Tell your friends, family and co-workers to contact their elected officials and help you stop destructive legislation. Attend a Lobby Night (check under Learning Opportunities) to learn the latest information on all proposed legislation as well as how to lobby your elected officials.

education issues for 2012

Read the Fast Facts on the issues to help you when you write and call your elected officials.

• Education Funding

• Retirement (FRS)

• School Choice

• FCAT

• Teacher Quality

• Our Union & Collective Bargaining

• Governor's Budget

frontline video reports

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Prediction: this week is likely the calm before the storm. The rumblings around the capital have begun – the harmony and joy expressed by legislative leaders when they began talking about redistricting maps and the fair and open process is quickly slipping away. In addition, without warning the arrogance of some senate leaders showed its face once again. The Senate Rules committee rolled out two proposed committee bills ─ now numbered as SB 2036 Outsourcing or Privatization of Agency Functions and SB 2038 Privatization of Correctional Facilities ─ which according to some is one of the worst bills in legislative history. SB 2038 and SB 2036, which deals with the privatization of state functions, was born out of the court case brought by the Police Benevolent Association after the last legislative session – but we’ll talk more about 2036 in the Bill Tracking section below. The bills are bad in and of themselves – but the behavior of senate leadership (and lack of respect for the legislative process of thoughtful deliberation and debate) is nothing short of amazing. The bill has only one committee stop before it will go to the floor. This bill may deepen the rift between Republican moderates and Republican leadership. 

Budget Update

House Speaker Dean Cannon released allocations to each appropriations subcommittee this week so that they can begin crafting their part of the 2012-2013 state budget. Cannon followed the Governor’s lead and allocated just under $1 billion in new funding which is about half of the new revenue that the state is predicted to bring in next year. General Revenue is projected to increase by about $2.2 billion in 2012-2013, this is offset by the projected increases in “critical needs” and “high priority needs” total about $4 billion. If you do the math, this results in a state revenue shortfall of $1.8 to $2 billion. While this is not as bad as last year, the legislature will still have to make cuts in order balance the 2012-2013 budget. As you recall, last year education was cut by $1.35 billion so to reach last year’s level they would need to add at least another $300 - $400 million to the House proposal in order to avoid further cuts to education programs and staff. Keep in mind that Session has started 2 months early due to reapportionment, so the House is using revenue estimates that were developed earlier than normal. Senate President Haridopolous has stated that he wants to wait until the spring revenue estimates are issued before crafting a budget. Stay tuned as this tug-o-war between the House and the Senate progresses.  

Bill Tracking

• SB 1174 Establishing Congressional Districts and SB 1176 Joint Resolution of Apportionment are the Senate bills that create the new US Congressional and Florida Senate district lines have been passed by the Senate. The House is still plodding along with their maps—AND they have been looking at the Senate maps and they don’t like what they see – so expect some fireworks when the full House takes up the bills for final passage. It the House amends the bills, they will have to go BACK to the Senate and that’s when the ping pong game begins as the bills will likely bounce back and for the between the House and Senate before a compromise is reached.

• SB 2036 Outsourcing or Privatization of Agency Functions by Rules will be heard next week (Monday, January 23 at 1 pm) in the Senate Rules committee… chaired by none other than Sen. John Trasher. This horrible bill would gut any accountability, transparency and oversight of the legislatures awarding of contracts to privatize or outsource state agency “functions” – such as prisons. In other words, a few elected officials could sit behind closed doors and privatize or outsource to their hearts content. Yes, they are at it again. And they wonder why their approval ratings are so low… If the bill passes, legislators could keep citizens in the dark about the reasons for — and the costs of — privatization until there is nothing that citizens can do about it. SB 2036 will allow the Legislature to privatize any state service with no substantive review and eliminate any transparency from the process, allowing Legislative leaders to auction off Florida with no deliberation, cost benefit analysis or public input! This proposal essentially voids all state performance standards for granting of contracts and the monitoring of vendors. These exemptions apply to all state contracts in every program area in state government. This is a surrender of state government and the public treasury to private parties. Clearly, the bill came about because of last minute shenanigans during the 2011 Legislative session as legislative leaders snuck through a costly prison privatization plan -- which was challenged by the corrections officers union in court and eventually overturned by the courts. The big corporations behind this bill ponied up huge campaign contributions to legislators. This is a clear attempt by the Legislature to return the favor by allowing contractors to make huge profits off of your tax dollars. FEA is analyzing the impact this could have on Department of Education functions. At this time, there is not a House version but we anticipate there will be one coming soon.

You can read the bill at: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/2036/BillText/Filed/PDF

 and a link to the bill information page: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/2036

• SB 344 Public School Buses by Montford (D- Tallahassee) passed the Senate Transportation Committee by a vote of 8to 2 with Republicans Benaquisto and Garcia voting NO. This bill would allow commercial advertisements on the exterior of a school bus. The district school board would establish the policies related to the placement, content, number and cost of the advertisements. Revenue from the ad sales would be allocated as follows: 50 percent for school district transportation, 25 percent for programs decided by the school district, and 25 percent for the school district foundation to create an endowment that provides income from interest that is matched by corporations or individuals. The next stop for this bill is the Senate Budget Committee. The House version – HB 19 by Nelson (R-Apopka) has not been heard in committee. Voting YES: Bullard (D), Gibson (D), Joyner (D), Norman (R), Storms (R), Wise (R), Evers (R), and Latvala (R)

• SB 492 Education Law Repeals by Sen. Braynon (D-Miami Gardens) was passed the Seante Higher Education Committee by unanimous vote. The bill would repeal provisions currently in statute that relate to school district or Florida College System institution sponsorship of athletic activities or sports similar to sports for which public postsecondary educational institutions offer scholarships The bill was amended adding twenty sections which define additional sections or passages of current state law to be repealed. These all appear to be non-controversial.

• HB 1115 the ‘Teacher, You Better Hope You Have Protection Act’ by Rep. Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) and Rep. Grant (R-Tampa) was passed after intense debate by the House Civil Justice committee by a vote of 8 to 6 - with all five Democrats (Abruzzo, Kiar, Mack, Steinberg and Soto) and Republican Mike Weinstein (R-Jacksonville) voting NO. This frivolous bill was written to help the Professional Educators Network (PEN) and as the lobbyist for PEN did a tap dance around the issues, he had to admit that this bill was really about PEN avoiding future PERC complaints of unfair labor practices. To sweeten the pot, they added the provision that would allow a teacher to request the Attorney General to provide him or her with a legal defense if the teacher gets sued for enforcing disciplinary policies. The funny thing is that under current law, teachers cannot be made a defendant in such a suit. So, it is not needed and does nothing to protect teachers. Additionally, according to the Office of the Attorney General, requiring the OAG to defend a teacher in a civil lawsuit could create a potential conflict of interest for the OAG, since it currently serves as a legal advisor to the Florida Education Practices Commission. The bill may also create another potential conflict of interest. The OAG prepares criminal appeals on behalf of the state. It is possible that the OAG could obtain information from a teacher seeking representation in a civil case that implicates the teacher in a criminal case. If that teacher is convicted and appeals, the OAG may then be unable to act as appellate counsel for the state. An amendment was passed that the sponsors alleged would fix the conflict of issues problem – but there are more problems that the sponsors simple ignore. The next stop for this bill is the House Judiciary Appropriations committee. The Senate version, SB 1998 by Wise has not yet been heard in committee. Republicans voting YES: Eisnaugle, Metz, Gaetz, Hager, Harrison, Oliva, Plakon, and Stargel. Rep. Passidomo (R- Naples) was absent for the vote.