly diminished this week. Please accept my apologies for any and all egregious errors. Questions? Call us at 850-224-2078. 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