Rick Patrick: Greene Publishing, Inc.
In a move that surprised very few at the end of the day, Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law House Bill (HB) 7069. This bill caused a great deal of controversy during the legislative session, primarily due to an expected expansion of charter schools within the state.
“There's a lot of concern with this bill. It's one of the most comprehensive and, in my opinion, one of the most devastating bills this state has passed in years,” said Sen. Bill Montford in an article published by The Capitalist. The bill, 274 pages long, combined ideas from over 50 other pieces of legislation, including mandatory recess for elementary school students, the expansion of the number of students with disabilities who receive financial assistance to pay for alternative education options, and the establishment of an early childhood music education pilot program. Some opponents of the bill contend that many of these “hard to resist” ideas made it difficult to oppose the bill and its more controversial components.
Locally, it is unclear what the full impact of the new legislation will be. “While some of the legislation may affect the district in a positive manner, some may not. Currently, we are still analyzing HB 7069 to gauge it's potential impact on the District. At this time, the potential impact is unknown at both [the] District and [the] State level. We can not change HB 7069, but we can make sure that we are using the best educational practices in every classroom in the District. In my opinion, we need to focus on things we can control and have authority over. At this time, we must continue to focus on improving student achievement at all levels,” said Madison County District School Board Chairman Bart Alford.
Among various other items, the bill:
Extends the Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program through the 2019-2020 school year, revises scholarship award amounts, revises eligibility criteria beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, and provides additional bonus awards for teachers rated highly effective and effective through the 2019-2020 school year;
Establishes the Best and Brightest Principal Scholarship Program to award qualifying principals a scholarship amount and provide certain administrative flexibilities;
Establishes the Schools of Hope program to encourage traditional public schools within the state and charter operators throughout the country with a proven track record of student success in low-income areas to replicate their model and serve students from persistently low-performing schools;
Expedites school improvement by requiring school districts to provide principals with greater autonomy, enter into a memorandum of understanding with the teacher’s union regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers at “D” or “F” schools, and select and implement a turnaround plan once a school earns two consecutive school grades of “D” or a grade of “F;” eliminating the hybrid turnaround option; including a district-operated charter school as a turnaround option; and requiring the Commissioner of Education to assign a community assessment team the first time a school earns a grade of "D" or "F;”
Fosters the development of civic literacy throughout the K-20 education system by authorizing the Governor to designate the month of September as American Founder’s Month; establishing civic literacy as a priority of the K-20 education system; requiring the Just Read, Florida! office to develop curricular programming to help build student background knowledge and literacy skills; and requiring public postsecondary students to demonstrate civic literacy;
Provides for permitted absences for treatment of autism spectrum disorder;
Requires certain students who transfer to a private school to count towards a school’s graduation rate.
Appropriates $413,950,000 in recurring General Revenue Funds and $5 million in nonrecurring General Funds.
While Sen. Bill Montford was opposed to the bill; Rep. Halsey Beshears voted in favor of the bill.
Some information in this article came from The Capitalist.