Second Senate panel OKs workforce training money to charter schools
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 10/15/19-Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, during the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism meeting, Tuesday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

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The bill's scope was expanded to include public schools at this stop.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is all-in on charter schools, and a Senate bill approved Tuesday by the Education Committee contemplates increasing their roles (and those of all schools, more holistically) in workforce training.

SB 130, sponsored by Sen. Travis Hutson, would cede job-growth grant fund money to “certain” charter schools.

Much focus has been on the infrastructure created by the fund, solely administered at the discretion of the executive branch.

The Hutson legislation, however, focuses on the workforce training piece. The fund would go solely to charters that offer the Career and Technical Education pathway.

The Hutson proposal, which builds on reform and expansion of workforce training passed in 2019, would facilitate an option for earlier training in a charter setting.

Hutson noted the fund was intended to, in part, enhance workforce training.

The money, per an amendment, would go exclusively for program administration, not capital costs. A second amendment would open the fund money up to all public schools.

In Hutson’s own district, the traditional public Pedro Menendez High School is an example of a school that offers career training.

In support: the Florida Citizens Alliance and the Associated Builders and Contractors.

Hutson’s bill has one more Senate committee: Appropriations. Both committees of reference have cleared this bill with unanimous yes votes.

But it’s not on the same glide path in the House.

That version (HB 71), carried by Rep. David Santiago, has three committee stops ahead and nary a hearing scheduled as of yet.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


One comment

  • Sonja Emily Fitch

    November 13, 2019 at 5:53 am

    ONCE AGAIN ACTIONS TAKEN ARE FOR THE goptrump CULT. NOT FOR ALL OF FLORIDA. THERE ARE NO GOOD AND DECENT REPUBLICANS. MOST HAVE BOWED DOWN AND KISSED THE RING OF goptrump Cult leader TRUMP. STAY OUT OF THE “BUSINESS” OF STEALING MONEY FROM OUR CHILDREN FOR SOME POLITICAL MONEY !

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