The Orange County School Board hears its impasse with CTA and OESPA on Friday, November 13, 2026, after rescheduling the October 21, 2026, hearing. Public comments for Tuesday's regular meeting are due by 5 p.m. Monday, November 9, 2026.
Orange County parents have two dates this week that decide how the district settles a contract dispute with its employee unions and how the current board votes before new members take office. Public comments for the Tuesday, November 10, 2026, regular meeting are due by 5 p.m. Monday, November 9, 2026. The board then holds a special impasse hearing on Friday, November 13, 2026, the date it chose after the October 21, 2026, hearing ended without a decision. In Tallahassee, the Florida Senate organizes on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, and the first interim committee week begins November 30, 2026.
First unofficial results for the District 3 school board race and the one mill operating tax are posted by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, and official certification is scheduled for Monday, November 16, 2026.
When is the special impasse hearing, and what is it?
The School Board of Orange County will hold a special school board meeting, also called a Special Impasse Hearing or Legislative Body Hearing, on Friday, November 13, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern in the Board Room at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, 445 West Amelia Street, Orlando. The notice, dated November 6, 2026, is posted on the district's Meetings, Agendas and Minutes page.
The notice says the meeting gives each party to the impasse a chance to explain their positions on the disputed issues. It then quotes the board's duty under section 447.403(4)(d), Florida Statutes to "take such action as it deems to be in the public interest, including the interest of the public employees involved, to resolve all disputed issues."
In plain terms, this is the public step that comes after bargaining has stalled. Section 447.403(4)(c) says the legislative body, here the school board, "must conduct a public hearing at which the parties must explain their positions with respect to the rejected recommendations of the special magistrate." Section 447.403(4)(d) says the board must then resolve all remaining disputed issues. Section 447.403(4)(e) then requires the parties to reduce to writing an agreement that includes the issues they already agreed on and the disputed issues the board resolved. That agreement must be signed by the superintendent and the bargaining agent and submitted to the public employer and the public employees in the bargaining unit for ratification. If it is not ratified by all parties, the board's action takes effect as of the date the board acted, but only for the remainder of the first fiscal year that was the subject of negotiations. The board's action does not take effect on disputed issues that establish contract language which could have no effect without a ratified agreement, including preambles, recognition clauses, and duration clauses. Without ratification, imposed disputed terms last only for the rest of that first fiscal year, and preamble, recognition and duration language does not take effect.
The district's Bargaining Updates page, checked November 7, 2026, posts recordings from an "OCPS - CTA Impasse Hearing - Special Magistrate" held July 9 and 10, 2026, and earlier wage and insurance proposals presented to CTA and to OESPA. The page does not post a packet that lists the issues still open for November 13, 2026. That notice also does not name those issues. For that reason, this alert does not print dollar figures or insurance details that appear only in news stories.
The board's decision at a legislative body hearing can set the terms that go into a written agreement even when the unions and the district have not reached one at the table.
What happened on October 21, 2026, and who are the parties?
This is not a new dispute landing without warning. The board already called a special impasse hearing for Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:30 a.m., according to an earlier notice dated October 14, 2026. That hearing began, then stopped before the board resolved anything.
The official October 21, 2026, minutes, attached to the November 10, 2026, BoardDocs agenda, say Chair Teresa Jacobs called the meeting to order at 9:36 a.m. in the Board Room. Board members Teresa Jacobs, Maria Salamanca, Angie Gallo, Anne Douglas, Vicki Elaine Felder, Stephanie Vanos and Melissa Byrd were present. Alicia Farrant attended virtually. John Palmerini, the board's general counsel, also participated.
Jeffrey Mandel represented the district. Mark Richard represented "the unions, CTA & OESPA," the minutes say. The board reached consensus to give the unions three hours in all, 1.5 hours for CTA and 1.5 hours for OESPA. Mr. Richard then presented a legal objection to the proceeding. Mr. Mandel shared the superintendent's position that the district could not risk the hearing being overturned and any later board action being invalidated. After recesses, counsel for both sides agreed to Friday, November 13, 2026. Vicki Elaine Felder moved to reschedule the hearing for that date at 9:30 a.m., Melissa Byrd seconded, and the vote was unanimous. The meeting adjourned at 11:41 a.m.
The minutes also say there was no opportunity for public comment because the board was acting in a quasi judicial capacity. The meetings page generally says the public may comment on items that are on the agenda for a special meeting. Policy BEDH bars comments on quasi judicial matters and labor negotiations during its public comment periods, but does not specifically address legislative body impasse hearings. The November 13, 2026, notice is silent, and the last hearing of this kind had none. Do not assume you can address the board that morning unless a later notice says so. People who need a disability accommodation should call School Board Services at 407 317 3236 at least 48 hours ahead, which for a 9:30 a.m. Friday hearing means calling by Wednesday, November 11, 2026.
The meetings page says regular meetings, work sessions and rule development workshops stream on the OCPS board meetings YouTube channel. It does not specifically say that a special impasse hearing will be streamed. The sure way to watch, based on the notice, is to go to the Board Room at 445 West Amelia Street.
How can parents comment at the November 10, 2026, board meeting?
The current board still has one regular meeting before the new term starts. Open public comment begins at 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, and the regular session and public hearing begin at 5 p.m. Eastern, according to the district's meeting notice dated November 3, 2026. The meeting is in the same Board Room at 445 West Amelia Street, Orlando. The agenda is posted on BoardDocs.
You can sign up online at publiccomment.ocps.net until 11:59 p.m. Monday, November 9, 2026, or email publiccomment@ocps.net by 5 p.m. Monday, November 9, 2026, with your name, address, agenda item and comment. Speaker time limits under Policy BEDH, lobby signup, the noon planning meeting, and the 2:30 p.m. outgoing board reception are in our Week Ahead. School Board Services can be reached at 407 317 3236.
What else is the board being asked to do on November 10, 2026?
Four policy public hearings come before the consent agenda. The board is asked to repeal Policy FE, Facilities Construction, and Policy FEG, Construction Contract Bidding and Awards, and to revise Policy DJA, Purchasing Authority, and Policy DJB, Purchasing Procedures. Those hearings are a chance to speak to the rules that govern how the district builds and buys, not a final approval until the board votes.
The Office of Management and Budget asks the board to move $20 million from General Fund reserves to the Employee Benefits Trust to cover November costs "from the delayed implementation of plan changes and increases in premiums and Board contributions" and to put money toward a 60 day claims reserve. A second request would move $2 million from Capital Improvement Tax reserves for teacher device replacement. Those figures sit on the same agenda as the Friday impasse hearing, which is another reason families watching employee costs may want to read both items.
Other Tuesday items, including the proposed sale of the former Pine Castle Elementary site, renovations at Hunter's Creek Middle School and Pinewood Elementary School, an East River High School access resolution, and a dual enrollment agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, are in our Week Ahead.
A revised notice said last Thursday's November 5, 2026, work session would cover the Richard Milburn Academy charter school application, an OCPS 2030 first quarter update, and a superintendent search overview with the Florida School Boards Association. Minutes from that session had not been posted on the November 10, 2026, agenda when checked November 7, 2026. The October 13, 2026, work session minutes, which are on this week's agenda for approval, say members expressed consensus for the Florida School Boards Association as the preferred search firm and took no formal action.
When does the new school board take office?
Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Under section 100.041, Florida Statutes, a school board member's term "shall begin on the second Tuesday following the general election in which such member or superintendent is elected." The term runs four years.
The district's meetings page lists the Annual Reorganization Meeting on November 17, 2026, and says that meeting is ministerial, so "there will be no opportunity for the public to provide input." The School Board page, checked November 7, 2026, still lists Teresa Jacobs as chair and Alicia Farrant as the District 3 member. The new board inherits the superintendent search already underway, including the Florida School Boards Association overview noticed for November 5, 2026.
What is the Orange County Commission taking up that touches schools?
The Orange County Board of County Commissioners holds a regular meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, November 10, 2026, in the County Commission Chambers at the Orange County Administration Center, 201 South Rosalind Avenue, Orlando, according to the county's 2026 meeting schedule and the posted November 10, 2026, agenda.
That agenda, printed November 4, 2026, does not list school impact fees, crossing guards, school zones or school concurrency. It does include a second hearing on ordinance 26-1295, which would amend the county zoning code to allow private schools, along with mobile and manufactured homes, in certain zoning districts and set standards for those uses. A separate zoning item, ordinance 26-1319, would set distance rules for tobacco shops, including distance from schools. Families who want to watch or comment can use the county's eAgenda page.
When does the Florida Legislature start work on the 2027 session?
The Florida Senate convenes in organization session at 10 a.m. Tuesday, November 17, 2026, in the Senate Chamber, according to the Senate's November 17, 2026, calendar. That sitting is for organization and the selection of officers.
A memorandum from Senate Secretary Tracy C. Cantella dated August 3, 2026, sets the shared 2026 to 2027 interim committee meeting schedule agreed to with the Florida House. Training for senators runs November 17 to 19, 2026. The first interim committee week is November 30 to December 3, 2026. Later weeks are January 4 to 7, 2027; January 11 to 14, 2027; February 1 to 4, 2027; February 8 to 11, 2027; and February 15 to 18, 2027. The memo says the opening day of the 2027 Regular Session is Tuesday, March 2, 2027. The Senate's 2027 Regular Session Dates page also lists March 2, 2027, as the day the regular session convenes and April 30, 2027, as the 60th day and last day of the regular session.
Interim weeks are when education committees can take up draft bills that later change testing, school choice, teacher pay, safety rules or funding. Weekly schedules and meeting notices are posted before each week, the Senate calendar says. A check of the Senate's 2027 bill list on November 7, 2026, found claim bills that were filed by the August 7, 2026, claim bill deadline, such as individual relief measures. It did not turn up general education policy bills that would rewrite classroom, transportation or funding rules for districts such as OCPS. That can change quickly once committees meet.
Parents who want to follow a bill once it appears can search by number or keyword on flsenate.gov and myfloridahouse.gov.
What Florida education rules are open, or recently open, for comment?
The next Florida State Board of Education meeting is Wednesday, December 16, 2026, at 9 a.m. Central Time at Bay District Schools, 1311 Balboa Avenue, Panama City, according to the department's State Board meetings page. The page says the public may attend and comment in person on agenda items, or send comment in advance at web02.fldoe.org/rules. Dates are subject to change.
This week also includes state rule workshops that affect career programs. The department has noticed a workshop on Rule 6A-6.0571, Career and Technical Education and Adult General Education Standards and Industry Driven Benchmarks, for Monday, November 9, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern, or until business is concluded. The Florida Administrative Register notice says the change would adopt secondary and postsecondary career education programs in Health Science, Information Technology, and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics for the 2026 to 2027 career and technical education programs. A workshop on Rule 6A-23.004, Standards of Apprenticeship, is listed the same morning from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Preliminary text and a comment form are posted on the department's rules page.
Two workshops were listed for Friday, November 6, 2026: Rule 6A-1.0017, School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR), at 11 a.m., and Rule 6A-1.0955, Education Records, at 12:30 p.m. Those meetings have already occurred. Families who want the current draft language, or who still want to submit a written comment, can use the same rules page. Additional workshops listed for later in the week, including Rule 6A-10.0821 and Rule 6A-10.0822 on November 12, 2026, apply to district postsecondary technical colleges and career centers rather than typical K to 12 campuses.