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Today's legislative meetings yielded little new on several
fronts:
1. Senate Govt. Oversight Committee discussed the fiscal condition of
the Florida Retirement System which remained about the same in 2010 as
the previous year with "full funding" at about 87%. Chair Jeremy Ring
said he wanted to make sure all stakeholders are heard from before any
legislation is considered. Major focus has been on municipal fire/police
pension plans with cities asking either for legislatively imposed caps
to help them control their own pensions or for statewide changes to help
cities reduce costs of their own plans.
2. Senate Prek-12 Education Committee heard from a panel that included
three superintendents, FEA Prez Andy Ford; a Colorado advocacy group rep
who lobbied last year for their SB191; and a representative of
"Democrats for Education Reform" out of New York City. All discussion
focused mostly on teacher evaluation and differing forms of student
assessment to measure teacher effectiveness. The committee has a public
hearing in Tallahassee slated for Friday, 9am-3pm to hear from anyone on
this topic;
3. House K-20 Education Competitiveness Committee heard from the same
panel, but focused more on teacher contracts...issues of "tenure,"
dismissal procedures, and evaluation rating scales. All was discussion
and no indication from Chair Erik Fresen when any legislation will be
forthcoming for debate.
4. Senate Prek-12 Education Appropriations Committee heard the budget
reduction scenario that Commissioner Eric Smith had given House members
yesterday. We had expected the committee to get into class size
reduction, but time ran out before they did. Chair David Simmons said it
would be on the next agenda which likely will be Feb. 9th.
5. PBC Senator Maria Sachs held a forum of her own in Boca Raton this
afternoon with book author Diane Ravitch as the main speaker. Discussion
focused on a variety of topics. The local media covered the event and
has full reports on line
here, and also
here.
Meanwhile, the full House Education Committee meets tomorrow on
postsecondary education governance issues while the full Senate Budget
Committee has a work session. We'll keep you posted.
Vern
(561) 644-2439