Latest news with #SenateEducation
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Senate targeting ‘High Stakes' testing in schools
The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a wide-ranging education bill that includes eliminating a requirement that high-school students pass algebra and language-arts tests to earn standard diplomas. Senators unanimously approved the measure (SB 166), which would represent a major change after years of Republican leaders saying test requirements are an important part of evaluating student performance and holding schools accountable. Some senators, however, said Thursday it was time to move away from 'high stakes' testing. 'If all they (students) learn how to do is take a test, then I think we have failed in our education system,' Senate Education Pre-K-12 Chairman Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said. Halfway through this year's legislative session, it remains unclear whether the House will take up the proposal. Under current law, students must pass Algebra 1 and English-language arts standardized tests to earn standard diplomas. The bill would require that a student's performance on the English-language arts assessment make up 30 percent of the student's course grade — similar to an already-existing requirement for Algebra 1. Among other things, the bill would make a change in requirements for third-grade students to be promoted to fourth grade. It would expand what are known as 'good cause exemptions' for students who do not meet a test requirement. Many Republican leaders, dating back to when Jeb Bush was elected governor in 1998, have said testing is a critical part of measuring student and school performance. But Simon pointed to changes that have occurred in recent years, including a decision in 2022 by lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis to use what is known as a 'progress monitoring' system that tests students three times a year to measure how they are advancing. That decision eliminated the Florida Standards Assessments standardized tests. Simon said the progress-monitoring system gives educators years to evaluate students, as opposed to relying on individual tests to determine whether they should get diplomas. He said progress monitoring provides accountability. Senators pointed to easing what Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, described as 'so much stress and anxiety around these standardized tests.' Simon said the bill would bring balance. 'Its focus is the total child, not just the child who's going to be able to take a test,' Simon said. But as the bill moved through Senate committees, the Foundation for Florida's Future, an influential education group that Bush founded, opposed the measure. 'Public school deregulation remains a worthy goal, but reducing high school graduation requirements and weakening the state's fourth grade promotion policy isn't the way to get there,' Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation, said in a February statement. 'These proposals will make it harder for parents and teachers to know if kids are reading at grade level or if they're ready to take the next step after high school.' Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Senate targets 'high stakes' testing
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a wide-ranging education bill that includes eliminating a requirement that high-school students pass algebra and language-arts tests to earn standard diplomas. Senators unanimously approved the measure (SB 166), which would represent a major change after years of Republican leaders saying test requirements are an important part of evaluating student performance and holding schools accountable. Some senators, however, said Thursday it was time to move away from "high stakes" testing. "If all they (students) learn how to do is take a test, then I think we have failed in our education system," Senate Education Pre-K-12 Chairman Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said. Halfway through this year's legislative session, it remains unclear whether the House will take up the proposal. Under current law, students must pass Algebra 1 and English-language arts standardized tests to earn standard diplomas. The bill would require that a student's performance on the English-language arts assessment make up 30 percent of the student's course grade — similar to an already-existing requirement for Algebra 1. Among other things, the bill would make a change in requirements for third-grade students to be promoted to fourth grade. It would expand what are known as "good cause exemptions" for students who do not meet a test requirement. Many Republican leaders, dating back to when Jeb Bush was elected governor in 1998, have said testing is a critical part of measuring student and school performance. But Simon pointed to changes that have occurred in recent years, including a decision in 2022 by lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis to use what is known as a "progress monitoring" system that tests students three times a year to measure how they are advancing. That decision eliminated the Florida Standards Assessments standardized tests. Simon said the progress-monitoring system gives educators years to evaluate students, as opposed to relying on individual tests to determine whether they should get diplomas. He said progress monitoring provides accountability. Senators pointed to easing what Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, described as "so much stress and anxiety around these standardized tests." Simon said the bill would bring balance. "Its focus is the total child, not just the child who's going to be able to take a test," Simon said. But as the bill moved through Senate committees, the Foundation for Florida's Future, an influential education group that Bush founded, opposed the measure. "Public school deregulation remains a worthy goal, but reducing high school graduation requirements and weakening the state's fourth grade promotion policy isn't the way to get there," Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation, said in a February statement. "These proposals will make it harder for parents and teachers to know if kids are reading at grade level or if they're ready to take the next step after high school."
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maryland energy reform bills focused on new power generation pass the Senate
Sen. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George's) confers with Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee Chair Brian J. Feldman (D-Montgomery). (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters) The Senate Tuesday passed a package of energy reform bills that would set in motion a variety of electricity generation projects — from solar to nuclear to natural gas — start long-term energy-supply planning efforts and give ratepayers a slight rebate. The goal, legislators say, is to eventually tamp down skyrocketing electric costs with a host of policy prescriptions — and also give residential ratepayers, on average, an $80 refund on their electric bills in the next fiscal year. 'What we know is that every dollar matters,' said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), 'and so we are doing what we have immediately available of ratepayer money and returning it to ratepayers in the most efficient way that we can, while focusing on the longer term, complex problem of increasing generation, and making it cleaner.' The bills backed by legislative leaders passed the chamber virtually untouched, but collectively garnered nearly three hours of debate. They now move to the House for consideration, with Monday's end to the legislative session looming. Ferguson said Tuesday that leaders in the two chambers are closely aligned on the bills. 'It's hard conversations, because these are really complex topics, and I think that we've really gotten to a good spot of general agreement,' Ferguson said. 'There are going to be changes here and there, things around multiyear rate plans. I think we're going to be OK.' General Assembly energy package a mixed bag for environmental groups Four Republican senators voted in favor of the broadest bill of the bunch, the Next Generation Energy Act, which included the ratepayer reimbursement, 'fast track' proceedings for new power generation facilities and an end to a controversial subsidy for trash incinerators that create energy. Sen. Justin D. Ready (R-Carroll and Frederick), the chamber's minority whip, said he'd be voting against the bill, in part because he felt it should have done more to repay ratepayers for what he called the state's flawed renewable energy policy. He argued the bill should have included further incentives for natural gas power plants, calling the fuel 'nature's gift.' But, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday evening, Ready said there were redeeming parts of the bill. 'My vote is going to be red. I think there could be some members of my caucus that vote green, and that's a fine vote too,' Ready said. Attracting significant debate Tuesday was a bill to create uniform standards for solar projects in Maryland, including requirements that they be fenced off, set back from nearby buildings and surrounded by trees and shrubs. The bill came in response to concerns that Maryland's patchwork of varying local regulations on solar were pushing solar developers away, said Sen. Brian J. Feldman (D-Montgomery), chairman of the Senate's Education, Energy and the Environment Committee. 'We're retiring oil and coal plants, so we are in a bit of a pickle,' Feldman said. 'If we let every local commissioner group or city council have veto authority about any energy project anywhere in the state we're going to have even a bigger problem.' Currently, the Maryland Public Service Commission has final say on all solar projects that generate 2 megawatts or more of electricity. In other words, the state commission, which regulates utilities, can overrule local authorities to approve a solar project in a community. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE But Feldman said the bill would do something 'unprecedented' to limit the commission's broad authority: It would limit solar generating stations to 5% of 'priority preservation areas' in the state, which are lands capable of supporting agricultural or forestry operations. Republican senators expressed concerns about preserving the character of rural areas and ensuring fields aren't permanently lost to solar panels. In turn, they made several attempts to lower the 5% cap, but their efforts failed to win Democratic support. 'We're talking about utility-scale solar that is eating up much of agricultural fields and lands in especially the Eastern Shore of Maryland,' said Sen. Steve Hershey (R-Upper Shore), the minority leader. An attempt by Sen. Johnny Mautz (R-Middle Shore) to lower the cap to 2% failed, as did Hershey's proposal to start the cap at 2% before later raising it to 5% — so long as solar arrays were spread equally around the state. 'This is a very simple amendment. It's reasonable … It just says it has to be done equally around the state,' Mautz said. 'We just want to be treated fairly. That's all we want.' Republican senators also took issue with pieces of the broader energy bill proposed by leadership, the Next Generation Energy Act, although they generally agreed with the premise that the state needs more in-state energy supply to reduce consumer costs and the state's reliance on large transmission lines. When it came to light last year, a new power transmission line expected to cut through rural portions of Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties drew considerable community pushback. The proposed Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project was necessitated in part by the retirement of Maryland coal-fired poewer plants Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner, as well as an increase in energy demand, including from power-hungry data centers in Northern Virginia. In one amendment, Maryland Republicans proposed sending more direct relief to residential ratepayers than the expected $80 in fiscal 2026. The bill brought to the floor Tuesday would pull a one-time chunk from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which utilities pay into when they fail to comply with a state law that requires them to pay for a certain amount of renewable energy. Hershey's attempt to make consumer payments permanent failed. 'We're getting a lot of phone calls and emails. It's not because somebody's bill went up $40, but it went up multiple hundreds of dollars,' Hershey said. Lawmakers' touted electric bill refund would average $81 per household Hershey also tried to add language limiting multiyear rate plans for utilities, which let power companies propose several years of rate increases in a row. The bill that reached the Senate floor Tuesday would prevent multiyear rate plans unless they show a benefit to ratepayers. Hershey suggested eliminating the mutliyear plans altogether, arguing that the state should return to 'traditional' year-by-year ratemaking. But Democrats disagreed, arguing that multiyear ratemaking could allow utilities to save customers money by planning ahead for costs. 'If they are able to use it in the right way, we want this tool to be on the table,' said Sen. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George's). 'Now, what we are not going to allow is for them to then just use this as a piggy bank.' Republicans also saw an opening to try and amend the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires utilities to meet a minimum percentage of their electricity sales with renewable energy sources, for which they purchase credits from generators of approved renewable energy. The bill removes trash incinerators, also known as waste-to-energy facilities, from the list. They were added to the list in 2011. Hershey argued the Senate should lower the required renewable energy percentage by 15% — approximately the amount that incinerators contributed as of the most recent report. But Augustine disagreed, arguing that renewable energy projects coming online in the future would 'fill this gap.' 'The committee made a policy decision that the state of Maryland no longer felt that waste-to-energy was an appropriate part of the renewable energy portfolio,' Augustine said.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee Senate targets school boards, superintendents associations
Sen. Adam Lowe, a Calhoun Republican. (Photo: John Partipilo) Republican senators are putting Tennessee school board and superintendent associations in their cross-hairs after a bruising fight this year over the governor's private-school voucher bill. Sen. Adam Lowe, a Calhoun Republican, is sponsoring Senate Bill 2017, which would prohibit school districts from joining organizations that use public funds or dues to pay lobbyists. The bill, which Lowe postponed Tuesday for discussion until 2026, clearly targets Tennessee's school board and superintendent associations. In addition to the legislation, Republican members of the Senate Education Committee notified the Tennessee School Boards Association last week that it's asking the group to voluntarily provide all communications between the association and its members regarding private-school vouchers by April 5. A letter signed by Senate Education Chairman Dawn White and several other Republican members of the committee on March 19 says the discussion surrounding Gov. Bill Lee's plan 'created a situation where a great deal of information concerning the bill's purpose, provisions, and elements were misrepresented to local communities, boards, councils and commissions… we understand that opinions may vary in these contentious moments, facts do not.' The Republican lawmakers want to know how the association communicated with its members to cut through 'any speculation and misunderstanding that might have occurred during the public discourse' on the bill. The voucher bill narrowly passed the House and Senate during a February special session called by Gov. Bill Lee, enabling the state to set up a program to give $7,000 scholarships to students statewide to enroll in private schools, costing about $220 million annually. Roughly two-thirds of the students who are expected to receive the state money are enrolled in private schools already. Part of the bill, which Lee signed into law a month ago, contains a provision to give teachers a $2,000 bonus. White said Wednesday the school boards association might have told its members wrongly that boards had to approve a resolution saying they support the voucher program to receive the bonus. 'We just want to get to the bottom of this and see what really was told, what wasn't told,' White said. Lowe's companion bill, which is sponsored by Republican Rep. Mary Littleton of Dickson, passed the House Education Committee Tuesday but now is on hold. Lowe said he didn't want associations whose members paid dues using public funds to use 'taxpayer dollars to lobby against taxpayer interests.' 'They're using general fund money paid for by taxpayers, and they'd be lobbying against the interests of the very people who gave them the money,' Lowe said. Lowe denied that his bill targets the school boards association, though he said it was 'apparent' the group opposed the governor's bill. 'I don't think it's punitive at all, but it is revelatory,' he added. Tennessee has dozens of government-affiliated groups that lobby the legislature, ranging from cities that hire their own lobbyists to associations representing mayors and sheriffs. Republicans have long complained about government-affiliated groups using public funds for lobbying, including state departments. But these groups have argued that without the ability to lobby, business interests would have the upper hand in dealing with lawmakers. Lowe said under his bill that the school board and superintendent associations would need private funds or some other 'pot of money' to continue lobbying the legislature. Representatives of the Tennessee School Boards Association and Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents could not be reached for immediate comment Wednesday.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Speaker's bill would make social equity part of state government, literally
House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), center, testifies March 26 before the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee on her bill to create the Department of Social and Economic Mobility. Joining Jones is her Chief of Staff Matt Jackson, left, and Michele Lambert, director of legislative services in the speaker's office. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) As the Trump administration continues its push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs wherever they are found, Maryland lawmakers are advancing a bill that creates a Cabinet-level department to oversee social equity programs in the state. The name of proposed agency has changed since it was first introduced by House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), from the Department of Social Equity to the Department of Social and Economic Mobility. But the mission remains the same: supporting social equity programs throughout state government and collecting scattered agencies that assist small and disadvantaged businesses under one roof. House Bill 1253 passed the House on a 101-37 vote on March 17 and was heard Wednesday by the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee. 'We know we are stronger when everyone has the same access to the same opportunities, and when everyone has a seat at the table,' Jones said in testimony befoer the committee Wednesday. 'We have programs that require minority and small business contracting. We support supplier diversity and state procurement,' Jones said. 'Unfortunately, right now, these programs are fractured across our state government. They're isolated in different agencies and often work independently of each other.' The department would combine three existing offices focused on social equity programming: the Governor's Office of Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Business Affairs (GOSBA); the Office of Social Equity in the Maryland Cannabis Administration; and the Office of Minority Business Enterprises in the state Department of Transportation. Besides overseeing programs that support small and disadvantaged businesses, the new department would be responsible for proposing new and innovative approaches to social equity programs, monitoring trends in social equity programs and policies across the nation and adopting standards for various agencies and other units within the executive branch to promote social equity. The proposal comes at President Donald Trump had ordered the elimination of DEI programs at the federal level and has threatened to withhold federal funding to states that don't comply to eliminate initiatives focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. At a February gathering of governors at the White House, Trump challenged Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) over her state's policy allowing transgender girls from playing girls' sports. But Mills held firm, telling Trump, 'We're going to follow the law sir. We'll see you in court.' This month, the federal government started to investigate Maine and found it was in violation of the federal civil rights rule that bans sex-based discrimination in schools. On the day HB 1253 passed the House, Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford) said Maryland could be next in line for federal retribution. 'We have some of the worst policies in the nation, maybe second only to California … because of our woke policies,' Arikan said. 'I think a lot of our behavior is being watched, and we're really close to D.C. We're an easy target to keep an eye on because we're right next door.' But Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) said Wednesday that Maryland should not back down in the face of federal threats, but should continue to implement and support diverse programs and initiatives, especially about people of color. Atterbeary is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which reviews education policies. 'We heard the message loud and clear, Mr. President, you don't care for us. You don't like us. You don't want us around,' Atterbeary said. 'You want no mention of us in any photo and any history. 'He's [Trump] trying to erase history and our culture, which is our culture. America's culture. So, I think it's really important in Maryland that we preserve that,' she said. Most of the funding and personnel for the new department would be shifted from existing agencies and accounts, including the Transportation Trust Fund and cannabis sales and use taxes. According to the fiscal note for HB 1253, $2.3 million would be needed for next fiscal year to for nine new positions such as a secretary, principal counsel and support personnel for human resources and finance, among others.
