Cutting red tape for Florida schools remains on lawmakers' agenda
As Florida lawmakers gathered in Tallahassee to organize for 2025, incoming Senate President Ben Albritton reupped his chamber’s commitment to scaling back education regulations. In the spring, the Senate advanced three deregulation bills that took aim at what leaders called onerous red tape standing in the way of public schools. What made it to the finish line was significantly scaled back from the initial offerings. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
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Meeting the demand
Funded by a $21.8-million grant from Triumph Gulf Coast, Northwest Florida State College’s nursing program is in year two of a major capital expansion to help meet the region’s pressing need for more qualified nurses. The grant is the largest in NWFSC’s history and the third largest in Triumph’s seven-year existence. The college’s grant funds will be distributed in annual increments through 2030. [Source: Florida Trend]
Education unions get a win in their ongoing legal battle with Florida
Public sector unions clinched a win in an ongoing legal battle with the state. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker recently ruled that banning the automatic deduction of union dues from employees' paychecks violated the U.S. Constitution's contract clause. In other words, by eliminating the decades-old payment system, it violated the terms of an existing contract, or collective bargaining agreement, between unions and their employer. [Source: WUSF]
Florida universities cut ties to ‘countries of concern’
Carrying out a 2023 law, Florida universities have been ending agreements and partnerships linked to seven “countries of concern.” The state university system’s Board of Governors this week is scheduled to receive a report about the law, which targeted ties to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria. [Source: Jacksonville Business Journal]
State says it has ‘final approval authority’ in school library fight
Florida education leaders are trying to fend off a lawsuit filed by major publishing companies and authors over the removal of books from school libraries, disputing allegations that a controversial state law violates the First Amendment. [Source: News Service of Florida]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› UF president’s resignation was a mystery. Was it all about rankings?
University of Florida’s star president, Ben Sasse, was among the best paid university presidents ever. He promised a conservative overhaul. The former senator had never quite won over many professors or students. After he announced his resignation, there were revelations about questionable hiring practices and spending. There were also signs that Sasse faced another problem that has haunted college leaders everywhere: the school’s U.S. News & World Report rankings.
› Anonymous benefactor leaves $6.5M to USF for Alzheimer’s research
The University of South Florida (USF) has announced a $6.5 million gift for the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute. The gift comes from an anonymous benefactor who left the funds to the research institute upon their death. The anonymous donor had previously, in life, donated to the Byrd Alzheimer’s Center in smaller increments since 2002. The university was not expecting a posthumous gift of this size.
› Jim Moran College honors ‘7 Under 30'
The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University honored seven FSU graduates who are making their mark as entrepreneurs at its 13th annual “7 Under 30” event. The event was held Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Jim Moran Building in downtown Tallahassee and spotlighted seven successful FSU alumni entrepreneurs who started businesses before the age of 30.
› Plans for Patel charter school in Pasco are on the rocks
Efforts to bring a new charter high school to fast-growing central Pasco County took two steps forward but one crucial step back on Tuesday. School board members unanimously approved a five-year contract for the Dr. Kiran Patel High School to operate in the county. Vice chairperson Colleen Beaudoin said she had “every reason to believe the school will be successful,” a sentiment several others echoed.