The Florida Coalition of School Board Members had an excellent day in Tallahassee yesterday. Members of the coalition made their presence felt in the House Education Subcommittee and in the Senate K-12 Education committee. As a result of some diligent effort by various members of both chambers of the legislature, as well as some discussions individual school board members from our coalition have had with legislators face to face, the membership association bills (HB 1155 and SB 1426 ) that we all strongly support made their way favorably through both committee stops. In the House, 1155 moved favorably through the committee by a 10-2 margin.
In the Senate, the vote was a bit more precarious, with 1426 moving favorably through the committee by a 5-4 vote. Former Senate President Don Gaetz made a rousing endorsement for the bill, the reasoning behind the need for such a bill, and why he was proud to be the bill's co-sponsor ( minute 85:30 of this video )---- explaining this all to his colleagues just prior to the vote.
Erika Donalds, the current president of the Coalition, gave her testimony before the committee at minute 72:40 of the meeting
Andrea Messina, the Executive Director of the FSBA gave testimony in opposition to the bill at minute 78:00 of this video
I spoke in favor of the bill in this video at minute 81:50
The next stop for HB 1155 in the House is in the full House Education Committee.
The next stop for SB 1426 in the Senate is in the full Senate Appropriations Committee.
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