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Legislative Update 2020

The Florida Legislature is wrapping up the 2020 Budget and policies that will impact our kids.

 It is more important than ever to make sure that our elected officials know what we want for children, teachers and public schools.

Read the update below and visit the Advocacy Dashboard to take action for students. We make it easy to identify and contact your legislators via email and/or social media. Together, we can advocate for policies that invest in children and support their future.

 
School budgets

2020 Budget and Teacher Pay

Over the weekend, the House and Senate seemed poised to approve a state budget that would set aside at least $500 million for educator raises. They abandoned their practice of controversial bonus programs in favor of raises after an outcry from educators and parents. However, after Monday's market free fall and alarming Corona virus headlines, legislative leaders signaled that they might need to revisit the budget before the end of the session on Friday.

In a Monday evening press conference, Governor DeSantis urged lawmakers to leave educator raises in the budget

The next few days will determine the final education budget. Legislators need to hear from you today. Florida falls near the bottom of all states for per pupil funding. Tell your legislators that Florida's teachers and students deserve better.

 
 
School vouchers

School Vouchers

The House has passed a bill that would drastically expand the current voucher programs. These programs drain millions of dollars from public schools every year by paying for children to attend privately owned schools with no accountability or oversight.

The bill boosts the cap for the Family Empowerment Scholarship from 18,000 students to 28,000 students and would remove a requirement about students enrolling in public schools before becoming eligible for the vouchers. Thanks to advocates like you a provision that reduces the required audits of the non-profits that manage all of the voucher funds from annually to once every three years was defeated. (Last year's audit found that Step Up For Students failed to properly check applicants’ household-income eligibility for the vouchers.) After an investigation by the Orlando Sentinel found that numerous voucher schools discriminated against children and families, many donor corporations publicly withdrew their support. However, the bill passed with no new protections for students attending voucher schools.

Now it's up to the Senate. Tell your elected officials that you expect them to support Florida's students and demand that they add accountability to these voucher schemes and invest in public schools instead of privately owned schools.

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