Lee has become an irritant to Senate GOP leaders and has grown increasingly isolated in the upper chamber. Latvala suggested during the back and forth that Lee might be trying to draw out information for House Republicans.
House members, meanwhile, clashed on a program meant to encourage non-profit charter school operators with track records of high performance among low-income students to open campuses in areas where traditional public schools have received “D” or “F” grades on state reports cards for more than three consecutive years.
The House budget proposal would set aside $200 million for the “Schools of Hope.”
During discussion of a measure creating the program (HB 5105), Democrats repeatedly asked supporters why the funding should not be used to instead help the troubled public schools.
But Rep. Chris Latvala, son of the senator, argued that a new approach is needed, particularly given that some extra help is currently funneled towards lower-performing schools.
“These schools are already receiving more funding,” said the younger Latvala, R-Clearwater. “These students are already receiving more funding.”
