Senate passes three bills deregulating public school requirements

TALLAAHSSSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate unanimously passed three bills on Wednesday all with the intention of deregulating public schools and public school district administrative procedures and requirements.

The bills, SB 7000, SB 7002, and SB 7004, were all part of an education deregulation package that is intended to allow more freedom and opportunities for teachers and administrators to do their job without interference form state requirements. The legislation is set to move to the House for consideration.

Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, carried SB 7000 which provides “enhanced authority” for local school districts to “recruit, retain, reward and celebrate the highest quality educators.”

“SB 7000 champions teachers,” Calatayud said. “Our public education deregulation bill is a compilation of stakeholder collaboration and is comprised of transformative recommendations that have come from educators, principals, superintendents, non-profits, associations and everyday Floridians.”

Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Tamarac, celebrated the “flexibility” that the legislation would give to school board members to do things such as increase salaries for certain educator positions without the difficulties of dealing with labor unions and collective bargaining agreements.

Two amendments were added to the legislation before its passage.

A second bill, SB 7002, carried by Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Palm Coast, simplifies school board rule making, delegates more responsibilities to superintendents for officiating policies, provides flexibility for making up days lost due to emergencies, allows online meeting notices for students issues, along with many other actions.

Sen. Cory Simon, R-Tallahassee, carried SPB 7004, which intends to help school districts have greater authority in determining student progress, implementing school improvement programs, as well as providing instructional material and early learning programs.

The bill had one amendment that was adopted before passage.

Osgood spoke in favor of the the bill, complimenting how it extends school improvement projects from two to four years, allowing for additional time that the school board and community have to fix failing schools.

“You can’t turn a school around in two years,” she said. “So extending it to four years really gives the district and the community an opportunity to come up with a strategy and a plan and actually implement it to turn the school around.”

Simon said that the bill compilation is “big” for the Senate because it allows teachers to teach without a lot of regulations getting in the way.

“Over the years, our education code has only grown,” he said. “And there are great ideas from great senators and great House members, but those great ideas have added up over the years and it’s cost our students.”

“So I’m exited about this, I’m excited to get this passed and I look forward to our House mates sitting down and having a real constructive conversation about our public school system,” he added.

One amendment was added to the bill before its passage.