Jewish day schools in Florida will get some extra protection in the coming fiscal year through last-minute allocations in the coming budget.

In “sprinkle lists” the Senate and House released hours before a final vote was expected on the state’s 2025-26 spending plan, the two chambers submitted earmarks for Jewish school security totaling $10 million.

The Senate set aside $7.5 million. The House allotted $2.5 million.

Combined, the sum is $1 million more than Gov. Ron DeSantis recommended Feb. 3 in his “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility” proposal to hire school safety officers, upgrade equipment, improve transportation provisions and enhance school hardening and safety measures.

The Governor’s Office noted then that the schools and preschools may also be eligible for Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds if they meet U.S. Department of Homeland Security criteria.

The sprinkle list, as its name suggests, is an assortment of supplemental funding initiatives the Legislature compiles as budgeting processes near closure. Sprinkle items typically small apportionments (compared to other earmarks) to regional projects.

Some, like the Jewish day school items, are for statewide projects.

Notably, the combined funding allotted Friday is half of what the Senate proposed for security guards, transportation grants and capital outlay funding for Jewish day school security through a pair of line items on which it didn’t reach accord with the House.

But it’s equal to what the House offered: $7 million for security and transportation and $3 million for fixed capital outlay.

Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have skyrocketed since Hamas terrorists entered Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, more than 50 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the time since, Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza has killed more than 55,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry, whose count doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians. The fighting has displaced 90% of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape.

Within a year of the attack, the U.S. saw more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents, including over 3,000 during anti-Israel rallies, 2,000 at Jewish institutions and at least 1,200 on college campuses, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Hostilities in recent months have given rise to several deadly attacks on U.S. soil, including an arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence in April, the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in May, and a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, that injured at last 16 people.

As he had done in years prior, DeSantis signed bills in 2024 to address the issue, including measures to codify a definition of antisemitism in Florida Statutes and allow recurring state funding for private Jewish school security.

Localities have done their part as well. Following the Washington attack, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announced she was ramping up patrols around Jewish schools, cultural institutions and places of worship.

Post Views: 0

The Senate wants to spend $300,000 on a controversial intellectual freedom survey of higher ed students and faculty that has seen low participation previously.

That line item was one of the projects listed in the Senate’s sprinkle list. The sprinkle list, as its name suggests, is an assortment of supplemental funding initiatives the Legislature compiles as budgeting processes near closure to provide typically small apportionments (compared to other earmarks) to regional projects.

The Senate is proposing spending $150,000 for the survey for Florida’s public university system and another $150,000 for the Florida state college system.

In 2021, lawmakers passed legislation to start doing annual voluntary questionnaires to understand students’ and employees’ viewpoints via the 20-plus question survey. In 2024, the survey doubled to 52 questions.

Some faculty groups protested the surveys and urged professors not to fill them out. 

“Of the more than 1.36 million individuals who received the student survey, 7,213 responded, representing a total response rate of 0.5 percent,” read a 2022 report by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

The universities had a better response. A survey emailed to 338,000 students brought in 49,132 responses, or a 14.5% response rate, a 2024 report said.

Some students said they found the questions inappropriate, like when students were asked last year if they would be friends with someone depending on whether they voted for Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

“The fact that they actually named the Presidents — it really rubbed me the wrong way,” said Noah Barguez-Arias, a University of Florida student who called the survey “slimy,” according to a Fresh Take Florida story last year. “I feel like the universities just shouldn’t really worry about that.”

The GOP has targeted higher education and fought back against what Republican lawmakers call “woke” ideology. 

“The two survey instruments were designed to assess the extent to which students and employees feel free to express their beliefs and viewpoints on campus and competing ideas are presented on campus,” FDOE said on its website.

Post Views: 0

Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved legislation to help better deliver behavioral health services.

Lawmakers approved the bill (HB 633) in late April. Tampa Republican Rep. Traci Koster sponsored the measure, with Panama City Republican Sen. Jay Trumbull backing the Senate companion (SB 1354).

Under the legislation, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will contract for operational and financial audits of managing entities and would analyze the data provided.

Audits must include a review of business practices, personnel, financial records, compensation, services administered, the method of provider payment, expenditures, outcomes, referral patterns and referral volume, provider referral assignments, and key performance measures.

Provider network participation information for DCF’s available bed platform, the Opioid Management System, and the Agency for Health Care Administration Event Notification Service are required for audits, as well as information on provider network adequacy.

Melanie Brown Woofter, the President and CEO of the Florida Behavioral Health Association, issued a statement following Friday’s signing praising the Governor and bill sponsors for getting the measure across the finish line.

“The Governor’s unwavering commitment to behavioral health has allowed community mental health and substance use treatment providers to offer efficient and effective health care services to all Floridians, regardless of their ability to pay,” Brown Woofter said.

“We are grateful to Representative Traci Koster and Senator Jay Trumbull for their leadership and to the entire Florida Legislature for unanimously passing HB 633. The legislation centralizes reporting for behavioral health stakeholders, creating a unique opportunity for Floridians to better understand how public investments are supporting mental health services across the state. This will ultimately demonstrate the return on investment community providers generate and continue to highlight the good work providers have been doing in their communities across the state for decades.”

Per the measure, managing entities are required to compare administered services with outcomes of expenditures and add them into each audit of the entity’s expenditures and claims, including any Medicaid funding used for behavioral health services.

Claims paid by each managing entity for Medicaid recipients need to be analyzed and include recommendations to improve the transparency of the system’s performance based on metrics and criteria. Performance standards will be established by both DCF and the managing entities.

Managing entities will be required to report the numbers and percentages of high utilizers, individuals who receive outpatient services for behavioral health services, and emergency room visits.

Information on the number of individuals able to schedule an appointment within 24 hours, wait times, the incidence of medication errors in treatment plans, rate of readmission, and the number of adverse incidents such as self-harm in both in-patient and outpatient settings will also be reported.

Following the Governor’s signature, the legislation takes effect July 1.

___

Ryan Nicol and Andrew Powell of Florida Politics contributed to this report.

Post Views: 0