Items to be Continued in Priority

Adequate Public Education Funding 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to reverse its recent trend and adequately fund public education. Adequate education funding must:

1. position Florida’s per pupil expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools at a minimum of 105% of the national average;

2. guarantee full funding of the Statutory District Cost Differential (DCD);

3. provide equity for local tax efforts in districts;

4. fully fund all state mandates, e.g., transportation and E.S.O.L. training.

5. must preclude using Florida’s Education Enhancement Trust Fund (lottery dollars) for basic public education funding.

Arts in Education/Essential Curricula 

Florida PTA recommends every school district place greater emphasis on arts education and increase opportunities for student participation in the arts incorporating the Florida Sunshine Standard approved by the State Board of Education, and be it further    

Florida PTA urges that unless a teacher has specialized skills in the arts or is a recognized professional in their arts specialty, the arts be taught by teachers certified in their specific arts subject area and be aligned with the National Standards (No Child Left Behind) and the Sunshine State Standards, and be it further  

The Florida PTA urges the State Legislature to include and fully fund Arts instruction without cutting funding from existing programs as part of the PreK - 12 curriculum at all schools.  

Child Protection 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to maintain, improve, and fully fund the current system that gives first priority to the protection and well being of children. 

Children’s Court Testimony 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to amend Florida’s statutes governing the mode and order of interrogation and presentation of court cases to require judges to take special care to insure that children who are victims or witnesses are questioned in a form that is appropriate to their age and understanding and to ensure that they are protected from undue harassment and embarrassment in our legal system. 

Class Size Reduction

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to phase in maximum class size standards lower than those mandated by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) by the year 1999 and to establish class size standards for Exceptional Student Education classes. 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to fully fund the capital, personnel and operational cost necessary to decrease or maintain class sizes under these levels.

National PTA supports class size reduction proposals that consider actual class size, meaning the number of students in a teacher’s room for whom that teacher is accountable, rather than pupil/teacher ratios, which do not accurately reflect teachers’ contacts with children. National PTA recognizes that class size reduction efforts will require a significant financial commitment for recruiting, hiring, and training qualified teachers, and increased school facilities. However, this investment will be offset in the long term by the money saved when the economic and social costs associated with grade retention and dropping out of school are reduced.  

National PTA supports parents, school administrators and faculty, community members, and government officials working together to assure that research-based, successful education practices to reduce class size are replicated in their communities until all public schools in the country are effective schools.

Corporal Punishment 

The Florida PTA strongly urges the Legislature to prohibit the use of corporate punishment in all schools.   

Coverage for Therapeutic and Habilitative Treatments for Children 

The Florida PTA urges the Florida Legislature to support legislation mandating health insurance coverage of therapies for all children in need of Speech, Occupational, Physical and other Habilitative Treatments.

Daily Recess 

The Florida PTA urges the school districts to require daily recess (defined as supervised, active, unstructured play) with adequate equipment and adequate supervision of at least 20 consecutive minutes for all elementary children.    

Domestic Violence 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to adequately fund services, which reduce domestic violence and its impact on the lives of children.

Early Childhood Education:  Readiness to Start School

Florida PTA urges the Legislature to ensure that early child care and education programs are safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate by establishing licensing requirements based on statewide standards that reflect current research.  These programs should be affordable, available and accessible with assistance for parents with inadequate income.

Florida PTA opposes using a standardized testing tool as the basis for major decisions regarding early childhood placement or progress, or to deny entry to public education.

The Florida PTA urges its PTAs and county councils to work within their communities to make available to parents the materials, resources, and education needed to foster optimal early childhood development.

Florida Tax Structure 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to increase tax revenue through tax structure reform in order to adequately fund services necessary to meet the educational, health, safety, recreational, and other basic needs of Florida’s children. 

The Florida PTA urges immediate reform of Florida’s system of sales and use taxes.  Exemptions for products and services should be retained only where they meet an overriding public policy interest.

 The Florida PTA supports amendments to the Florida Constitution that enhance the ability of the state to fully fund services to meet the needs of Florida’s children. 

Graduation Credit Requirements

The Florida PTA asks that the Legislature require 24 credits for high school graduation. 

Harassment Free Zones

The Florida PTA urges its local units and county councils to work with school and district administrators to ensure that Florida’s schools become Harassment Free Zones where all students are safe from harassment, bullying and/or physical, verbal, or emotional abuse for any reason, including, but not limited to, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, physical/emotional/mental impairment, eating disorder, sexual orientation, disfigurement, or other distinguishing characteristic. 

Hazardous Walking Conditions

We must work to eliminate hazardous conditions that threaten the health or safety of pupils who walk or are transported to their schools, including every reasonable safeguard for the students waiting, boarding and leaving school buses. 

Indoor Air

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to require proactive evaluation of school buildings for indoor air quality and to adopt measures to improve air quality, including raising the minimum ventilation rate to 15 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of outside air per occupant.  PTA local units are urged to educate communities about the causes of Indoor Air Quality problems and about action that must be taken or avoided to prevent a recurrence of the problems. 

Parental Choice of Public Schools 

The Florida PTA urges the Legislature to provide state funds only to publicly operated and tax-supported schools, thus preserving the concept of public education. Any proposal for public school choice must:  

1)   provide funding for transportation;

2)  be based on equal access and equal educational opportunities for all students;

3)   provide clear information to all parents; and

4)      provide increased opportunity for parental involvement in the education of their children. 

Pickup Trucks 

The Florida PTA urges enactment of legislation prohibiting children from riding in the cargo bed of pickup trucks. The Florida PTA supports implementation of community awareness programs addressing the potential danger to people, especially children, riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks.

Prevention 

Florida PTA urges the legislature to fully fund an array of coordinated and integrated prevention services to help build strong families that raise their children to be healthy, productive adults. 

Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) 

Florida PTA urges the Legislature to increase the rate and expand the application of the Gross Receipts Utilities Tax, and also identify additional revenue sources to adequately and equitable fund the capital outlay needs of Florida public schools to be applied and designated for the sole purpose of providing additional revenue and not as a replacement for existing revenues.

Registered Nurses for Schools 

The Florida PTA encourage and support complete funding to supply a registered professional nurse to every 1,500 Florida public school students, a trained school health aide in every Florida public school, and to include future allocation formulas to increase nursing staff to keep pace with student enrollment. 

Relative Caregiver 

Florida PTA supports the Legislation that provides relative caregivers access to medical, emotional, legal and financial services needed for the child/children in their care. 

Responsible Sexuality Education

The Florida PTA urges the legislature and local school districts to require public school sexuality curricula that recognizes the special place that sexuality has in our lives; is medically accurate and age appropriate; stresses the value and benefits of remaining abstinent  until involved in a committed, enduring and   mutually monogamous relationship, assures awareness of optimal protection from sexually transmitted diseases and stresses that there are no infallible methods of protection, except abstinence, and that condoms cannot protect against some forms of STDs. 

The Florida PTA urges the legislature and local school districts to require responsible sexuality education be part of normal school curricula, but families must retain the option to decline participation for their children. 

Retinoblastoma 

Florida PTA urges the State of Florida to require that every baby born in a hospital in the state shall receive, prior to being discharged from the hospital, an eye examination using an ophthalmoscope and dilation of the pupils for detection of pediatric congenital and ocular abnormalities with parental option to decline testing. 

School Performance Grades

The Florida PTA urges the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, the State Board of Education and the Legislature to ensure criteria for grading public schools establishes a fair and accurate method of assessing student achievement and school performance which qualifies reliance on test score data and includes other mitigating factors such as mobility, poverty, immigration, first language and significant student improvement in calculating school performance grades. Input and suggestions made at the Department of Education public hearings, legislative committee meetings and other public venues should be considered when designing and implementing the school   grading system. 

Sun Safety/Early Detection 

The Florida PTA strongly recommends that sun safety, skin cancer prevention and early detection awareness education be mandated throughout the State of Florida as part of education by incorporating it into pre-existing course structure in grades Pre-K-12. 

 Teacher Certification 

Florida PTA supports the certification process for public school teachers be no less stringent than exists in Florida Statute 1012.56 effective January 1, 2003.  As follows:  the applicant must document receipt of a bachelor’s or higher degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, or a non-accredited institution of higher learning that the Department of Education has identified as having a quality program resulting in a bachelor’s degree, or higher.  Each applicant seeking initial certification must have attained at least a 2.5 overall grade point average on a  4.0 scale in the applicant’s major field of study.  Further, each applicant must: 

• Be of good moral character

• Be competent and capable of performing the duties, functions, and responsibilities of an educator.

• Demonstrate a mastery of general knowledge

• Demonstrate a mastery of subject area knowledge

• Demonstrate a mastery of professional preparation and education competence. 

That the process for alternative teacher certification be no less rigorous than that for traditional teacher certification. 

Vouchers 

The Florida PTA opposes education voucher proposals for public and non-public preschool, elementary, and secondary school students. 

Voucher Funded School Accountability 

While continuing to oppose vouchers in all forms, that Florida PTA urges the Legislature to impose strict eligibility requirements on private institutions and nonpublic K-12 schools receiving public dollars through any state funded voucher, grant or scholarship programs, and at a minimum, require them to meet the same accountability standards at their cost as public schools, including, but not limited to:

1)   School wide participation in any statewide assessment program, by mandating all current standardized tests, i.e., FCAT and Florida Writes;

2)   Assignment of an annual school performance grade category designation and improvement rating, to be published in the Commissioner of Education’s annual statewide assessment report;

3)   Compliance with Florida Public Records Laws and requirement for independent audits to assess how taxpayer money is being spent.