© 2025 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WFSU-FM is currently broadcasting at reduced power. We apologize for this inconvenience. And remember, you can stream or listen to WFSU on the App.

Navigating Legi-Speak: When Legal-eeze Goes Wrong

Every year, several hundred bills are introduced in the Florida legislature. Some range from as little as a few paragraphs, to hundreds of pages. The language is often technical, arduous, and tricky to understand. Such a bill appeared last week in a House Education committee that sparked lots of confusion.

“Well, it’s a complex legal drafting issue. It’s understandable that some people may have gotten confused," says Mike Kooi, head of the Florida Department of Education's school choice office. 

He’s talking about Legal-eeze: the language of laws and statutes, which can trip up even the most seasoned observers of the legislative process. That happened last week in the House Choice and Innovation subcommittee where a bill dealing with charter schools included language that seemed to exempt charter teachers from the state’s new evaluation process. Except, as Kooi explains, that’s not the case:  

“Charter schools are still going to have to develop a teacher evaluation system that meets the requirements of statutes, including that 50 percent be based on student performance.” 

What the proposal actually does is exempt charter schools from things like having to go through due-process. Since charter schools aren’t unionized, that kind of language doesn’t apply to them.

Follow @HatterLynn

Lynn Hatter is a Florida A&M University and Florida State University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master's in Professional Communication. Lynn has been with WFSU since 2007 with education and health care issues as her key coverage areas.  She has worked with several organizations, including Kaiser Health News.  Lynn has also partnered with USC-Annenberg's Center for Child Wellbeing on the nationally acclaimed series "Committed," which explored the prevalence of involuntary commitment use on children.
She serves on the board of RTDNA and the United Way of the Big Bend, with previous service on the board of the First Amendment Foundation of Florida.

Find complete bio, contact info, and more stories here.