Fla. Supreme Court declines HB 7069 lawsuit – at least for now

A divided state Supreme Court declined to immediately decide what could be the most far-reaching legal challenge facing a major Florida education law.

Justices sent the petition, filed last month by nine school boards, to the Leon County Circuit Court. The 4-3 ruling means the case would have to work its way through lower courts.

The school boards asked the Supreme Court to block HB 7069 in its entirety. Among other things, they argued it violated a constitutional rule that limits laws to a single subject.

The law created a new Schools of Hope program. It also funded teacher bonuses, overhauled Florida’s charter school and academic turnaround laws, shifted standardized testing schedules and mandated recess.

The school boards wanted to halt the law quickly. They argued the law requires them to share more revenue with charter schools early next year. They hoped to resolve the case before then.

In their order reassigning the case, high court justices asked the Leon County trial court “to consider expediting the petition as it appears to be time sensitive based upon the allegations.”

Leon County circuit courts are already hearing a pair of legal challenges that challenge specific parts of the law. Local school boards are bringing both of those cases.

In one of them, the Palm Beach County School Board wants a judge to halt a portion of the law requiring districts to share property tax revenue with charters. In that case, the school board also argues time is of the essence.


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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.

One Comment

[…] The judge’s decision is wonderful news for the more than 270,000 students who attend public charter schools throughout Florida. House Bill 7069, which the Florida Legislature adopted last Session, was a giant leap towards funding equity for all public school students. Although this policy supports parental demand for education options, it can’t seem to stop critics from attacking school choice. […]

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