Move To Amend member, Carol Lerner, has researched the current crop of education-related bills that have been introduced into the 2019 Florida Legislative Session. Carol reports on the good, the bad, and the omnibus -
Bills to Defeat:
Omnibus Bill (number pending): The Senate Education Committee, under the leadership of Sen. Manny Diaz, is putting together a broad omnibus education bill, modeled after previous draconian House omnibus education bills of the past two sessions (HB 7069 and HB 7085).
One will include direct school vouchers called Family Empowerment Scholarships which will be funded out of the education budget. Sandwiched between school vouchers
will be additional provisions that are a hodgepodge of other bad ideas and even some good ideas. The problem is that it will be a take-it-or-leave-it package when each provision should really be a separate bill.
For example, the bill will likely include expanded funding for Community Partnership Schools which provide wraparound health, mental health, and other services as well as expanded hours, extra-curricular activities, and family support programs. Community schools turn struggling schools into thriving community hubs with excellent, positive outcomes. Unfortunately, whatever good is in this bill, such as the expansion of Community Partnership Schools, should be voted down as a whole because school vouchers will destroy public education in Florida — creating a true Hobbesian choice!
Bills to Support:
HB 1089 and SB 584: This pair of bills called simply, Charter Schools, would prohibit charter schools from operating as, or being operated by, a for-profit corporation, a for-profit educational management organization, or a for-profit educational management organization. This would have a profound effect on the on-going efforts to privatize education in Florida. For-profit corporations like Academica and Charter Schools USA dominate the educational landscape in most of Florida's large urban cities and have steadily encroached on more rural areas of Florida.
It is important for all of us to write letters to the editor, talk to friends and neighbors, and above all contact legislators, both your Florida State representative and senator about the pending legislation - good and bad. Also contact bill sponsors and key committee members like the House and Senate Education Committees and the Education Appropriation Committees. Remember that the 2019 Florida legislature session is over on May 3rd, and most legislation will be sewn up way before then.
- To find your Florida state representative, click here and provide your zip code.
- To find your Florida state senator, click here and provide your home address.
- To determine the members of a Florida House committee, click here and then click on the committee.
- To determine the members of a Florida Senate committee, click here and then click on the committee.
