Education
GOP lawmakers in House are molding FL’s K-12 school system to fit ultraconservative values
About halfway through the 2023 session, Florida House lawmakers are molding the Florida K-12 education system into conservative values, potentially for generations to come. Contentious education bills were approved Friday by the GOP-dominated House covering a wide range of issues — limiting instruction on LGBTQ+ topics through 8th grade, prohibiting how school employees use certain […]
Young activists flock to the Florida Capitol to fight for LGBTQ+ rights
A crowd estimated at around two hundred mostly young people marched from the Florida State University campus to the fourth-floor rotunda in the state Capitol Friday, decrying what they called a legislative attack on the LGBTQ+ community. They arrived just as the Florida House of Representatives was voting to support what has been described as […]
FL House fast-tracking contentious K-12 bills that could impact public education for years to come
The Florida House is fast-tracking several big changes to Florida’s K-12 education system — for better or worse. The legislation involved — a roundup of several education bills — includes prohibiting further discussions on LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms, determining the start times of middle and high schools and removing books from classrooms and school libraries […]
FL university system imposes 5-year tenure review; profs, other advocates criticize the change
Florida’s state university system is making major changes to long-time tenure protections, meaning that established professors would have to undergo a review every five years to determine the faculty members’ “productivity.” However, Florida-based professors and other advocates say that the new rule, approved by the Florida Board of Governors Wednesday, could hurt academic freedom and […]
DeSantis signs massive voucher expansion; millionaire, billionaire families are eligible
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed an expansive voucher law to provide public money for children to attend parochial, secular and other private schools across the state, despite previous skepticism about letting millionaire and billionaire families participate in Florida’s K-12 school voucher programs. In the past, voucher, or “scholarship” programs have been used by low-income […]
Moody protests proposal to lift permission for religious campus groups
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has joined with the attorneys general of 22 other states in protesting a Biden administration move to lift federal regulatory protection for campus groups that discriminate based on religious beliefs. Moody and the other A.G.s read the initiative as a potential violation of religious freedom under the First Amendment. “The […]
GOP bill establishing a federal parental bill of rights passed in U.S. House
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Friday passed a bill designed to empower parents to inspect books and other teaching materials in local public schools, but Democrats sharply criticized the measure, saying it would censor teachers and ban books. The legislation, called the Parents Bill of Rights, passed on a 213-208 vote. It would codify federal education law to […]
DOJ memo on threats to local school boards lambasted by Republicans at U.S. House hearing
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Thursday continued to press accusations that a “woke agenda” is deteriorating parents’ rights in their local school districts. The first hearing this Congress of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government convened to examine whether a 2021 Department of Justice memo played a role in […]
Massive school voucher program headed to Gov. DeSantis’ desk; questions remain about costs
Nearly all Florida families may soon be able to send their K-12 children to private schools with taxpayer money, even if their household incomes exceed millions or billions of dollars — an expansive effort that critics say could drain the state’s public school system for years to come. The Legislature pushed through the bill, HB […]
Trifecta: Potentially removing books; banning LGBTQ+ instruction, restricting ‘pronouns’ in schools
After weeks of multiple bills moving through legislative committees, GOP House lawmakers on Thursday combined three controversial measures into one — all about how Florida public schools operate regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. The combination bill is now headed to the full House, even as the three-pronged measure could create a hostile environment for […]
FL education chair goes on diatribe over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law; board looks to add more constraints
As part of his last meeting sitting on the Florida Board of Education, Chair Tom Grady provided a depiction about a highly contentious law approved by the Legislature in 2022, HB 1557, which was officially titled “Parental Rights in Education,” but derided by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Grady said that the law […]
GOP senators want 8-year term limits on school board members as well as county commissioners
After the full House of Representatives approved reducing school board term limits from 12 years to eight last week, a Senate committee is pursuing a similar bill: adding both school board members and county commissioners to those limits. That means the two bills are not the same between the House and Senate, which can create […]