A sweeping education bill is teed up for a closely watched vote in the Florida Senate.
In its revised form, HB 7055 would create stricter legal standards for school boards that want to shut down charter schools, provide a new scholarship program for victims of bullying or violence and offer $500 savings accounts to help struggling readers.
Bill sponsor Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, also followed through on her pledge to remove provisions that raised concerns among homeschoolers.
Senators rejected multiple amendments during a Friday floor session, including several attempts to remove or pare back a teachers union certification proposal vehemently opposed by labor groups.
Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, tried to strip provisions out of the bill that would limit school boards’ authority to shut down charter schools for reasons other than financial problems or poor academic performance. School boards would need to find “material” violations of state law. And they would have to hold a proceeding at the Division of Administrative Hearings before shuttering a charter school.
Farmer argued the change would force school boards “to excuse some violations of law to allow the charter to be renewed.”
But Passidomo said the proposal would prevent school districts from closing or threatening charters over minor problems.
“You could violate the law by parking in a no-parking spot,” she said. “‘Material’ makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, there could be a lot of nit-picky violations that have nothing to do with a school’s performance.”
The revised bill also does not include a proposal the Senate has debated for years, which is intended to rein in personal “enrichment” by charter school real estate investors. Passidomo said it’s hard to write laws that eliminate unsavory transactions without snaring legitimate efforts to finance charter school construction. She added that she would be willing to keep trying in future legislative sessions.
“It’s a very difficult concept to define,” she said. “Its better to come back and study it and do it the right way.”
The revised bill also includes a House plan that would insulate school districts from the effects of last year’s HB 7069. The proposal would give charter schools some certainty about their capital outlay funding in the face of multiple lawsuits.
And the bill would give school districts some of the same construction flexibility charter schools enjoy. They would not have to build schools that meet all the requirements to serve as hurricane shelters, as long as local emergency managers agree there are already enough shelters available.
