Day 34 of the 2011 Legislative Session
Everything in this report will probably change by the end of today – just keep that in mind.
Senate and House budgets
Today the House and Senate will present their versions of the budget along with their conforming bills “on the floor” – that means to the membership of both chambers. As you may recall from previous reports, the House and Senate budgets reflect a reduction in funding per student of $423.27 (6.21%) in the Senate Budget and $463.13 (6.80%) in the House Budget
There are over a dozen amendments to the Senate FRS pension reform bill – which has another new number: SB 2100.
The Senate and House budgets have deducted the cost of the FRS contributions from their total FEFP allocations – because those funds won’t be appropriated since the school district will not be required to pay for them – employees will. The so-called FRS cost “savings” make up about half of the overall shortfall of FEFP funding which is about $670 million in the Senate and about $520 million in the House. These numbers are subject to change after the bills are amended this afternoon.
On the Senate Floor agenda for today (Wednesday) for introduction are the education related budget bills:
SB 2000 – Appropriations
SB 2002 – Implementing Appropriations
SB 2100 – Retirement
SB 2120 – PreK-12 Education Funding
The same process will be going on in the House today as they hear their education budget bills:
HB 5001 – Appropriations
HB 5003 – Implementing Appropriations
HB 1405 – Retirement
HB 5101 – PreK-12 Education Funding
We anticipate the final vote on their respective budgets will be Thursday. After that, members of the Conference Committees will be announced then they will begin meeting to work out the differences between the House and Senate budget proposals. The Conference Committees will begin negotiations, eventually agree on all the numbers and place the final product ‘on the desk’ to sit for the required 72 hours before they take up the full appropriations bill. After the cooling off period, each chamber will vote for final passage and send it to the governor for his signature. The governor may use his line-item veto power if there are portions of the bill he finds objectionable.
Here’s a rundown of what happened yesterday in the Legislature:
In the House Education Committee:
· HB 61 Code of Student Conduct by Rep. Rogers. Passed committee and next stop will be the House Floor. The bill requires each district school board to adopt dress code policy that prohibits student from wearing clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in specified manner.
· HB 307 District School Board Membership by Rep. Logan. Passed committee and next stop will be the House Floor. This bill requires that district school boards consist of nine members in counties where population exceeds certain number; provides for single-member and at-large districts; provides for election of chair and vice chair of school board. This bill would impact Miami Dade County.
· HB 797 Interscholastic and Intra-scholastic Sports by Rep. Perry. The bill passed committee and next stop will be the House Floor. The bill provides limited circumstances in which a middle school student or high school student in private school may participate in athletics at public school
· HB 1255 Education Accountability by Rep. Adkins – Passed committee but no reference at this time. The bill revises numerous provisions relating to K-12 public education system, including the imposition of $50 value or more gift ban provisions on school board members.
In the Senate Transportation Committee:
· SB 1124 Public School Buses by Sen. Montford was temporarily postponed. The bill would provided for district school board policies that authorize commercial advertisements on school buses
In the Education PreK-12 Committee:
· SB 700 Education / Invocation by Sen. Siplin was temporarily postponed. The bill would authorize district school boards to adopt resolutions that allow prayers of invocation or benediction at secondary school events.
· SB 1584 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children by Sen. Sobel passed the committee – its next stop is the Senate Budget Committee. The bill creates the “Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children’s Education Bill of Rights.
· SB 1620 Education Instruction by Sen. Flores passed the committee with next stop will be Senate Budget Committee. The bill adds statewide virtual providers to the list of public school choice; authorizes the creation of a virtual charter school.
· PSB 7234 District School Board Member Salaries by Education PreK-12 was discussed as a committee bill but no votes were taken. It has been renumbered to SB 2172. The bill would eliminate statutory provisions relating to school board member salary. It would prohibit district school board members from receiving more than a $100 stipend per school board member plus that stipend would not constitute compensation for retirement purposes. It would prohibit district school board members from receiving any compensation while serving.
Questions? Call FEA Public Policy Advocacy at 850.224.2078