This Week in Florida Politics and Policy

The Legislature had a week off from committee meetings this week, but it was a busy week, nonetheless. Ten new education-related bills were filed this week, bringing the total number of education bills to 101. You can follow all of the bills FASA is tracking with our bill tracker. Legislators will return to Tallahassee next week for the fourth interim committee week. As of this morning, the committee schedule is:

Tuesday, November 18 –         10:30 AM – House Careers and Workforce Subcommittee

                                                 1:00 PM – House Student Academic Success Subcommittee

                                                  3:30 PM – Senate Education PreK-12 Committee

Wednesday, November 19 -     9:00 AM – Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Committee

                                                 10:30 AM – House Higher Education Budget Committee

                                                 11:00 AM – House PreK-12 Budget Committee

                                                                 11:00 AM – Senate Higher Education Committee

As a reminder, all committee meetings are live-streamed on The Florida Channel.

The Federal Government shutdown officially ended late Wednesday night, with President Trump signing the House-passed funding package. The 43-day shutdown was the longest government shutdown in history, and workers were expected to return to their jobs Thursday morning, but there have been reports that it may take a few days to weeks for things such as SNAP Benefits and air traffic to return to normal operations. 

The State Board of Education met on Thursday, with a full agenda. Commissioner Kamoutsas began the meeting with his thoughts on what has been happening in Alachua County, with concerns of “toxic culture” on the School Board, and Leon County, with discussions on teacher pay increases.

The meeting also had updates on the Madison County School District’s Turnaround Option plan, and a representative from the Alachua County School Board to discuss issues that have been in the news from School Board meetings.  A number of action and consent items were presented as well. Click HERE to read more about the topics of the meeting and watch the archived video.

Make sure to read the FASA Morning Announcements, the FASA Friday Facts, and listen to the FASA Leadership Lounge Podcast to stay informed with politics and policy updates from the fourth committee week.