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Lawmakers Announce Plan for a Bipartisan Overhaul of Education Law
February 18, 2010 9:12 AM
(Statement from House Committee on Education & Labor)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Education and Labor Committee today made an announcement about their plans for a bipartisan reform of the nation's primary federal education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - currently known as No Child Left Behind. U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee, John Kline (R-MN), the senior Republican of the committee, Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), the chairman of the subcommittee on elementary and secondary education, and Michael N. Castle (R-DE), the senior Republican of that subcommittee, issued the following joint statement:
"Today, we're announcing a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind - a law that we all agree is in need of major reform. It will start with a series of hearings in the coming weeks to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead as we work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America. With a real commitment to innovation, we invite all stakeholders who share our serious interest in building a world-class education system to email us their suggestions."
The committee's first hearing will focus on charter schools and will be held on February 24, 2010.
Beginning today, groups and stakeholders can send the committee their input and suggestions at eseacomments@mail.house.gov. The deadline for comments is March 26, 2010.
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Stakes high as Florida Legislature convenes
For the first time in Gov. Charlie Crist's tenure, state economists project state tax revenues to rise. That will happen in Crist's last year as governor.
Also in their last years at the helm are Republican leaders Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul, who have presided during the first three-successive-year decline in state spending as the real estate market collapsed and the economy tanked.
Crist's $69 billion budget proposal, delivered at the end of January, was met with skepticism from lawmakers who write the spending plan. House and Senate budget leaders expect a shortfall of about $3 billion as health care costs rise and the end of federal stimulus dollars nears.
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Budget, Jobs, Schools, Ethics on Tap for Florida Legislators
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
Here are some of the major issues facing the Florida Legislature in its annual 60-day session that begins Tuesday:
THE BUDGET
It will be another lean budget year for Florida lawmakers. Although state revenue is slowly climbing again, lawmakers are predicting as much as a $3 billion deficit between the state's needs and available funding.
Don't expect any tax or fee hikes in this election year - in contrast to the $2 billion in taxes and fees passed last year. Instead lawmakers are openly talking about program cuts and layoffs for state workers. Lawmakers have generally dismissed Gov. Charlie Crist's $69 billion budget proposal as far too optimistic.
The biggest pressures will be in coming up with money to cover the increasing demand on Medicaid, fix a shortfall in education funding caused by slumping real estate values and cover increasing costs for health care and pension benefits for state workers.
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In education, accountability train is coming
Jeb Bush moved out of the Florida Governor's Mansion three years ago. But when it comes to school reform, it's like he never left. ยท His prickly, pushy spirit continues to guide Republicans and haunt Democrats. And this year, it will rattle the Capitol with a vengeance.
"He's very much alive and well," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "He's the magician behind the whole (agenda) of chipping away at public education."
Wilson was elected to the Legislature in 1998, the same year Bush became governor. And she's been fighting his education initiatives ever since. This year, for Wilson and her fellow Democrats, it'll be a battle royal over policy.
True, education funding is at risk, again, of being cut. And true, lawmakers will make one last, desperate gasp at injecting some flexibility into the class-size amendment. But it's policy where the Republican majority is aiming to make a historic stand that will make Jeb proud.Read more
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In Tallahassee today: class sizes, caps on health care damages, budget workshops
TALLAHASSEE - The proposed constitutional amendment to freeze class size counts is expected to clear its final Senate committee today, paving the way for an early-session floor vote that ensures the measure makes it on the November 2010 ballot.
"As soon as we can get in on the floor, we will," said Senate sponsor Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. "We want to do it in the first part of session, not the last."
The proposed amendment would freeze class size counts established by the 2003 class size amendment at the schoolwide level rather than having the counts be done on a class-by-class level as the amendment requires starting in fall of this year. Proponents of the schoolwide counts say they will give school administrators more flexibility to run their schools while costing the state less money.
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Bill would hold back poor readers
First-, second- and third-graders who can't read on grade level by the end of the school year might soon be held back a year if a bill that passed the Senate gains ultimate approval.
The Senate passed SB150 on Tuesday 18-8. The bill would bar schools from promoting students in those early grades who couldn't read at grade level. It would also require schools to notify parents before halfway through the school year if there was a possibility their kids might be held back.
Parents who disagreed with a school's decision to hold back a child could appeal to the principal, who could overrule teachers. The bill would also require schools to provide remediation to students who aren't reading at grade level, such as tutoring, before and after school help, or summer school.
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Momentum builds to pay Florida teachers on merit
Tenure is threatened under a Thrasher-led bill gaining traction in the Legislature.
TALLAHASSEE - A proposal revamping the rules for teacher pay and contracts is setting up a battle between Senate leaders and the business community on one side and teachers unions on the other.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, would require the state to oversee the implementation of pay-for-performance models by local school districts, with those who don't comply losing state funding that would then have to be replaced with a property tax increase.
In the process, protections for teachers widely known as tenure would be replaced by a continuing series of annual contracts.
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