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Board refines 2025 legislative platform: seeks exemption to House Bill 733, increases for ELL and CTE funding
Summary
District staff presented edits to the 2025 legislative priorities, including a request for an exemption to House Bill 733 on start times and increased per-pupil funding for English language learners and career/technical education.
District staff and consultants led a review of proposed 2025 legislative priorities on Jan. 15 and presented language changes requested by board members.
Jamie White, the district's chief of staff, led the workshop presentation. Staff said they'd separated two items previously combined (funding for school safety/staffing) to highlight the need for staffing dollars for security and added an explicit action on start times. The revised language proposed to "provide school districts with an exemption to House Bill 733 on middle-school and high-school start times." Staff said community polling showed 65% of stakeholders who provided input opposed changing current start times; board members discussed converting some sentence fragments into action-oriented requests (for example, changing "increase" to the active verb "increase per-pupil funding").
Board members asked for other edits and clarifications during the workshop. The final draft presented during the meeting added a request to "increase per-pupil funding for English language learners to close the gap between state revenue and the actual cost of providing comprehensive programs and services tailored to their needs," and language that would support increased per-pupil funding to expand career and technical education programs. Board members also discussed a community rollout plan for these priorities once the board adopts the platform.
Next steps: Staff said the board will vote on the legislative platform at the Jan. 22 regular meeting to position the district for the upcoming legislative session. Workshop remarks noted that district staff and partners will request district supporters and community groups to help lobby for the exemption and appropriations in Tallahassee after the board approves the platform.
Why it matters The platform seeks statutory relief (an exemption to House Bill 733) and greater recurring funding for targeted student groups and programs; those requests, if adopted by the Legislature, would change district compliance obligations and funding available for services.
Ending Staff asked for final wordsmithing and will post the revised platform for the board vote on Jan. 22.
