蜜桃影视

Never mind that the Florida Legislature won鈥檛 gavel its lightning-speed 2019 session open for several weeks 鈥� dozens of education-related bills are already being heard in committee meetings. And once the House and Senate convene March 6, the agenda is expected to be heavy with state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr.鈥檚 education priorities.

鈥溌爓atchers are going to want to keep an eye on Florida over the next six months,鈥� Travis Pillow, a Sunshine State ex-pat and senior fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, tweeted upon hearing that Diaz had been chosen as the new chair of the Senate Education Committee. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 put 聽in charge of ed policy if you plan on standing still.鈥�

watchers are going to want to keep an eye on Florida over the next six months. You don鈥檛 put in charge of ed policy if you plan on standing still.

鈥� Travis Pillow (@travispillow)

Diaz鈥檚 appointment means an education reform trifecta in Florida, with reform champions in charge of education policy in both legislative chambers, as well as in the governor鈥檚 mansion. Observers expect an aggressive push for expanded school choice, both public and private.

Diaz, a Hialeah Republican, advocates an increase in virtual and magnet schools, tax credit scholarships, and career and technical education. Both his counterpart in the House, Republican Jennifer Sullivan, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former state rep himself, also favor expanding Florida鈥檚 private-school scholarships.

Elected to the Senate following three terms in the House, Diaz also is the chief operating officer of Doral College, a private institution that provides dual-enrollment classes to students who attend charter schools owned by the for-profit company Academica, which also is .

Compared to past leaders, the K-12 policy triumvirate is expected to face few headwinds. The three will, however, need to navigate what may be the nation鈥檚 highest-profile debate over a series of school safety proposals that include funding for 鈥渉ardening鈥� schools against mass shootings and other assaults, resources to put police officers in all schools, and whether 鈥� and under what circumstances 鈥� to allow educators and other unlicensed school 鈥済uardians,鈥� as they鈥檙e referred to in legislation, to patrol hallways and classrooms.

“We do foresee there’s going to be the need for some legislation to tweak the current law,鈥� at a Jan. 8 committee hearing. Most controversially, the聽Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission聽called for arming volunteer teachers.

Opposition among educators and law enforcement has been vocal. Parents, students, and teachers wearing red T-shirts attended an early committee hearing. Diaz has promised to take up the topic again in coming days.

Yet to be seen is how much negotiation the ideologically aligned leaders will need to do with more traditional education advocates such as the Florida School Boards Association, which has both a platform of its own and a lengthy list of 鈥溾�� that includes ensuring charter schools are subject to school district governance, increasing district funding, and curtailing policies that allow state officials to do end-runs around local school boards.

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