Transcript Highlights:

• We'll see 52.6 million dollar increase in operating funds for school district workforce education programs
• , the gate program.
• programs.
• The child and spouses of deceased and Disabled Veterans Program and the effective access to student Education
• Its required this kind of education through programming and modeling good behavior for so that students

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Welcome to the Joint Higher Education Committee.
• Higher education is that higher education financial statements are presented as one single business-type
• aid programs, and then workforce development programming, including career-connected learning.
• programs, operation and compensation, state funded student financial aid programs or just state financial
• aid programs, and then workforce development programming, including career-connected learning.

Summary: The Joint Higher Education Committee met for a work session on higher education accounting practices and financial transparency. OFM Deputy Director Sarah Rupp explained how state accounting rules and higher education reporting differ, including what data is captured in AFRS today and what will move into Workday, with universities generally reporting summary-level fund data, mandatory codes, and most balance sheet and income statement activity, but not transaction-level detail or vendor payment information. Representatives from the University of Washington and Washington State University described the complexity of their own accounting systems, the many entities and business lines they must track for audits and compliance, and the need to reconcile university-level accrual accounting with state reporting requirements. The committee also heard from the Education Research and Data Center on the public four-year finance dashboard created under Senate Bill 5512; ERDC said the dashboard is based on publicly available data, is best used to examine institutions individually rather than compare them directly, and will be updated with additional metrics in 2025 and 2026. The committee then received a presentation from the Washington Student Achievement Council on the Workforce Education Investment Account (WIA). Joel Anderson reviewed WIA’s creation under House Bill 2158, its revenue sources, and its intended uses for higher education, financial aid, and workforce development. He said recent legislation significantly increased WIA revenues and that, in the 2025–27 budget, the account is being used in new ways, including to replace general fund support for University of Washington operations and to fund a larger share of the Washington College Grant and some faculty compensation costs. Anderson said roughly 98% of current WIA appropriations go to higher education, but the share used to supplant other higher education funding has grown, and he estimated about 60% to 70% of current spending still aligns with the account’s original intent. He also described a new effort to track WIA appropriations across biennia in more detail and noted the WIA Oversight Board’s role in recommending uses of the account and monitoring outcomes. No votes were taken; the committee ended by moving into executive session for staffing issues and then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm a parent and home educator from St. I'm a parent and home educator from St.
• <00:02:24.760> and<00:02:24.880> educational counselor education and educational counselor
• program requirements. program requirements.
• two programs. two programs.
• Department of Education. It's been Department of Education.

Transcript Highlights:

• Some overall highlights for the public school funding and the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP
• The program has since grown to a four billion-dollar program over the years.
• program that is so important to helping educate our nurses, and requires that the.
• It expands to include health science education programs in addition to nursing, as I said.
• Program.

Keywords: 998, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Teacher Credentialing Program, and the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program. $428 million for educator
• Teacher Credentialing Program, and the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program.
• In education, I'm pleased to see that there are higher education protections.
• , the SEED program.
• educators, as well as the $2.4 billion in special education funding.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Department of Education. And I'm Department of Education.
• their full education experience. their full education experience.
• or adding new programs.
• or adding new programs.
• current programs or adding new programs. current programs or adding new programs.

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The committee began with introductions of student guests, including an FCCLA national officer who spoke in support of career and technical education. She emphasized that CTE connects classroom learning to real careers, builds leadership and employability skills, and deserves continued state supplemental funding to keep programs current, expand offerings, and support student organizations. Members thanked her for her remarks and for representing FCCLA students. The committee then considered House Bill 67, a cleanup bill to address unintended consequences from last session’s Senate Bill 181 on traceable communication in schools. Rep. Josh Calloway explained that the substitute clarified definitions of family members, coaches, volunteers, certified/classified/contract employees, and virtual instruction; exempted group messaging, public social media posts, translation services, parent-provided phone numbers, emergency communications, and field trip/work-based learning contacts; and allowed teachers to disclose outside commercial or nonprofit involvement so they can communicate with students for those purposes. He said the bill was developed with input from school boards, administrators, KDE, school HR groups, Kentucky League of Cities, and Farm Bureau. The committee approved the substitute and passed HB 67 favorably. Next, the committee heard House Bill 759, which KDE described as a consistency bill for teacher certification pathways. The bill renames and standardizes alternative certification routes, clarifies content mastery requirements, allows teachers to add certifications more consistently, and lets educators extend certification into lower grade bands if they already hold higher-level certification and pedagogical knowledge. Members asked about chemistry majors, CTE occupational pathways, the veterans pathway, and grade-band “bandwidth”; KDE said the bill preserves the veterans route, does not create a new pathway but reorganizes existing ones, and will help make certification options easier to understand. HB 759 also passed favorably. Finally, Rep. Shane Baker presented House Bill 654, a follow-up to last year’s effort to reduce administrative burdens on schools. He said the bill would eliminate additional reporting requirements, bar KDE from requiring components of a comprehensive improvement plan not expressly required by statute or federal law, and allow EARS to temporarily authorize reports when the legislature is not in session while preserving necessary reporting tied to SEEK funding and school operations. The committee took up the substitute and began discussion of the bill.

Transcript Highlights:

• program services and regular education services.
• in order to access their regular education program.
• program services and regular Education program services and regular Education Services<01:43:45.080><
• regular education program so if they're regular education program so if they're not<01:43:56.320
• the education tax credit program to the education freedom account program.

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The Education Policy Committee opened a hearing on HB 748, which would establish a local education freedom account (EFA) program. The prime sponsor, Rep. Kevin Verville, described the bill as enabling legislation that would let local voters decide whether to create a local EFA program by petition and ballot vote, with a 60% threshold to approve or repeal it. He argued that public education is about funding rather than a specific school building, said the proposal would expand parental choice, and cited Deerfield’s move from a single high school option to multiple tuitioned options as an example of local flexibility. Verville said the local EFA would be funded at twice the state adequacy amount, with the district matching the state portion, while other aid categories such as free and reduced meals, English language learner, and special education aid would not be doubled. He said students using a local EFA would still count in average daily membership, that unspent EFA funds would revert to the district, and that the bill would prohibit double-dipping with other scholarship or EFA programs. He also said special education services would remain under district discretion and that local EFA participants would still take statewide assessments for accountability. Committee members pressed him on several issues, especially special education, transportation, and fairness. Rep. Woodcock and Rep. Murray asked whether districts would still have to provide special education and transportation services if a student used a local EFA; Verville responded that special education would remain in the local district at district discretion, while transportation would generally become the family’s responsibility unless already required in an IEP. Rep. Cornell raised an equity concern about no income eligibility cap, asking whether higher-income families should receive the same public support; Verville replied that New Hampshire does not means-test public education and that the local EFA is a public funding mechanism, not a tuition subsidy that would cover full private-school costs. No vote or committee action was taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• , but the program cannot exist program, but the program cannot exist program, but the program cannot
• Teacher Education Program. Teacher Education Program.
• to try Commission on Higher Education to try and address and that program was a one and address and
• commission on higher education commission on higher education projection about the program that would
• that program to try to educate our students to understand to educate our students to understand to educate

Bills: HJR 4, HJR 6, HB 195, HB 13, HB 143, HB 135

Keywords: occupation tax, securities, financial regulation, tax exemption, legislative amendment, capital gains tax, realized gains, unrealized gains, investment income, asset sale, capital assets, wealth tax, estate tax, trust tax, tax limitation, constitutional amendment, Texas Constitution, Article VIII, property tax, sales tax

Transcript Highlights:

• It helps release time programs operate constitutionally and safely by specifying the requirements a program
• school bus to go to the program.
• ; Fire Science, which is our firefighters program, and EMT paramedic program.
• A school participating in the program may include the program designation on its school report card.
• Like my program, we actually, our ROTC program got made fun of by their instructor because we worked

Keywords: 1182, all

Summary: The committee first heard House Bill 2266, which would change school district and charter governing board policy from permissive to mandatory for excusing students for religious instruction during the school day. The sponsor and supporters framed it as a parental-choice and religious-liberty measure that preserves release-time programs, while opponents argued it would reduce local control, take students out of core instruction, create peer pressure and bullying, and raise constitutional concerns. After testimony from Secular AZ, a LifeWise Academy board member, and a school board president, the committee voted 7-5 to give HB 2266 a do pass recommendation. The committee then took up House Bill 2193, a cleanup measure related to student directory information and parent organizations such as PTOs/PTAs/APTs. Supporters said the bill would restore parent-to-parent communication that had been unintentionally limited by prior privacy legislation, while some members raised concerns about how the information could be used and suggested narrowing the language to prevent political or lobbying uses. The bill advanced on a 10-1 vote, with members generally supporting school-community communication but asking for possible amendments. Finally, the committee heard House Bill 2075, which requires public school districts to submit superintendent and other top administrator contracts or attestations to ADE and have the information posted in a searchable database. The sponsor and Goldwater Institute supporters said the bill is a transparency measure because base salary reports do not show total compensation, benefits, or allowances; opponents from school administrator groups and rural districts argued the bill singles out districts while ignoring charters and other publicly funded education providers, and they said superintendent pay is already publicly available in other forms. Discussion also touched on whether the bill should be expanded to charters and private schools. The sponsor closed by emphasizing transparency and the committee continued discussion of the measure.

Transcript Highlights:

• The education freedom account program is a different pathway, and that pathway involves using taxpayer
• The education freedom account<05:06:10.160> program<05:06:10.560> is<05:06:10.878> a
• > are uh education freedom account program are uh education freedom account program are succeeding
• the Education Freedom Account Program.
• , program to the Department of Education, program to the Department of Education, we<05:17:10.480

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee held a hearing on House Bill 1571, which would direct the Department of Education to review and revise statewide academic standards and curriculum and make an appropriation. Representative Kristen Noble, the sponsor, said the bill is intended to update outdated standards, especially in math, and to have the department create a list of high-quality curriculum and materials aligned to the revised standards. She noted she would likely amend the bill to change a requirement that districts “shall” select from the list to “may,” and said a misplaced crossed-out section would need to be restored and moved by amendment. She also said assessments would need to be updated to match any new standards. Testimony from Marie Banfield strongly supported the bill and the move away from a mandate, arguing that current standards are outdated and that Common Core and related standards have not improved student outcomes. She criticized the math standards for emphasizing multiple strategies and written explanations over computation, and said stronger standards would better support students, including those with learning or communication challenges. She also argued that New Hampshire should follow examples such as Massachusetts, which she said used rigorous standards successfully. Nate Green of the Department of Education did not take a position on the bill but explained that the bill would affect statewide academic standards, state assessments, and potentially federal compliance. He distinguished academic standards from minimum standards in statute, said any standards revision would require work with content experts, State Board approval, and then a corresponding assessment update that could take about two years. He estimated assessment development costs could range from about $200,000 to $500,000 for minor revisions and $1 million to $2 million for a wholesale new set of standards. He also said the bill would apply to public and charter public schools, not private or homeschool students, and that the department does not currently provide a statewide list of curriculum materials because curriculum decisions have historically been local.

Transcript Highlights:

• As you've heard, Bridgewater State is an accredited program, which means our Council of Social Work Education
• and educators.
• education.
• and S. 929 ...on debt-free higher education, H. 1436 and S. 929, and also about the tuition-free program
• education budget cuts and a loss of programs.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Higher Education heard testimony on a broad set of bills focused on making public higher education more affordable and accessible, protecting student information, and changing social work licensure rules. Chair Rogers and Senator Comerford opened by emphasizing the committee’s focus on financial aid, tuition and fee waivers, scholarships, admissions, and institutional changes, and they reminded witnesses about the three-minute testimony limit. No votes were taken during the hearing. A large portion of the hearing centered on the “Super Act” (H. 1423/S. 218), which would eliminate the master’s-level social work licensing exam and create grant support for social work internships. Supporters—including students, practitioners, educators, and advocates—argued that unpaid internships and the exam create financial barriers, worsen workforce shortages, and disproportionately affect Black, brown, older, ESL, and other marginalized candidates. Opponents from the Association of Social Work Boards argued the exam is a necessary public-protection standard, helps maintain uniform licensure, and is important to the social work licensure compact; they said workforce shortages should be addressed through pay, working conditions, and caseloads instead. Committee members asked detailed questions about compact participation, exam accommodations, and how other states such as Rhode Island and Connecticut have handled similar changes. The committee also heard extensive testimony in favor of debt-free public higher education bills (H. 1436/S. 929). Witnesses, including students, faculty, advocates, and Senator Eldridge, said Massachusetts should expand on free community college by covering tuition and mandatory fees at public colleges and universities, with additional aid for living costs for lower-income students. Supporters said student debt delays homeownership, family formation, and career entry, and that the state should use Fair Share revenue to invest in public higher education. Some committee members voiced support but also raised concerns about prioritizing K-12 funding and the cost of expanding free college further. Several witnesses also supported bills to extend tuition and fee waivers to young adults raised by grandparents or other kinship guardians outside the DCF system, arguing that these students face the same trauma and financial barriers as foster youth but do not receive the same benefits. Representative Donato, Joseph O’Leary, Shauna Manning, Sandra Vecchio, Karen Gardner, Judy Walter, Elaine Arsenault, and others described the financial strain on grandparents raising grandchildren and urged parity with DCF-related waivers. In addition, Senator Jake Oliveira testified for a bill to protect public higher education student directory information from data mining and unauthorized sharing, and Deirdre Cummings testified for an open educational resources bill to reduce textbook costs. The hearing concluded with continued testimony on kinship care and college access, with committee members thanking witnesses and indicating follow-up on some bill language issues.

Transcript Highlights:

• , and effective access for student education, the EASE Grant Program.
• the costs for implementing the program and the bonuses, as you mentioned, Senator Davis, for those educators
• the costs for implementing the program and the bonuses, as you mentioned, Senator Davis, for those educators
• A bit of context: the Florida Education Finance Program is the system we use to deploy the Legislature's
• But today the Florida Education Finance Program has been overtaken by change.

Summary: The Senate opened with prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, doctor and guest introductions, and then took up Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 168, the Tristan Murphy Act, on mental health. Senator Bradley described the bill as a major criminal justice and behavioral health reform measure that would expand pretrial mental health diversion, strengthen treatment-based probation conditions, broaden grant uses for mental health and substance abuse programs, add Hillsborough County to a forensic hospital diversion pilot, require certain DOC mental health evaluations, and create a Florida Behavioral Health Data Repository. Senators from both parties spoke in strong support, emphasizing treatment over incarceration, public safety, data collection, and the Murphy family’s role in advancing the bill. The Senate passed the bill 37-0 and then approved 37 co-sponsors. The chamber then received the Senate’s 2025-26 General Appropriations Bill, SB 2500, with Chair Hooper outlining a $117.4 billion budget that he said reduces spending, preserves reserves, and includes major investments in water quality, transportation, education infrastructure, and reporting requirements. Committee chairs summarized their portions: K-12 funding at $34.7 billion with increases for FEFP, scholarships, VPK, school hardening, and school safety; higher education at $11.5 billion with workforce, nursing, reading, autism, and student aid investments; health and human services with a $1.8 billion increase for Medicaid, mental health, opioid response, disability services, and veterans programs; criminal and civil justice at $7.6 billion for corrections, juvenile justice, law enforcement, courts, and judgeships; transportation/tourism/economic development at about $18 billion including roads, housing, Visit Florida, and cultural grants; and agriculture/environment/general government with major Everglades, water quality, citrus, food bank, and agency IT funding. Members then questioned several budget items, especially education funding formulas, the shift of scholarship dollars below the line, the impact on public school districts, AP/IB and other accelerated program funding, the APD wait list, opioid settlement spending, arts grants, and the My Safe Florida Home and condo pilot programs. Chairs generally said scholarship and accelerated-program dollars were being restructured for transparency and flexibility rather than cut, that school districts would still receive funding based on enrollment, and that APD and other human services issues would continue to be worked out in conference. The budget discussion concluded with remarks praising staff and noting a 4% across-the-board pay raise for state employees and targeted increases for law enforcement and firefighters, followed by a recognition for FAMU Day at the Capitol.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:05:21.600> with Aligning our dual credit programs with construction trades education through
• <00:07:39.560> program<00:07:40.000> getting<00:07:40.280> their from an education
• program getting their from an education program getting their getting<00:07:40.879> their<00:
• program.
• > on program engineering tech programs on program engineering tech programs on their<00:35:19.359

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The committee first took up House Bill 46, which would allow lottery winners of $1 million or more to remain anonymous. After brief discussion and a motion with a second, the committee approved the bill unanimously and sent it to the House floor. Members then heard House Bill 54, a workforce and education measure aimed at aligning dual credit and project-based learning with licensed construction trades and other high-demand careers. The sponsor and witness said the bill is intended to help students meet both education and on-the-job training requirements, address labor shortages, and speed entry into the trades. Several members raised concerns about possible abuse of internships, the need for input from unions and other trade groups, and the amount of authority left to the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction to write regulations. The sponsor said the bill does not replace current hands-on training requirements and expressed willingness to continue discussions. The committee passed the bill, with some members explaining their votes as conditional or in hopes of further amendments. The committee also approved House Bill 261, which would let retired CPAs provide certain uncompensated services, such as nonprofit work, while retaining their CPA designation, and would create a retirement-based CPE waiver for those limited services. A question from Representative Donworth focused on how retired CPAs would disclose their status to nonprofits; the board representative said retired status is noted in board records, but there is currently no separate requirement governing use of the CPA designation. The bill passed. Finally, the committee considered House Bill 262, which would remove restrictions on small CPA firm names after an owner dies or retires. The sponsor said Kentucky is an outlier because current law requires the remaining owner to change the firm name. The bill passed unanimously. After that, the chair turned the gavel over to the vice chair and began presenting House Bill 306, which would change engineering education requirements for licensure, especially to help Eastern Kentucky University fire protection engineering technology graduates qualify for licensure in Kentucky rather than leaving the state. The sponsor and witnesses explained that the bill would not change the rest of the PE licensure pathway, only the education component, and said most other states already allow this route. Members noted that engineers may have concerns and encouraged continued discussions before the bill advances further.

Transcript Highlights:

• education to impact them.
• Education policy is disconnected from housing, or housing policy that doesn't always take education or
• workforce programs into account.
• From the Education Reform Act to creating the Education Redesign Lab, I have been driven by a simple
• fuel assistance, weatherization, early education and care, and Head Start programs that prevent homelessness

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business held its final hearing of the session on H. 5187 and S. 3022, the Enough Act, with Chair Andy Vargas and Senator Adam Gomez opening by thanking committee members and stakeholders for their work during the session. The bills were described as a grant-based, place-based anti-poverty initiative intended to support cradle-to-career services by funding local nonprofits, schools, community organizations, and backbone entities that can coordinate housing, education, health, workforce, and family supports in high-poverty neighborhoods. Testimony was overwhelmingly in support of the bills. Speakers including Strategies for Children, Chelsea Public Schools, Bunker Hill Community College, Senator Sal DiDomenico, Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian, Rep. Antonio Cabral, the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Kwame Owusu Kesse and Jeffrey Canada, former Education Secretary Paul Reville, AFT Massachusetts, United Way, the Boston Foundation, Give Black Alliance, Eastern Bank Foundation, and others argued that poverty is a systems issue that schools alone cannot solve. They emphasized the need for local control, community voice, coordinated services, and long-term public-private investment, often citing examples from Chelsea, New Bedford, Springfield, Lowell, Boston, and other communities, as well as the Harlem Children’s Zone and Maryland’s similar model. Committee members asked several questions about how the bill would function in practice, including what organizations would do on day one, how it would interact with existing efforts like community schools, McKinney-Vento, and the Student Opportunity Act, and how it would be sustained over time. Witnesses said the act would help create or strengthen backbone organizations, reduce duplication, align existing resources, and leverage philanthropy and future revenue sources for long-term sustainability. No vote was taken during the hearing, but multiple speakers urged the committee to report the bill favorably and quickly.

Transcript Highlights:

• Investments in programs like Tech and RPEP strengthen the leap between education and workforce, especially
• Our program unifies Grow Your Own initiatives and residency programs.
• programs.
• . education.
• Where they are trying to figure out why the IEP, Individualized Education Program, is not being followed

Bills: HB2

Keywords: public education, teacher compensation, certification, funding, school finance, educator rights, education funding, charter schools, staff compensation, state aid, retention allotment, 1185, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It'll be very interesting to see again how higher education reacts in terms of the supply of programs
• > permitted program, the previous program permitted program, the previous program permitted students
• /c> programs, if a program loses programs, if a program loses eligibility,<00:30:09.520> that<
• Uh, but certainly the Department of Education is mindful that this is a significant program that states
• . education. education.

Keywords: Call to Order and Roll Call: 0:00:00 Approval of Minutes: 0:01:45 Federal Education Updates 0:02:12 Dual Credit Updates: 0:43:38 Kentucky State University's Doctoral Program Request: 01:27:08 Postsecondary Accreditation: 1:49:05 Consideration of Referred Administrative Regulations: 2:14:48 Adjournment 2:16:31, 958, all

Summary: The committee met with a quorum, approved the previous meeting minutes, and heard a presentation from Austin Reid of the National Conference of State Legislatures on education-related provisions in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). Reid said the law is projected to increase the federal deficit over 10 years, with major savings coming from Medicaid, student loan changes, and SNAP. He focused on how those changes could affect schools, including possible effects on free and reduced-price meal certification, state funding formulas that use SNAP as a proxy for low-income status, and Medicaid-funded school services for students with disabilities. Reid also outlined the new federal scholarship tax credit, which gives a dollar-for-dollar credit for donations to qualifying scholarship-granting organizations. He said families up to 300% of area median income may benefit, the program begins in 2027, and states must opt in and designate eligible organizations. He noted unresolved questions about whether states can add their own criteria and said Treasury regulations will be important. He also described the expansion of 529 plans to cover more K-12 and postsecondary expenses. On higher education, Reid explained a new workforce Pell grant option for short-term programs, with states and governors playing a role in determining eligible programs. He said the programs must meet placement, completion, and earnings measures and that implementation is expected to be tight before the July 1, 2026 effective date. He also reviewed student loan changes, including lower institutional loan limits, prorated borrowing for part-time enrollment, new caps on graduate and Parent PLUS loans, and a new earnings-based accountability standard that could make some programs ineligible for student loans if graduates earn too little. No votes were taken beyond approval of the minutes.

Transcript Highlights:

• programs in Minnesota.
• The Office of Higher Education, in talking about this program, has said, you know, all students are college
• The direct admissions program is a pathway for giving students more educational choices and bridging
• Higher Education.
• policy or education either education policy or education Finance<01:25:41.400> but<01:25:41.560

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• , the higher education department, the early childhood education and care department, school districts
• As we work together to plan professional, this is a program for educational learning that assures that
• to a national audience of educators at Education Commission of the States.
• So yeah, New Mexico is going to be bragging about that and other programs at Education Commission of
• When we put in the tribal language educators as part of the public Ed programs and put them on the salary

Transcript Highlights:

• Physical education, fine arts, career and tech education, and community schools, as each of these programs
• Extended learning. programs.
• educational. facilities and programs.
• With the possible reduction in federal support, special education and bilingual education programs require
• the teacher academy program for our high school students who want to move into education and be teachers

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And we know that the eligibility for increasing the education freedom programs is going to cost us money
• is part of the CTE childc care education is part of the CTE programs,<01:21:27.199> uh,<01:21
• So they should be able to do this for the education tax credit program.
• education uh tax credit program. education uh tax credit program.
• For special education, not just general education.

Keywords: 1191, senate, all