Return to Normal View

DOE Homepage Students Educators Community Family Administrators and Staff MyFlorida.com

Florida Department of Education
DOE Home > Just for Teachers

Just for Teachers

 

 Just for Teachers 

Text Index Google Custom Search

2007 Education Legislation

The information below provides some basic information regarding recent changes in legislation affecting education.
For in-depth information including presentations, video, and legislative review materials, visit www.fldoe.org/gr

Highlights

Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) Funding – For the K-12 FEFP, an increase of $1.2 billion or 6.8 percent, for a total of $19.3 billion. This brings per pupil spending to $7,305.79, an increase of more than 6 percent compared to the current funding.

Merit Award Program – Senate Bill 1226, signed into law by Governor Crist on March 29, 2007, creates and allocates $147.5 million to the Merit Award Program for public school teachers. The program provides 5 to 10 percent performance bonuses to each district's best performers. Salary bonuses will be based on a percentage of each district’s average teacher salary. Click here for additional information on the Merit Award Program.

Reading Coaches – Reading instruction is critical to student success in all subjects. To maintain and increase support for reading instruction in Florida schools, the budget provides $195.4 million in state and federal funding for reading programs and initiatives, including additional reading coaches. Of this amount, $116.9 million is funded through the FEFP, an increase of 4.6 percent over last year’s FEFP reading funding. Additional reading coaches will guide more teachers to help students develop strong reading skills. Currently, Florida’s 2,300 reading coaches help educators learn the most comprehensive and effective research-based practices for teaching reading. For information on earning your reading certification or for information on reading professional development programs, visit the Just Read, Florida! Web site.

Virtual Tutors – The budget includes $3 million for online, virtual tutoring programs, which will be available to all of Florida’s public school students and will be aligned to the Sunshine State Standards. The Virtual Tutors program will provide parents, teachers and administrators with clear, concise information regarding student skill levels. Virtual tutoring enables parents and teachers to track children’s progress and identify skill areas where a child needs additional help. Parents will be better equipped to help their own children improve their academic success.

Teacher Lead Money – The Legislature allocated just over $48 million, an increase of more than 6 percent from 2006, in funding for the Teachers Lead Program – a stipend that enables teachers to buy additional supplies for their classrooms. Additional statutory language also assures that charter school teachers and Pre-K ESE teachers are eligible to receive this stipend. Click here to view the statute governing this program.

Physical Education – Elementary school students (grades K-5) in Florida public schools will be required to have 150 minutes of physical education each week. Governor Crist also established the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness to develop a state plan of action to promote physical fitness and nutrition for all Floridians. More information on the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness

Class Size – To ensure compliance with the Constitutional Amendment approved by voters in 2002, the Legislature approved $2.7 billion to reduce class sizes – an increase of more than 28 percent compared to last year. In addition, there is $650 million in capital dollars for construction of schools.

Community Colleges – Florida’s Community Colleges received an overall increase of nearly 6 percent or $69 million. This includes a $2.2 million, or 24 percent, increase for baccalaureate degree programs and $20 million for SUCCEED Florida grants to help meet the state’s critical workforce shortages in teaching, nursing and allied health professions. More information on Community College funding.

Workforce Education – Also helping to meet Florida’s critical workforce needs and provide citizens with lifelong learning opportunities are the state’s Workforce Education programs, which received an overall increase of nearly 2.5 percent. Included is $14.75 million to continue the new Ready to Work Credential Program, which provides students of all ages with an opportunity to earn a credential that demonstrates his or her ability to enter the workforce with the skills necessary for success. Click here for more information on Workforce Education programs.

View all 2007 legislation and access information from previous years.