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Florida PTA
everychild:onevoice
Florida PTA Legislative Report #1
February 19, 2010
The Florida Legislature will convene for
the 2010 Legislative Session on March 2,
2010. The regular nine week session is
scheduled to end on April 30, 2010.
Once again, the budget, or lack of it,
is expected to dominate the conversation
during this session. Education was
funded on federal stimulus dollars last
year and will continue to be funded by
the same source this year. However, as
this program sunsets in one year, it is
critical that the legislature makes
provisions for a permanent and stable
funding source for the future needs of
education.
The Legislature must find a way to
generate new revenues, to fund education
and other children's services. This
will be our message throughout session
and we hope you will join us not only
through your emails and phone calls, but
also in person, as we Rally In Tally,
on March 25th, to bring
this home to our legislators. For more
information go to http://www.floridapta.org/legislative.html
or contact your County Council.
The revision of the class size amendment
to be calculated on school averages
rather than actual class size has
already passed the education committees
in both Houses and is expected to
generate vigorous debate. Bills to
expand the corporate voucher program
have also been filed, further eroding
the dollars that could be used to fund
public education. A bill to replace the
FCAT in math and science in high school
with end of course exams is also making
its way through the legislature.
PTA will also be active in other areas
such as the safety and protection of our
youngest children with the passage of a
booster seat bill as well as increasing
safety for all citizens with a ban on
texting while driving. Nutrition, food
safety, health and environmental issues
will also be a part of our active
advocacy efforts.
The lists will be updated at the end of
every week reflecting any action that
was taken and new bills will be added as
they are filed. If there is a PTA
position corresponding to the bill, it
will be shown under public comments.
We will send out alerts as needed
through Capwiz. We will also send out
weekly updates through Capwiz and email
lists. Please respond to the alerts and
forward the alerts and updates to your
email lists. Your voice is the most
important one and we hear this
constantly as we meet with policy
makers. They want to hear from you. If
you have any questions, please email us
at
ino@pta.org.
Thank you for your advocacy efforts.
Excerpt from email update from
Florida PTA February 19 , 2010
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