After tremendous advocacy from parents and community members across the state, the Florida Department of Education finally submitted its plan on Wednesday to access $2.3 billion in remaining federal education money. Florida was the only state in the union without a plan as it was due in June causing the US Department of Education to…
The FSA will be administered for the last time this coming spring if the governor has anything to say about it. At a press conference Tuesday, Governor DeSantis announced that the FSA is “outdated” and does not give results in time to allow teachers to provide appropriate interventions. He also noted that the FSA testing…
In May of 2020, the U.S. Department of Education released $770 million dollars to Florida schools to address the impacts of COVID-19. Now, the amount has grown to $15 billion after two additional relief packages were passed. This money has gone largely untapped even though it was earmarked to help mitigate the impacts caused by…
In a story from the New York Times’ reporter, Erica Green, the U.S. Department of Education has begun investigations into five states whose prohibitions on universal mask mandates in schools may violate civil rights laws protecting students with disabilities including Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. In letters to state leaders, civil rights officials…
The Florida Policy Institute released their summary of the state budget for fiscal year 2021-2022. The legislative session and subsequent budget occurred in the midst of a global pandemic and economic recession with unprecedented aid flowing from the federal government. The Florida Policy Institute (FPI) notes that, although the resulting “significant influx of federal dollars…
Governor DeSantis signed the record $101.5 billion budget for the coming fiscal year into law today at a popular restaurant in New Smyrna Beach. He also vetoed $1.5 billion in spending including Hillsborough County Public Schools’ Summer Bridge program among other programs designed to help children. This budget marks the first to exceed $100 billion…
The 2021 Florida Legislative Session ended on April 30th. Lawmakers will return on May 17th to discuss details of the gaming compact. No money from the compact is in the current budget and plans are to keep it in reserves until the 2022 session. However if anything related to education funding arises, we will keep…
According to the Miami Herald, the Florida lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on how to spend $12 billion in federal COVID stimulus funds earmarked for public education. School districts, strapped with additional expenses and needs due to the pandemic, desperately need these funds. Budget talks broke down between the House and Senate earlier…
March 5, 2021 From CBS News: School and childcare workers now have an opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine even if they live in one of the roughly dozen states around the U.S. where they have not yet been declared eligible. After a shift in federal policy this week, pharmacy chain CVS Health said it would adhere…
