Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Drew WilsonMay 25, 2018

New compensation reports put Johnson & Blanton just outside of the top-10 in legislative lobbying pay during the first three months of 2018. The seven-member team headed up by Jon Johnson and Travis Blanton received between $750,000 and $1.5 million from its 79 principals in Q1, with the median earnings estimate clocking in at $1.25 […]

Drew WilsonMay 22, 2018

According to newly filed compensation reports, the seven-member team at Dean Mead brought in up half a million dollars in lobbying fees during the first quarter of 2018. The first-quarter roster of French Brown, Michael Dobson, Peter Dunbar, Martha Edenfield, Brittany Finkbeiner, Michael Minton and Cari Roth were retained by 29 clients for legislative lobbying […]

Drew WilsonMay 4, 2018

Public education will only improve when people buy in, Step Up for Students President Doug Tuthill said Thursday at the Florida Chamber of Commerce Summit on Prosperity & Economic Opportunity. “I’m going to start with the good news: public education today is in the best shape that it’s ever been in,” Tuthill said, citing the […]

Mitch PerryOctober 20, 2017

A debate on traditional public schools vs. charter schools took front and center Friday at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club. For 68 minutes, a group of education leaders of various backgrounds discussed the issue at the Ferguson Law Center. Speaking out most prominently for charters was Doug Tuthill, the president of Step Up For Students, the nonprofit group […]

Guest AuthorOctober 18, 2017

Science, psychology, and innovative research have proven that children possess different learning abilities, skills and interests. To make the most of these unique ways of learning, students need educational options that meet their particular scholastic needs and broaden their interest in education. The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, administered by Step Up for Students, provides […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 18, 2017

The Florida Education Association (FEA) vented its “frustration” Wednesday after the Florida Supreme Court declined to take up a suit challenging the constitutionality of what’s been called “the nation’s largest private school choice program.” The court decided not to hear a challenge to the Tax Credit Scholarship Program, created in 2001, though – as one former judge noted – its […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 18, 2017

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will not take up an appeal on a high-profile school vouchers case. The decision comes as a major setback to vouchers opponents, including the Florida Education Association (FEA), the statewide teachers’ union, but was applauded by school choice advocates. (Separate story on the FEA’s reaction here.) The court denied a request […]

Julie DelegalMay 1, 2016

John Kirtley is at it again. The Tampa businessman who created Florida’s voucher school program is out spinning again for school “choice.” According to the Tampa Tribune, he told a group gathered at the Florida State University Alumni Center that the lawsuit challenging the voucher program’s constitutionality could undo all the good that he says […]

Julie DelegalJanuary 12, 2015

“Can’t we all just get along?” The immortal words of police brutality survivor Rodney King might make for great TV, but they’re a lousy statement on education policy. And yet, those words nearly jumped off the page as I read Trey Csar’s recent apologia for public school privatization. Csar is president of the Jacksonville Public […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 6, 2015

Several days before the White House announced the U.S. would be normalizing relations with Cuba, a high school sophomore from Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood gave a speech that wowed a bipartisan group of state legislators and education advocates at a conference sponsored by the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO). In his speech, […]

Tag: Step Up for Students

Johnson & Blanton clears $1.25M in first quarter

Dean Mead rakes in up to $500K in first-quarter fees

Doug Tuthill: Education improves with a sense of ownership

Tampa Tiger Bay Club debates charter schools

Robert McClure: Support the Tax Credit Scholarship to protect Florida’s families

Teachers’ union: “Who can challenge the Legislature on voucher program?”

Supreme Court throws out school vouchers case

Julie Delegal: Charity donations, not taxes, should pay for private-school vouchers

Julie Delegal: Lousy education policy blurs line between public, private

William Mattox: Embattled school in Little Havana fears déjà vu all over again